Portugal –
Croatia – 2:1 (Ronaldo, 68P, Ramos, 90+4 – Perisic, 53).
Since football
has long since turned from a purely sporting into a commercial enterprise, an
argument such as the presence of 670 million subscribers to Cristiano Ronaldo's
Instagram profile can become a decisive factor in determining the fate of
matches with his participation.
So it was
not at all easy for Escos to judge the match between Portugal and Croatia. And
he showed enough civic courage in it. So, at the start of the match, when
Dominik Livakovic deflected a shot from Bruno Fernandes and allegedly hit the
defender's hand while finishing the ball, he did not even react. And I didn't
notice Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty drop after a cross from Cancelo. And Renate
Veiga, after a corner kick, shot his head above the goal, no one interfered.
In general,
the Croats held out in the first half without creating anything ahead. And the
head coach of the Checkers, Zlatko Dalic, made the first conclusion already
during the break between halves. Osasuna forward Ante Budimir left the field,
and Freiburg striker Igor Matanovic took his place in the second half.
And the
castling played out. At the start of the second half, a counterattack involving
Matanovic led to a goal.
Although
the Croats had moments before that. Mateo Kovacic could have scored first with
a solo pass, but Diogo Costa turned the ball into the corner. When the ball was
drawn, the ball flew to Leau and he shot past.
Matanovic
rolled Nikola Vlasic to the right flank, the Torino player gave a pass to
Bayern defender Josip Stanisic. He sent it to the far post, where PSV
midfielder Ivan Persic took possession of the ball and he opened the scoring.
And the Croats immediately score the second goal, but the author of the assist,
Martin Baturina, managed to run into the offside and the goal was canceled.
Rafael Leau
shot into the crossbar from outside the penalty area, but the defenders did not
allow him to finish off. He easily caught the ball on his foot and sent it into
the net by Ronaldo, but Cristiano was also offside – behind the head and
shoulder line.…
And then
there was a fatal corner kick, after which Villarreal midfielder Renato Veiga
fell inside the penalty area. Vlasic hugged him from behind, but did not pull
him towards him. However, he prevented me from jumping up to the ball. And
after watching the episode on the VAR monitor, the chief referee puts a
penalty. It was implemented by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Do you
remember how our Jaloliddin Masharipov kicked a penalty kick in the center of
the Panenka in the Asian Cup playoffs between Uzbekistan and Qatar? He didn't
score then, but Cristiano Ronaldo was lucky. Livakovich started jumping into
the corner even before the kick, trying to guess. I didn't guess…
In general,
Ronaldo equalized the score. However, Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez
replaced the veteran, releasing Saudi Al-Hilal midfielder Ruben Neves instead
in the 81st minute.
A little
earlier, in the 62nd minute, the coach made a quadruple substitution - Joao
Cancelo, Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes and Pedro Neto left, Nelson Semedo, Bernardo
Silva, Chic Conceicao and Gonzalo Ramos came out instead.
The
injection of fresh blood had a beneficial effect. Although the Croats scored
the second goal in the 79th minute, Petar Sucic was also a little hasty,
running into an offside position. And already in the fourth minute, when
overtime seemed inevitable, Gonzalo Ramos scored with a header from Leau. The
short Milan striker simply touched the ball into the near corner of the goal,
and Fiorentina defender Marin Pongracic, who was standing next to him, did not
even jump up.…
So,
Portugal will play in the 1/8 finals with Spain. Let's see what trumps
Cristiano Ronaldo's teammates will lay out on July 7 in their confrontation
with the 2024 European champions. It will be interesting!
