The first chance of the game fell to new Liverpool signing Raul Meireles in the fourth minute. The energetic midfielder was found unmarked by Tiago inside the box but saw his effort blaze over Jon Knudsen's goal.

In the 20th minute the home side took the lead with Portuguese 'keeper Eduardo gifting the Norwegians a goal. The Genoa shot stopper who had such an impressive World Cup was given the simple task of dealing with a Carvalho back-pass. However he struggled to bring the ball under control and saw his eventual clearance excellently blocked by John Carew with Erik Huseklepp handed the easy task of knocking the ball into an empty net from six yards out.

After going a goal down, the Seleccao reacted fairly well and found themselves controlling the tempo of the game in the first-half. Yet Agostinho Oliviera's borrowed men were unable to really trouble the opposition defence with the likes of Nani and Ricardo Quaresma failing with long-range efforts.

A disciplined Norway team were dealt a blow in the 36th minute when Carew who played such a vital role in their opening goal limped out of the game to be replaced by Mohamed Abdellaoui.

Within a minute of the re-start the impressive Huseklepp came close to adding a second for the Scandinavians. The forward cut in before driving a powerful effort just past the right post of Eduardo. The SK Brann man has drawn a lot of attention from European's elite since his brace in last month's 2-1 victory over France and continues to do so.

Portugal continued to struggle defensively and in the 51st minute Carvalho nearly gifted substitute Abdellaoui a second. The Real Madrid centre-back failed to clear his lines and his tame header fell to the feet of the Hannover striker who blasted the ball wide of the 'keepers left post.

The Seleccao thought they had equalised in the 59th minute when a long-range effort from Meireles was parried by the 'keeper into the path of Hugo Almeida. The powerful striker did well to dispatch the ball into the net but a late flag from the linesman correctly ruled the effort offside.

The away team continued to look for the key to unlock a tight Norway defence and Almeida again came close in the 78th minute. A Danny through ball found the striker who was then thwarted by Knudsen from 10 yards.

In the end Portugal lacked the cutting edge to find an equaliser and now face an uphill battle to put themselves in the driving seat for Euro 2012 qualification.

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