Portugal and the Czech Republic kick off the quarterfinal round at Euro 2012 on Thursday, with kickoff scheduled for 8:45 p.m. Central European Time (2:45 p.m. ET in the U.S.).
The game will be televised live on ESPN, and can also be viewed as streaming online video at WatchESPN.com or through the WatchESPN app on mobile devices. The online live stream offers both English and Spanish-language broadcasts.
Ranked 10th in the most recent FIFA/Coca-Cola and seventh among European teams, Portugal had a tough draw in the group stage, landing in Group B along with Germany (World No. 3), the Netherlands (No. 4) and Denmark (No. 9), causing the group to be nicknamed the "Group of Death." Thanks to a dynamic performance by Cristiano Ronaldo in the group stage finale against the Netherlands, however, the Portuguese are very much alive. Ronaldo, who took 21 shots during the three group stage games, scored his first two goals of the tournament against the Netherlands to lead Portugal to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory and the runner-up spot in the group.
That gave Portugal a matchup with the Czechs, ranked 27th in the world, who bounced back from an ugly 4-1 loss against world No. 13 Russia in the first day of competition to beat Greece (No. 15) and host Poland (No. 62). That made the Czech Republic the winner of Group A, setting the stage for the matchup with Portugal. Petr Jiracek and Vaclav Pilar lead the Czechs with two goals apiece, while Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech earned his clean sheet against Poland with four saves.
The winner of the match will face the winner of Saturday's quarterfinal, pitting defending champion Spain against France.