In the round of 16, the Portuguese national team beat Switzerland with a score of 6:1 (2:0).
In the quarterfinals, Portugal will meet Morocco, the winner of this pair will meet the strongest team of England and France in the semifinals. The strongest teams from Holland and Argentina, as well as Croatia and Brazil, will meet in the second semi-final.
Pepe, Rafael Guerreira and Rafael Leau each scored once for the Portuguese, while Manuel Akanji scored for the Swiss.
Surprisingly, the brightest star of the team, Cristiano Ronaldo, was not included in the starting lineup of the Portuguese national team, whose place in front of the attack was taken by the 21-year-old striker of Lisbon “Benfica” Ramush. Last time in the grand finals, Ronaldo was not included in the starting eleven in the 2008 European Championship match.
It was Ramush who first changed the result of the match, in the 17th minute after a pass from Joao Felix, he made a quick and accurate shot with his left foot. The Portuguese increased their lead in the 33rd minute of the game, when after a corner from Bruno Fernandes, Pepe jumped higher into the penalty area and sent the ball into the net – 2:0.
At the age of 39 years and 283 days, Pepe became Portugal’s oldest all-time goalscorer in a World Cup finals.
Towards the end of the half, Ramus had another great chance to score, but his shot was deflected wide by Jan Sommers.
At the beginning of the second half, in the 51st minute, after a pass from Djogu Dalot, Ramush headed over the goal and made it 3-0 for the Portuguese national team. Four minutes later, after a quick attack from the Portuguese international, Guerreira further extended his lead.
In the 58th minute, after a corner kick, Akanji put his foot on the far post of the goal, scoring 1:4, but nine minutes later, after Felix’s pass, Ramush was alone against Sommer and completed his “hat-trick “.
When there were 16 minutes left in regular time, followed by an ovation, Ronaldo also entered the field in place of Felix. In the triple change, Ramush also left the field.
The point for the victory of the Portuguese national team was added by Leau, who distinguished himself with a strong shot from the penalty area in the second minute of the clearing time.
The 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four national teams each. The two best teams in each group have reached the round of 16 and will continue to battle for football’s most prestigious trophy.
Qatar is the first Arab country to host the FIFA World Cup. So far, one championship has been held in Asia and was jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan in 2002.
This is also the first tournament to be held in late autumn instead of the usual summer months due to the extreme heat in Qatar.
This is the last tournament involving 32 teams, as from the next World Cup in 2026, 48 national teams will start the competition.
In the final stage of the 2018 World Cup, which took place in Russia, France became champions, beating Croatia 4:2 in the decisive match.
Portugal team: Djogu Košta; Djogu Dalot, Ruben Dias, Pepe, Rafael Guerreiro; Viliams Karvaļu, Otāviu Monteiro (Vitors Ferreira, 74th min.); Bruno Fernandes (Rafael Leau, 87th min.), Bernard Silva (Ruben Neves, 81st min.), Joao Felix (Cristiano Ronaldo, 73rd min.); Gonsalu Ramuš (Ricardo Orta, 74th min.).
Swiss national team: Jan Sommers; Edimilson Fernandes, Fabian Scher (Eray Kemmert, 46′), Manuel Akanji, Ricardo Rodriguez; Remo Freiler (Denis Zakaria, 54′), Granit Xhaka, Djibril Sov (Haris Seferovic, 54′); Xherdan Shaqiri, Ruben Vargas (Noah Okafor, 66th min.), Briel Embolo (Ardon Yashari, 89th min.).
