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match, then we are doing badly," socialist member of parliament Alberto Arons de Carvalho told daily A Capital on Wednesday.

But as the clocked ticked away, and hope that Portugal could make a recovery faded, fans began leaving two open air screenings of the match in Lisbon.

"We played badly, excessive expectations for the squad were created, I hope in the next two games we can show we can play better than we did today," one of the few football fans who stayed till the end of the match at a cafe in the northern city of Braga told TSF radio.

Portugal's next World Cup match is against Poland on June 10, the country's national day.

"Now we must think that nothing is lost, it is merely more distant," Portugal coach Antonio Oliveira told state television RTP, which led its afternoon newscast with details of the squad's defeat.