today 13:37
|
Portuguese footballers will have to fight for participation in the World Cup 2022 in Qatar in the playoffs. They lost their direct progress after the unruly Sunday match with Serbia (1: 2), but after the final duo of the qualifying J-group, there was also talk of a March meeting in Belgrade.
Read also
VIDEO: Ronaldo couldn’t believe his eyes. Portugal arrived in the 90th minute …
As is well known, there is no video judge in the World Cup qualifiers who would certainly confirm Ronald’s intervention.
The Serbs lost in Lisbon after a mistake by their defender, the score was opened by Renato Sanches. However, Dušan Tadič made a superb strike after 33 minutes with a shot straight in front of the goal after a long ball through the middle, but one of the visitors’ defenders got a foot in at the last second and warded it off for a corner. “Players know we always play to victory and offensive, but it doesn’t always go the way you want. But I take responsibility for this loss.” said Portuguese coach Fernando Santos for local television.
Three minutes later, after Mitrovič’s goal, Ronaldo was able to equalize when he was on a great opportunity, but he shot the goal. In this situation, however, he could also have chosen a pass and, after an inaccurate attempt, provoked the anger of the home fans in the stands. Coach Santos criticized his stars after the match and, although he did not name anyone, the Portuguese media stated that the attack was aimed mainly at Ronald, with whom Santos allegedly had an exchange of views after the match.
“It is true that Serbia was better. We tried, we entered the match very well, we put pressure and scored a goal. Later we were more often without the ball, we were on the defensive and we had trouble getting closer to the opponent’s goal. In We have our DNA written that we love the ball and we play with it, but now only Bernardo Silva did it, we were scared and nervous, but this team has everything it needs to handle the play and we will be in Qatar. that now we haven’t done what we had, but we’ll get there, ” believes Santos.
At the end of the match after the center, Ronaldo fell to the ground after an air battle. Complaints from the home team followed, according to them the Manchester United striker was fouled and a penalty kick was to be whistled. However, the arbitrators did not order him and the situation could not be examined by the VAR. He was not available even in Belgrade in March, when Ronaldo scored a regular goal. Santos already warned at the time: “I told the referees, with all due respect, that it is unacceptable to play qualifying matches to advance to the World Cup without VAR.”
This was not the first time for Ronald that he had paid for the absence of video technology. Three years ago, during his Juventus Turin jersey in the Champions League match with Valencia, he saw a red card after he seemed to be pulling his opponent by the hair. One week later, UEFA announced the introduction of VAR in the competition.
Serbia celebrates advancing to the 2022 World Cup in football
Zdroj: SITA / AP
–
After the final whistle, the Serbs celebrated the process for a long time. “Since coach Stojkovic came, the smile came back to us. We play beautiful football, we have shown it now. We believed we could come to Portugal and win. Everyone who wears this jersey and who is a citizen of this country should be happy and proud, “ Captain Tadič confessed to the danas.rs portal.
The guests followed their plan in the match. Even when the Portuguese took the lead. Even then, Stojkovič’s charges did not panic. They returned to the game and were finally able to celebrate the process. “We started badly, but that didn’t stop us. We talked before the match that if such a scenario happened, we had to stay calm to be able to control the ball and surpass the Portuguese. And so it was. It’s a great victory.” added Serbian midfielder.
Tadic believes that this is just the beginning of a great era of Serbian football: “I’m very happy because we said we had to get to the World Cup and the European Championships. I hope that Mr. Stojkovic will stay in the national team for a long time and that Serbia will qualify for every tournament.”
–
