LYON, France -- Dont let Cristiano Ronaldos devilish grin and chiseled torso fool you. Portugal is the undisputed ugly duckling of the four teams left standing at the European Championship.While semifinal rival Wales, along with Germany and France, have all impressed with big wins to deservedly reach this stage, Portugal has only joined them after barely squeaking through each round.And unless Ronaldo can rediscover his scoring touch, Portugal will struggle to find a way past an attack fueled by Gareth Bale when it plays Wales at the Stade de Lyon on Wednesday.Portugal coach Fernando Santos, however, doesnt care about style or statistics.I would be bothered if I was at home and they were saying Portugal had played well but was no longer at the Euro, Santos said. We have a goal and we are doing all we can to achieve it. We are not here to play pretty or ugly.We are going to take on an excellent opponent, which has more victories and scored more goals than we have, but we believe we are going to win.How Santos side has managed to reach its fourth semifinal appearance in the last five continental competitions is something of a mystery.Portugal has yet to beat an opponent in 90 minutes of regulation play after five matches at Euro 2016.Portugal limped into the round-of-16 after three draws, finishing third in Group F behind Hungary and Iceland. It then needed an extra-time goal from Ricardo Quaresma to see off Croatia 1-0 in one of the poorest matches of the tournament. Next came a quarterfinal against Poland that Portugal claimed in a penalty shootout following its finish at 1-1 after 120 minutes.All told, Portugal has been in the lead for a total of 22 minutes over the course of more than eight hours of football in France.Yet, here they are, one win away from the final in Paris on July 10.Understandably enough, Portugals players are focusing on the product, not the process.Criticism gives us more motivation, said midfielder Danilo, who is likely to start against Wales for the suspended Williams Carvalho. Its not easy, we see it in the news but it motivates us. It makes us determined to prove them wrong.To assume that credit goes to Ronaldo for Portugal staying in contention is incorrect.Other than one performance that did meet the incredibly high standards the three-time world player of the year has set for himself, Ronaldo has counted more glaring misses than goals.Yes, the two goals he scored in Portugals group match in Lyon were critical to salvaging a 3-3 draw with Hungary and advancing to the knockout rounds. But he has gone goal-less in the other four games, including a missed penalty.Yet despite all its warts, if Portugal has gotten this far it is because Santos players have become experts in the art of survival.The greatest value they have shown throughout the tournament is the mental poise needed to perform error-free as the clock ticks down and the pressure mounts.On no less than four occasions has Portugal stared at a deficit that spelled elimination; and not once did it flinch as it overcame three one-goal deficits against Hungary and an early goal from Poland.Nor has it been all gloom on the pitch. Nani and Quaresma have picked up some of the scoring slack for Ronaldo, 18-year-old Renato Sanches is one of the tournaments sensations, and Pepe has played masterfully in defense. Andre Johnson Jersey . On Tuesday, Ottawa placed forward Cory Conacher and defenceman Joe Corvo on waivers as trade rumours swirl around the Senators. Will Fuller V Jersey . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. http://www.officialauthentictexansstore.com/authentic-alfred-blue-jersey.html . -- Its been a long road back for Sean Bergenheim. Houston Texans Jerseys .ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at Boston Strong - a citys recovery from tragedy. Bruce Ellington Jersey .Y. -- Jayna Hefford scored the winning goal Friday as Canada survived a scare with a 4-3 win over Sweden at the Four Nations womens hockey tournament. LUBBOCK, Texas -- Its rare when pass-happy Texas Tech churns out more plays on the ground than in the air, but thats what happened Saturday night.Patrick Mahomes threw for five touchdowns, three to Johnathan Giles, and ran for another to lead Texas Tech past Louisiana Tech 59-45.That was their defense, Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said of the 43-36 edge to running plays. If theyre going to give us a run, were going to take it. Were going to do whatever the defense allows us to do.Giles, who finished with six catches for 186 yards, said balance with the rush and pass takes pressure off Mahomes.I feel like it makes it easier for Pat just so he dont have to throw the ball a whole lot, he said. And us as a receiver group, just blocking, being physical, if very fun.Mahomes threw touchdown passes of 64, 36, 9, 42 and 4. The junior, who came into the game leading the nation in total offense, completed 26 of 36 passes for 470 yards.Demarcus Felton rushed for 123 yards on 16 carries and had two touchdowns.The Bulldogs fell behind 35-10 and couldnt quell the Red Raiders up-tempo offense enough to pull off a comeback. They got within 11 points twice.I thought our defense was a joke, Louisiana Tech coach Skip Holtz said.Kingsbury said his team needs to get tougher and put opponents away.You cant have guys, particularly their best players, running wide open, he said.The Red Raiders (2-1) didnt punt through three quarters and scored on six of their first seven possessions.Jarred Craft had 151 yards on 21 carries and Trent Taylor caught six passes for 166 yards for the Bulldogs (1-2).Jarred did a phenomenal job, whether it was to start off a drive or a short play that hed just bust open, he did a great job getting his holes, almost always making the first defender miss quarterback Ryan Higgins said. He kept us alive.The Red Raiders pulled some razzle dazzle in thhe second quarter, running a double reverse that ended in Giles hands and brought him one of his three touchdowns -- a 42-yarder.ddddddddddddI stole that from Western Kentucky, Kingsbury said. It was a great play they ran for a touchdown, so we repped it a ton. We had it but we werent getting the right looks for it, and it just worked out tonight.TAKEAWAYS:LOUISIANA TECH: The Bulldogs defense came into the game giving up just 295 total yards per game to rank 31st in the nation . Texas Tech moved the ball at will and had almost 100 yards more of offense than that (392), and led 35-17 at halftime.TEXAS TECH: Ranked 117th in total defense coming into the game, Texas Tech showed improvement. The Bulldogs tallied 572 total yards, fewer than the 652 the Red Raiders gave up in their 68-55 loss at Arizona State last week. I thought offensively we handled the situation better, Kingsbury said. Everybody executed at a much higher level.Holtz lauded Texas Techs defense. They ran a lot of coverages, they ran a lot of fronts, he said. They do as much as any defense Ive ever seen. They ran I dont know how many coverages tonight, but you couldnt attack what they were doing.UP NEXT:LOUISIANA TECH: The Bulldogs continue their road games when they travel to Middle Tennessee.TEXAS TECH: The Red Raiders have a bye next week before hosting Kansas on Sept. 29. It will be the first Thursday night home game for Texas Tech since beating then-No. 24 TCU 20-10 on Sept. 12, 2013, Kliff Kingsburys first season with the Red Raiders.POINTS GALORE:It was the eighth home game in a row that the Red Raiders scored at least 50 points---Follow Betsy Blaney on Twitter at www.twitter.com/betsyblaney---Online: AP college football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '