Portuguese captain turns into the primary man to attain in 5 World Cups throughout conflict towards Ghana.
Cristiano Ronaldo etched his identify into the historical past books as the primary participant to attain in 5 World Cups throughout Portugal’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Ghana on Thursday night at Qatar 2022.
The 37-year-old’s thumping 61st-minute penalty put Fernando Santos’s facet forward within the Group H encounter at Stadium 974 in Doha, with the star striker eager to showcase his skills to potential new golf equipment following an acrimonious cut up this week with Manchester United.
However Portugal’s benefit didn't final lengthy with Ghana captain Andre Ayew drawing his facet stage within the 73rd minute.
Ayew’s strike marked the primary objective by an African facet at this 12 months’s match and was joyously celebrated by the Black Stars’ raucous followers, who noticed their group fail to take a single shot throughout a blunt attacking show within the first 45 minutes.
Sadly for them, the jubilant scenes appeared to impress Portugal into switching on the afterburners, with Joao Felix and Rafael Leao netting twice within the following seven minutes to make it 3-1 on the 80-minute mark.
Any hopes that they had of a snug stroll to victory, nevertheless, had been undermined by Osman Bukari, who transformed to make it 3-2 within the 89th minute.
Portugal cling on throughout dramatic climax
A tense 9 minutes of additional time adopted, which drew to an in depth with Portugal defender Danilo clearing the ball away from close to his facet’s line after an error of judgement from goalkeeper Diogo Costa afforded Ghana a possibility to grab a dramatic leveller.
It capped a wild end to what had been a slow-burner of a match for the primary 60 minutes, however Portugal’s capability to cling on and seize all three factors put themselves on the prime of Group H following Uruguay and South Korea’s scoreless draw earlier on Thursday.
Portuguese supporters stated they had been happy to start the match with a victory, even when elements of their facet’s efficiency left lots to be desired.
“The efficiency was not excellent. However at this stage, all you need is the three factors, and we received them in the present day,” fan Joao Santos instructed Al Jazeera.
“And Ronaldo scored. We're so comfortable he did. We have to win this World Cup for him. It will likely be his final, and will probably be a great way to say goodbye to him,” he added.
Ghanaian followers, for his or her half, welcomed their group’s displaying even because the end result went towards them.
“We did effectively. The efficiency was higher than I anticipated,” supporter George Bawuah instructed Al Jazeera.
“We've a extremely good likelihood of going by means of if we play like we did in the present day,” he added.
Portugal are subsequent in motion on Monday towards Uruguay. Ghana play South Korea on the identical day.
Further reporting by Hamza Mohamed at Stadium 974
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