Athens: Iraq’s footballers brought a ray of comfort to the war-torn country by upsetting Portugal 4-2 in their opening game of the Olympic men’s soccer tournament on Thursday.

Striker Younis Mahmoud snatched a 56th-minute winner to settle a bad-tempered game for Iraq, who overcame major hardship to reach the quarter finals of the Asian Cup in China last month.

The game was marred by controversy, however, with Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo lucky to escape with only a yellow card after a blatant elbow on Mahmoud in the 19th minute that opened a nasty cut above the Iraqi forward’s eye.

Ronaldo’s teammate Luis Boa Morte was not so fortunate, the Fulham striker being sent off for a wild lunge on Iraqi left back Bassim Abbas in the second half.

In the other group D match, Costa Rica were held to a goalless draw by Morocco in Heraklio, Crete.

Meanwhile, Italy escaped a similar fate to Portugal as they fought back to salvage a 2-2 draw with Ghana in group B.

(Reuters)