COLOGNE, Germany, June 11: Portugal had a harder time than expected against World Cup newcomer Angola. The Portuguese were still happy to come away with a 1-0 win on Sunday in their opening Group D match.

In other matches played on Sunday, the Netherlands beat Serbia-Montenegro 1-0 and Mexico defeated Iran 3-1.

Portugal failed to impress for most of the match, however, and by the end the team was listening to the jeers of a crowd frustrated by their sluggish play.

Pauleta scored his record 47th goal for Portugal in the fourth minute, tapping in after Captain Luis Figo sliced through the Angolan defence and drew out the goalkeeper.

The Portuguese extended their unbeaten run to 16 games over the past 16 months but will regret failing to score more against a lower-ranked team.

Angola, an impoverished former Portuguese colony in Africa whose players are mostly at lesser-known clubs, occasionally tested the jittery Portuguese defence but lacked sophistication in midfield.—AP

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