Author: Amrit Santlani
No Ronaldo, no problem for Portugal
Ronaldo was suspended for the game against Luxembourg after picking up a yellow card in the 1-0 win over Slovakia on Friday. In fact, the 38-year-old was lucky not to receive a straight red card after catching Martin Dubravka in the face with his boots.
With his third yellow card in the qualifying phase, the captain was suspended, but the Portuguese team showed no signs of missing their top scorer, netting nine goals against the weak Luxembourg side.
Gonçalo Inácio and Gonçalo Ramos scored two goals each in the first half, while after the break, Diogo Jota scored twice; Ricardo Hota, Bruno Fernandes and João Felix also scored.
The last time these two teams met in the second leg, Ronaldo scored twice in a 6-0 thrashing, and Martinez’s men have yet to concede a single goal to qualify for the event in Germany next year.
It took just 11 minutes for the Seleção to open the scoring, with Inácio scoring the first goal with a header after a precise cross from Fernandes. Six minutes later, Ramos scored the first of his two goals as the visitors were guilty of wasting possession and Portugal were simply too good and too incisive.
Shortly after the break, Ramos added to his two goals and sealed the three points with a fine finish after Rafael Leão’s cut-back. Inácio scored his second goal with another assist from Fernandes at the end of the first half.
Bruno provided his third assist when he gave Jota the pass to score the fifth goal after the break, and Horta received Jota’s pass to score the sixth goal after the hour mark. Jota completed his brace, while Luxemburgo was in every defensive position, Fernandes got on the scoresheet to add three assists and Felix scored the ninth goal with a shot from the edge of the box. With their latest win, Roberto Martinez’s men remain top of Group J in qualifying for Euro 2024, having won all six of their matches so far.
Croatia tops Group D
Croatia, meanwhile, traveled to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to keep their top spot in Group D intact, despite having played a game less than Turkey.
Bruno Petkovic missed a chance to open the scoring from Ivan Perisic’s cross, but Dalic’s men didn’t have to wait long as Kramaric struck from close range to put the visitors ahead. Eduard Spertsyan had a brilliant shot from outside the area to equalize for Armenia, but Dominik Livaković made the save.
Perisic had an attempt on goal saved by Ognjen Čančarević in first-half injury time. The striker was again impeded by the goalkeeper after Luka Modric sent Perisic through on goal in the second half. There were more chances in the game, but neither team managed to trouble the scorers and the game ended 1-0 to Croatia.
Other results:
Group D
- Latvia – Wales – 0:2
Group J
- Iceland – Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1-0 (Finnbogason got the narrow win, scoring in the 91st minute)
- Slovakia – Liechtenstein – 3:0 (the hosts scored three goals in the SIXTH minute of the match)