Wayne Lumbasi
Portugal advanced to the knockout stages after defeating Uruguay 1-0 on Monday evening. In a scrappy first half, Portugal dominated possession but gave the best chance to Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur, who had a handful of good chances to open the scoring.
Portugal got the goal they needed after the break, but in an unusual manner. A Bruno Fernandes cross was floated into the box, and Cristiano Ronaldo leapt to his highest point and wheeled away in delight as the ball found the back of the net. However, replays revealed that he may not have touched the ball.
The goal was given to Fernandes by the stadium announcer, but FIFA credited Ronaldo, only to reverse their decision ten minutes later and award the goal to Fernandes. However, there was no doubt about who scored the second goal, as Fernandes tapped in a penalty to seal the victory.
Ghana won an exhilarating match packed with twists and turns against South Korea in front of a vibrant crowd at Education City Stadium in Qatar.A 10-minute spell by the African nation in the first half presented them with a 2-0 lead but noisy celebrations by Ghana fans at half time were dampened by a South Korea comeback after the break.
Two stunning headers in three minutes from Cho Gue-sung, top-scorer in his domestic league, levelled the game after 61 minutes.
But Ajax forward Mohammed Kudus, who had headed in Jordan Ayew’s cross in the first half, added a final twist when he thumped in a third for Ghana to break South Korea’s hearts.
Chances continued to fall South Korea’s way as they searched for another equaliser but, despite 10 minutes of added time, Ghana held on.
