Recuei, empatei e voltei a pontuar.

They are all in the pretérito perfeito simples in Portuguese, which is the normal past tense for completed actions.

So the sentence presents three finished events in sequence:

• recuei = I fell back / I went behind
• empatei = I drew level / I equalised
• voltei = I returned / I went back

In English, this often corresponds to the simple past: I fell behind, I equalised, and I scored again.

Portuguese often omits the subject pronoun when the verb ending already makes it clear who the subject is.

Here:

• recuei
• empatei
• voltei

all clearly mean I because of the -ei ending in this tense.

So Eu recuei, empatei e voltei a pontuar is possible, but eu is unnecessary unless you want emphasis or contrast.

Recuei is from the verb recuar, which literally means to move back, to retreat, or to fall back.

In a sports or competitive context, it can mean something like:

• I dropped back
• I fell behind
• I lost ground

The exact English translation depends on the context. It does not always mean a physical retreat. It can also describe a setback in score, position, or progress.

Yes, in this context empatei comes from empatar, meaning to tie, to draw level, or to equalise.

Depending on the situation, it may mean:

• I tied the score
• I equalised
• I made it level

A useful thing to know is that empatar can refer either to:

• creating a tie during the action, or
• ending in a draw

Here, because it is part of a sequence of actions, it most naturally means I levelled the score.

Because the pattern is voltar a + infinitive.

This structure means:

• to do something again
• to go back to doing something

So:

• voltei a pontuar = I scored again / I went back to scoring

You cannot normally say voltei pontuar in standard Portuguese. The a is required in this construction.

Other examples:

• voltei a tentar = I tried again
• voltou a chover = it started raining again
• voltámos a falar = we spoke again

Here pontuar means to score points or more generally to score.

In different contexts, pontuar can mean different things, for example:

• in sports: to score
• in writing: to punctuate
• more generally: to assign points

In this sentence, the sports meaning is the relevant one.

A small nuance:

• In some sports, especially football, Portuguese speakers may more often use marcar for to score a goal
• pontuar sounds especially natural when the idea is scoring points

So the best translation depends on the sport or context.

It can suggest either, depending on context, but the most natural idea is usually I scored again.

The structure voltar a + infinitive often implies that something happened, stopped or changed, and then happened once more.

So voltei a pontuar suggests:

• I had scored before, or
• I was in a position to score before,
• and then I managed to score once more

In fluent English, I scored again is often the best rendering.

The commas help present the actions as a sequence of separate events:

• recuei
• empatei
• e voltei a pontuar

This is very natural in Portuguese when listing short past actions one after another.

The final e means and.
So the sentence has a rhythm like:

• I fell behind,
• I equalised,
• and I scored again.

The commas are not absolutely about grammar only; they also help the pacing of the sentence.

Yes, they are regular past forms.

They come from:

• recuar → recuei
• empatar → empatei
• voltar → voltei

For -ar verbs in the eu form of the pretérito perfeito, the ending is usually -ei.

Examples:

• falar → falei
• ganhar → ganhei
• voltar → voltei

The only thing that may look unusual is the spelling in recuei, but it is still a normal formation from recuar.

The sentence works in both European and Brazilian Portuguese, but it sounds perfectly natural in European Portuguese too.

A learner of Portuguese from Portugal may especially want to notice:

• the omitted eu, which is very normal
• the use of voltar a + infinitive
• the concise style of narrating actions in sequence

The exact choice of pontuar can depend on the context, but grammatically the sentence is straightforward and natural.

That depends a little on context, but natural English versions could be:

• I fell behind, drew level, and scored again.
• I dropped back, equalised, and scored again.
• I went behind, levelled it, and scored again.

The best choice depends on what exactly recuei and pontuar refer to in the wider context. The Portuguese sentence itself is compact and action-focused.