"We really played badly in the first half and failed to find our game. If

MANAUS, Brazil -- With Cristiano Ronaldo on the field, a one-goal lead is never safe. The world player of the year rarely sparkled on a hot and humid night in the jungle, but his inch-perfect stoppage-time cross set up Varela for the equalizing goal Sunday in Portugals 2-2 draw against the United States at the World Cup. The Real Madrid winger, who has been playing despite a left knee injury, showed flashes of his best, but his impact was minimal until the final seconds of the match. He curled the ball in to a diving Varela, who headed past Tim Howard to give the Portuguese team a slim hope of advancing to the second round and deny the Americans instant advancement. "He made a great cross," said Howard, Ronaldos former teammate from their days at Manchester United. "Footballs cruel sometimes." The United States now has four points in Group G, the same as Germany. Both Portugal and Ghana have one point. The Americans will face Germany on Thursday in Recife, while Portugal takes on Ghana at the same time in Brasilia. "Obviously were disappointed, but at the end of the day youve got to look at the positives, we got a point," said United States captain Clint Dempsey, who scored to give the Americans a 2-1 lead in the 81st. "Its going down to the last game and hopefully we get the job done." Nani scored first for Portugal, shooting past a sprawling Howard in the fifth minute. But the Americans responded in the second half as Portugal seemed to wilt in the stifling heat. Jermaine Jones made it 1-1 with a curling shot in the 64th after a cross from Graham Zusi made its way through the Portugal defence. And Dempsey, playing with a broken nose, then put the Americans ahead, using his stomach to direct the ball into the net from a cross by Zusi. "Now we have to go out and beat Germany, thats what we have to do," U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. "We have to play Germany, we have one less day to recover, we played in the Amazon, they played on a place with less travel. We have to do it the tough way." Dempseys goal was his fourth at a World Cup and second at this years tournament. Jones scored his third goal for the United States national team and first in almost two years. It was all Portugal for much of the first half, with Ronaldo in the starting lineup but getting less involved as the match progressed. The Americans, however, started to get more and more chances and even had a shot from Michael Bradley cleared off the line by Ricardo Costa in the 55th. "There didnt seem to be any problem with Cristiano Ronaldo," Portugal coach Paulo Bento said. "What happened during the game has something to do with our other players." The heat in the Amazon rainforest, however, seemed to slow the Portuguese as the match wore on. In the 39th minute, referee Nestor Pitana of Argentina called for a cooling break, the first such decision to be taken at this World Cup. At the start of the match, FIFA listed the temperature at 30 degrees C (86 degrees F) with 66 per cent humidity. FIFA uses the "Wet Bulb Globe Temperature" to determine when official cooling breaks should be added, and says the WGBT must be above 32 degrees C (90 degrees F) for them to be considered. The breaks are supposed to occur in the 30th and 75th minutes. There was no break in the second half, but that didnt stop Ronaldo from creating the final goal. "It was a thriller," Klinsmann said. "Everybody who had a chance to be today in Manaus will talk about this game for a long time." ------ Lineups United States: Tim Howard; Fabian Johnson, Geoff Cameron, Matt Besler, DaMarcus Beasley; Kyle Beckerman, Jermaine Jones, Alejandro Bedoya (DeAndre Yedlin, 72), Michael Bradley, Graham Zusi (Omar Gonzalez, 90); Clint Dempsey (Chris Wondolowski, 87). Portugal: Beto; Andre Almeida (William Carvalho, 46), Ricardo Costa, Bruno Alves, Joao Pereira; Miguel Veloso, Joao Moutinho, Raul Meireles (Varela, 69th), Nani, Cristiano Ronaldo; Helder Postiga (Eder, 16th). Gary Payton Jersey . The league-leading New York Rangers outhit and outmuscled the Maple Leafs during a 3-0 victory on Saturday. Backup goalie Martin Biron stopped all 20 shots he faced to complete a nice workmanlike effort by the visitors. Cheap Thunder Jerseys .5 million, two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants on Thursday, a deal that covers his final two arbitration seasons. http://www.cheapthundersjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-andre-roberson-jersey .com) - Nathan MacKinnon scored the winning goal in the shootout as the Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. Jerami Grant Jersey . You can watch the game live on TSN2 and TSN Mobile TV at 9pm et/6pm pt. Jonathan Huberdeau and Quinton Howden are expected to make their debuts for Team Canada. Dennis Schroder Jersey . -- Even as Chris Paul remained evasive about his future, he did what team leaders are expected to do. EASTBOURNE, England -- Feliciano Lopez of Spain completed a successful title defence when he beat top seed Richard Gasquet of France 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5 in the Aegon International final on Saturday. Its the first time the third-seeded Lopez has retained an ATP title, and the first time he has beaten Gasquet in their six meetings. Madison Keys earned her first career WTA title by beating Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the womens final. Playing in her first final, unseeded 19-year-old Keys became the first American to triumph since Chanda Rubin won back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003, and she is the youngest American to win a singles title since Vania King in Bangkok in October 2006. Lopez held championship point against Grigor Dimitrov last week at Queens Club, and he is the first player to reach back-to-back grass-court finals before Wimbledon since 2001, when Lleyton Hewitt won at Queens and s-Hertogenbosch, and Thomas Johansson won Halle and Nottingham. There was little to separate him and Gasquet, with two breaks giving the Spanish left-hander the opening set, and Gasquet, the 2005 and 2006 champion, sneaking the tiebreaker in the second. In the third set, games went with serve until Lopez broke to lead 6-5 and then served out for the fourth title of his career. Kerber lost in the Eastbourne final for the second time - to Tamira Paszek in 2012 - and in a final for the third time this year after defeats in Sydney and Doha. She was seeking her first title came wiinning Linz in October 2013.dddddddddddd "Im so incredibly happy," said Keys, who on Monday should be ranked in the top 30 for the first time. "You know, its one of those things where when youre training and you dont want to be there, youre tired or everything hurts, its one of those things where you think of this moment, and, you know, it really helps push you through all the hard times. "My serve was definitely a weapon today, and it really helped me through the entire time." Keys win came after she fired 17 aces and struck a serve clocked at 126 mph (203 kph), the fastest this year on the WTA tour, and if confirmed, would establish her as one of the top five fastest servers since records began in 1989. Most of the rallies were short and just one break of serve decided the first two sets, with Keys breaking to lead 3-1 in the first and Kerber 2-0 in the second. Games went with serve in the third until the dramatic 12th game. Kerber held two game points to take the set to a tiebreaker before Keys claimed victory on her fourth match point. "Its always not easy when somebody is serving like she did the whole match," Kerber said. "She played at a really high level." With Coco Vendeweghe winning at s-Hertogenbosch, two American women have won titles in the same week for the first time since February 2002. Two Spanish men also won titles on Saturday, with Roberto Bautista Agut winning his first title at s-Hertogenbosch. ' ' '