Portugal 3-2 Ghana: Cristiano Ronaldo takes the lead in Portugal individual talent victory

Portugal showed performance issues, but individual talent secured victory against the great Ghana team.

Portugal 3-2 Ghana

After several controversies involving Manchester United in recent weeks, Cristiano Ronaldo finally debuted in the World Cup with the Portugal national team, in a duel against Ghana, a technically well-qualified opponent.

Fernando Santos’ starting lineup had interesting news with Raphael Guerreiro and João Félix replacing Nuno Mendes and Rafael Leão, completely changing the team’s characteristics on the left side of the field.

On the right side, the presence of Otávio allowed Bernardo Silva to play on the inside without the need for William Carvalho.

On the other side, Ghana opted for the lineups of Seidu and Baba Rahman on the wings. Sallis Abdul Samed was positioned alongside Partney in the middle, without Iddrisu Baba. Kudus and Ayew as point guards and Iñaki Williams to attack spaces were the last positions.

In the first half, Portugal and Ghana played a low-intensity match, with the Portuguese controlling ball possession, but without demonstrating effectiveness in the final third to create real goal chances.

Portugal’s midfield is very technical and mobile with Otávio on the left and Bernardo Silva free to look for the ball. Bruno Fernandes starting from the right was projected inside.

There was considerable control by the Portuguese, mainly due to their good behaviour without the ball, preventing speedy exits on the counterattacks by Ghana, who had Kudus to spin on top of the markers.

In the second half, Portugal took advantage quickly when spaces appeared in the offensive field. Baba Rahman made a mistake by not kicking the ball out and João Félix made a providential tackle soon afterwards for Rafael Leão to finish right after leaving the bench.

The key moment of the match occurred precisely with Portugal’s first goal. Cristiano Ronaldo dived into the penalty area after feeling contact from Salisu, but the referee awarded a penalty and VAR did not request a review. With that, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the goal and reached a historic record: the only player to score goals in five World Cups.

Even so, the individual standout for the best player was Bruno Fernandes, who demonstrated a decisive quality to decide the main offensive moments with talent, volume and skill.

With this victory, Portugal moves on to qualify for the round of 16 of the World Cup after the tie between Uruguay and South Korea.

Coach Fernando Santos needs to be questioned once again, due to the feeling of wasting the potential of the Portuguese team. However, the best of scenarios after the first round in terms of the result could be a favourable catalyst for Portugal.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *