Toronto, July 4: At 41, Cristiano Ronaldo will get another match in a Portugal uniform, thanks to a penalty he scored, a stoppage time header by Goncalo Ramos, and a VAR ruling the Croatia team still doesn’t understand.
Ramos headed in the winner as Portugal beat Croatia 2-1 in a wild finish that also included a Croatian goal disallowed for offside just before the final whistle in a World Cup round of 32 match on Thursday night.
The game featured a matchup of 40-somethings — Ronaldo, in his sixth World Cup, and Croatia’s Luka Modrić, making his fifth bid for a tournament title.
Ronaldo tied things up in the 68th minute on a penalty kick that gave the megastar his first knockout stage goal at the World Cup before being subbed out in the 81st minute.
“I never felt any of that (fear),” he said. “Yes, nervous. But as always, you have to be very positive for things to go well.”
Still, it was Ramos who gave Portugal the victory and a berth in the round of 16.
“I love that type of moment, I love that type of games,” he said. “I want to play every game like that.”
Portugal moves on to face Spain on Monday. “First half we dominated the game. In second half after the goal we get a little bit panic, but this is football,” Ronaldo said. “After the penalty, I think it was a little bit better for us. We created a few chances and I think at the end of the day we deserved to win the match.”
In a postgame interview with Fox, Ronaldo proudly turned around to show that he was wearing a Diogo Jota jersey and his No. 21, one year after his teammate died in a car crash. “We knew this before the game. It was a so special moment. We speak today to our group, the coincidence of life. It’s unbelievable.”
Things got weird after Ramos scored. With Portugal and its fans still enthralled with his goal, Croatia thought it had tied things up 2-2 in the very last moments. But after a 2 1/2-minute delay, Mario Pasalic was called offside as VAR ruled no goal. Croatia fans threw bottles on the field and whistled in protest.
Croatia midfielder Petar Sucic said, “the referee said he didn’t see (anyone) touch the ball, he said that he had a sensor in that ball,” that caused the offside ruling. “For me, it’s a regular goal.”
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said it was, indeed, the chip in the ball that triggered the decision.
“I need to tell them (Croatia fans) the message is very clear: The balls now have a chip, and it’s very clear that’s why the VAR intervened,” he said. “It’s not a subjective opinion.”
Croatia opened the scoring in the 53rd minute when Ivan Perisic scored off a cross from Josip Sanisic.
Ronaldo, booed loudly by Croatia fans every time he touched the ball, got his chance from the spot after Nikola Vlasic was called for a holding foul inside the box. Portugal’s megastar hitched his step and converted down the middle as the goalkeeper went to his right.
Oyarzabal send Spain past Austria
Although Spain arrived at this year’s World Cup as a championship favorite and then went unbeaten through group play, those first three matches were not overly impressive.
When the knockout rounds finally arrived Thursday, this star-studded team turned on its full talent and served notice that Spain can be just as good as everybody thought — and it’s probably getting better.
Mikel Oyarzabal scored two goals and Spain beat Austria 3-0 for its first World Cup victory in a knockout match since winning the title in 2010.
Pedro Porro added a goal in the second half as La Roja put on its most impressive performance of the tournament while demonstrating offensive creativity and defensive rigor throughout its vaunted lineup.
“The great teams step up when it’s needed,” Spain coach Luis De La Fuente said. “We played a great match. We came close to perfection, but we must keep improving.”
While Oyarzabal, fullback Marc Cucurella and winger Lamine Yamal all had sensational moments in attack, Spain also has yet to allow a goal at this year’s World Cup.
Austria failed to get a shot on target, so Unai Simón didn’t have to make a save while keeping his fourth consecutive clean sheet and setting a World Cup record with 519 consecutive shutout minutes dating back to the last tournament in Qatar.
Everybody in a red shirt was happy after a dominant day in the Los Angeles area — but nobody was satisfied, either.
“I’m happy to have helped the team for us to go through another round,” Oyarzabal said. “Now just rest and get ready for the next one. It was a complicated match. We knew that it was going to be difficult against a very physical team, but we had a very good day and played a good match.”
Switzerland move on
Switzerland finally broke through with a win in a World Cup knockout match. Breel Embolo and Dan Ndoye both scored and the Swiss advanced to the round of 16 at the World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Algeria on Thursday night.
Switzerland will play the winner of Friday’s match between Colombia and Ghana in Kansas City, Missouri. The round-of-16 game is set for next Tuesday in Vancouver.
Switzerland had not won a knockout-round match since 1938 in France, but in 1954 the team won a playoff game to reach the quarterfinals.
Although the Swiss reached the round of 16 at the past three World Cups, there was a smaller field of 32 teams in each of those tournaments, and they could get no further.
“Today we write one page of history, but we want more, and we work for more,” Ndoye said. “I think we show that we are a strong team, and now we need to show it in the next game, and we hope again to the next game.”
Celebrating the victory, the Swiss players sat on the field as they were serenaded by their fans. As the song reached a crescendo, the players jumped up and danced.
Algeria was eliminated after returning to the World Cup for the first time since 2014, when it advanced to the knockout round but fell to eventual champion Germany.(AP)
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