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The Portuguese midfielder was the hero for the Portuguese side with a injury-time winning goal in their World Cup clash against the Republic of Ireland, after Caoimhín Kelleher had saved a penalty from the veteran forward.

Game Summary

The Wolves midfielder found the net during added time to secure a narrow victory, several seasons after Ronaldo had bagged a brace late on to defeat a resilient Ireland team.

Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men appeared poised to depart the Portuguese capital with a well-earned draw, but in the end left empty-handed, despite regaining a significant amount of pride with a gritty display that overshadowed some of the memories of last month’s embarrassing defeat in Armenia.

Nevertheless, the defeat leaves them facing elimination, with their initial trio of qualifying group matches having produced only a solitary draw. They need to beat Armenia in Dublin on Tuesday to maintain any hope of claiming a qualifying spot.

Key Incidents

• Kelleher looked to have earned Ireland a draw when he superbly kept out Ronaldo’s spot-kick with his trailing leg after Francisco Trincão’s effort had hit an Irish defender’s hand.
• The match-winner saved Portugal in the first minute of stoppage time when he headed a delivery from the wing past Kelleher.

Other Group Results

Group F

The Hungarian team boosted their hopes of advancing by picking up their initial victory with a two-goal victory over the Armenian side, climbing above their rivals into the runner-up spot behind the group leaders in Group F. Daniel Lukacs gave his team the advantage in the first half and a teammate secured the points in second-half added time.

Group K

Serbia slipped to a 1-0 defeat at home to the Albanian squad, with the result meaning England can now secure their passage from Group K by defeating Latvia on Tuesday. Rey Manaj scored the decisive strike for Albania with a neat volley in first-half added time.

Latvia struggles in their group persisted as they were forced to a two-all tie at home by Andorra. Ian Olivera found the net for the visitors late on from time to earn them their initial draw of the qualifiers and prolong Latvia’s winless run to five games.

Spain’s Group

Spain maintained their dominant qualifying group campaign with a 2-0 victory over the Georgian side after strikes from a Spanish attacker and his teammate in Elche. The win extended the title holders’ perfect run in qualifying, having scored 11 goals in three games without conceding.

In spite of the unavailability of key figures such as Lamine Yamal, another forward, and the midfield anchor due to injuries, Luis de la Fuente’s side demonstrated their dominance against a Georgian team that spent most of the match sitting back. The home side controlled the match with more than 80% possession, and the visitors did not have a single attempt on target or generate a clear chance, with only shot-stopper Giorgi Mamardashvili averting a heavy defeat.

Pino opened the scoring in the first half from a expertly taken dead-ball move, and his compatriot wrapped up the win in the second period with a stunning set-piece after Mamardashvili had saved Ferran Torres’s spot-kick.

Additional Results

• The Turkish national team returned to winning ways with a 6-1 thrashing over Bulgaria to stay close to Spain in their section. The Spanish club’s a young talent was among the goal-getters.
• Italy improved their hopes of at least making the qualifying playoffs with a comfortable win away to the Estonian team, thanks to strikes from a forward, another attacker, and Francesco Pio Esposito.

The Italian coach commented: “Our focus isn’t on the group leaders or Israel. We know what we have to do.”

The Azzurri missed out for the previous two World Cups, on two occasions falling short in the playoffs, and the feared backdoor route now looks their most likely opportunity after the Norwegian team’s comprehensive hammering over Israel in Group I. The Norwegians are leading on eighteen points from six matches. The Italians have twelve points with a game in hand on their rivals and are three points clear of Israel. Estonia stay in fourth place on three points. The group winners qualify directly for the tournament, with the second-placed sides going into the qualifying stage.

Italy host Israel on Tuesday, where a win would secure the runner-up position and, while they can still theoretically overtake the group leaders on the table, the Norwegians’ far superior goal ratio means a qualifying place likely awaits for Gennaro Gattuso’s side.