June 5 :    June 5:  The US recreated history after 52 years and crushed Portuguese dreams of an encore of the epic they had scripted 36 years ago. The 3-2 stunner over Portugal brought back memories of the Americans' 1-0 upset of England in 1950 but there were moments when Portugal were harbouring hopes of overcoming a 0-3 deficit as they had against North Korea in 1966. To their dismay, they discovered there is no room for such romanticism in 21st century football where the slightest of mistake may lead to catastrophe. Even lesser teams channel their attention towards minimising errors when they come to the World Cup but Portugal committed too many of them and must wonder what helped them escape bigger embarrassment. Their defence was clumsy and goalkeeper Vitor Baia's early nervousness compounded their woes. It's another matter that the US found it too good to be real and failed to pump in at least two more than what they eventually did. But it was a brave tactical decision that helped them record their biggest win in modern football. While playing against stronger sides, the usual strategy of any team is to crowd their own half and play the waiting game as was done by Senegal against France or by Turkey against Brazil in the first half. But the US realised that focus on defence for 90 minutes would be inviting too much pressure on the defence. They stuck to an 'open' game for a greater period of the match, with adequate emphasis on defence, and resisted the temptation to divert from the ploy even after taking a 3-0 lead. It was a courageous decision against Luis Figo and friends who are known to make optimum use of space offered in the rival half. No inferiority complex was evident in the US approach and they advanced whenever the chance came. Undoubtedly, the many defensive lapses helped their cause but the Portuguese erred only because their defenders came under pressure. The Americans were fit and athletic and almost always, outpaced Portugal in one-to-one sprints. Their covering was spot-on and they used the flanks well, which fetched them two goals. There were too many errors in the Portuguese performance, on each end of the pitch. Lax marking, clumsy clearing, lack of understanding in the defence resulted in the goals and the slew of false passes undid them when they reached the American half. The deep defenders failed to tackle in time, which resulted in the first goal, and the failure to clear a harmless ball led to the second. Goalkeeper Baia and two defenders allowed the solitary attacker a free header just outside the six-yard box before the third and a few more lapses went unpunished. Portugal took just three minutes to pull one back after conceding the third goal in the 36th minute and they did manage a few more looks at the goal out of desperation. But the scoring finesse, which made them a major force to reckon with in Euro 2000, was missing. There is an abundance of talent in the offensive wing of the Portuguese repertoire but they took too long to orchestrate their preparatory moves. Figo, Rui Costa, Sergio Conceicao, Joao Pinto all possess skill but apart from the odd good through or the rare clever flick, there wasn't much to talk about on Wednesday. They delayed in releasing after wresting possession inside the rival half, which helped the US regroup in time. Most shocking was their inability to play correct passes, even short ones. Figo didn't look fully fit and perhaps, wasn't very sure of himself. A few quicksilver touches and a delightful through apart, he failed to live up to what is expected from the Fifa Player of the Year. Wednesday's match throws group D wide open after South Korea's win over Poland and Portugal are certainly capable of beating these two in order to salvage a second-round berth. What they will have to remember is error is the name of the game and the ones who commit less of them will be the winners.