Cristiano Ronaldo finally joined in on the World Cup revelry, as he scored a brace against Uzbekistan in Portugal’s 5-0 victory. In doing so, he made history as the first player to score in six World Cups.
Ronaldo’s opener was a clever finish on the half-volley at the near post inside the box, which nestled into the bottom corner and gave Portugal an early lead. Nuno Mendes fired home from a free kick to double Portugal’s lead, and Ronaldo made it three shortly before the break.
He could’ve had a third after a cleverly worked free kick routine with Bruno Fernandes found him in space in the box, but the goalkeeper was alert and denied him a World Cup hat trick.
Uzbekistan’s day to forget was epitomised by an Abduvohid Nematov own-goal making it four, and Rafael Leão came off the bench to make it five and round off the scoring. Such was Portugal’s dominance that the 5-0 scoreline flattered Uzbekistan, and the Uzbeks were clearly ill equipped to deal with Portugal’s level of technical ability and prowess on the ball.
Elsewhere, Ghana and England played out a dull goalless draw. The Ghanaians, coached by Carlos Queiroz, were very well organised, and the Englishmen really couldn’t break them down all game.
In other games, Croatia edged out Panama 1-0 thanks to a goal from Ante Budimir, and a fine finish from Daniel Muñoz saw Colombia get all three points against the democratic republic of Congo.
