Portugal coach Fernando Santos took the brave call to bench Cristiano Ronaldo and was rewarded with an artful display from his side as they set up a last-eight clash with Morocco
European champions Portugal were let off the hook by Morocco's wasteful finishing and another Cristiano Ronaldo moment as they notched up a fortuitous victory in the World Cup on Wednesday. Yet, the reactions of the respective coaches suggested a different result.
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Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
It was Spain's first competitive win in Portugal since 1934
Portugal inexplicably lost control of the game despite managing to beat Morocco 1-0 in the World Cup Group B match on Wednesday and were lucky not to get themselves in more trouble, coach Fernando Santos said.
European champions Portugal came up against a superior version of themselves as they were knocked out of the World Cup by Uruguay on Saturday. Although Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo will grab the headlines -- the former for his two brilliantly goals and the latter for what could well be his World Cup farewell -- Uruguay owed their 2-1 win to a superb all-round performance.
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Nothing went right for the 29-year-old World Player of the Year whose performance reached a low point when he contrived to drill a 30-metre free kick into a one-man Germany wall.
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The disciplinary records of Spain and Portugal could be used to decide the winners of the World Cup's Group B if they both win by the same scoreline in their final qualification matches on Monday.
The 33-year-old Real Madrid forward's individual brilliance has glossed over Portugal's dour performances in their first two matches and Fernando Santos's side have mostly appeared like a one-man team.
Portugal's Brazilian-born coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has had his contract extended until 2008.
The top two teams in each group go into the last 16. In the case of teams finishing level on points, FIFA has put in place seven tie-breakers starting with goal difference and then the number of goals scored in all group matches.
Cristiano Ronaldo owes most of his fame and fortune to his exploits with Real Madrid, yet he also remains a hugely influential figure when representing his country.
Defending champions Portugal and the last two World champions, France and Germany, were thrown together in what German coach Joachim Loew described as the group of death following a lop-sided and complicated Euro 2020 draw on Saturday.
Portugal entered the quarter-finals after a bruising and bad-tempered 1-0 win over the Netherlands.
Winning back-to-back titles for the first time since 1984 is likely to prove a rather more arduous challenge for Liverpool.
Real Madrid coach Ancelotti goes on trial in Spain for tax evasion.
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won the award five times, did not receive a nomination for the first time in 20 years.
'Winning gold for India was a dream I lived on that rink.'
Live updates from Friday's matches at the football World Cup in South Africa.
Thomas Mueller scored a hat-trick as Germany beat Portugal 4-0 in an action-packed World Cup Group G match in Salvador, on Monday.
He scored his first World Cup goal in 2006 and consistently found the next in consecutive World Cups.
Reigning world champions Argentina continue to top the chart followed by 2022 World Cup runners-up France, England, Belgium and Brazil.
Coach refuses to discuss Ronaldo's international future
Spain and Portugal played out an entertaining 0-0 draw on Friday as both sides prepared for this month's European Championship.
Eriksson, known in Sweden simply as "Svennis", led England to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup quarter-finals, and to the 2004 European Championship, managing a golden generation of players that besides Beckham included stars such as Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard.
Pragmatic, difficult to beat, spearheaded by talismanic forwards and led by veteran, battle-hardened coaches -- few teams have as much in common with each other as Uruguay and Portugal who meet in a World Cup round of 16 tie on Saturday.
With three straight victories, Portugal look equipped to mount a serious title challenge in the last 16 stage.
'The problem is that you invariably have no time to make complicated mathematical calculations when you face the goalkeeper of the opposing team. In any case, footballers are not intellectuals or scientists.'
Spain's teenage sensation Lamine Yamal inspired his country to a thrilling 5-4 win over France on Thursday to send the holders through to their third successive Nations League final where they will face Iberian neighbours Portugal.
In Morocco, an important member of the Arab League but where much of the population identifies as Amazigh, there has been some bemusement at the Arab embrace, including jokes that people from other Arab countries should finally accept the Moroccan dialect.
Cristiano Ronaldo broke the all-time international goalscoring record on Wednesday in a stunning late show for his side, with his 110th and 111th Portugal goals taking him past Iranian great Ali Daei's mark.
Brazil's World Cup-winning coach said the 1-0 defeat to Italy in his first game in charge of Portugal should be no cause for alarm.
Cristiano Ronaldo said he was living a "beautiful moment" after becoming the first player to score in five men's World Cups as he helped Portugal to a 3-2 victory over Ghana.
