The Group K match between Uzbekistan and Portugal in Houston turned into a record-breaking night for Cristiano Ronaldo, as the European side coasted to a 5-0 victory.
Portugal and Uzbekistan had both made unconvincing starts to the tournament. Uzbekistan, playing at the World Cup finals for the first time, lost 3-1 to Colombia. Portugal, meanwhile, dominated their match against DR Congo but failed to hold on to their lead and drew 1-1. They were in no mood to drop more points against the World Cup debutants.
Before the match, Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez made it clear that he did not regard his team’s opening result as a setback.
“After the draw with DR Congo, nothing changed for us: there are three matches in the group stage, and the first one is part of the process,” the Portugal coach said.
Uzbekistan head coach Fabio Cannavaro, for his part, said his players would try to minimize the mistakes that led to their defeat against Colombia.
“Our only way to achieve a positive result is through tactics, discipline, and hard work on the pitch,” Cannavaro said.
In practice, however, Cannavaro’s tactics did not work, and it was a case of “Houston, we have a problem” as Portugal pinned their opponents back from the kick-off. It took only six minutes for Ronaldo to score the first goal against Uzbekistan, finishing a cross into the penalty area.
With that goal, Ronaldo became the second-oldest goalscorer in World Cup history, behind Cameroon’s Roger Milla, who scored his final World Cup goal at the age of 42. The Portugal captain, 41, became the first player to score at six World Cups and moved past Eusebio as Portugal’s all-time leading World Cup scorer.
Ten minutes later, Portugal doubled their lead with a cleverly worked free kick. At first, it looked as though Ronaldo was taking an age to prepare to shoot, but Nuno Mendes instead struck the ball, catching Uzbekistan goalkeeper Abduvohid Nematov by surprise.
After that, Uzbekistan became slightly more active in attack. Midway through the first half, Azizjon Ganiev tried his luck from long range, sending the ball into the top corner of Portugal’s goal. But Uzbekistan’s celebrations did not last long: after a VAR review, the referee disallowed the goal for a foul by Abbosbek Fayzullaev on João Cancelo in the build-up.
Portugal then quickly took the game beyond Uzbekistan’s reach, and near the end of the first half Bruno Fernandes delivered a precise pass to Ronaldo, who was left unmarked in the penalty area and calmly shot into the bottom corner.
Portugal eased the pace slightly in the second half but still managed to score twice more. Portugal’s fourth came on the hour, when a Bruno Fernandes corner was diverted in for an Abduvohid Nematov own goal.
Late in the match, substitute Rafael Leao picked up a loose ball near the edge of the penalty area and, without hesitation, struck a powerful and accurate shot into the top corner to make it 5-0.
“This was the response we got to the draw with DR Congo. Sometimes you need a match like the one against DR Congo in order to progress in the tournament. Today we saw a team with the same attitude and commitment, but more mature, because this was no longer the opening match. I am very pleased with the result,” FIFA’s official website quoted Martinez as saying after the match.
“I have nothing to blame my team for: the difference between our teams was enormous. If you concede in the first ten minutes against a team like Portugal, it becomes very difficult,” Cannavaro said.
In the other second-round match in the group, Colombia defeated DR Congo 1-0 and moved to the top of the table with six points. Portugal are second with four points, DR Congo are third with one point, while Uzbekistan remain without a point.
A total of 32 teams will advance to the World Cup knockout stage: the 24 teams finishing first and second in their groups, plus the eight best third-placed teams.
In Group K, only Colombia have so far guaranteed a place in the knockout stage, as they can no longer finish lower than second regardless of the outcome of their match against Portugal on June 28.
Uzbekistan must beat DR Congo in their final group match, scheduled for June 28 Central Asia time, to finish third and remain in contention for a knockout-stage place. As The Times of Central Asia previously reported, Uzbekistan are the first Central Asian team to qualify for the World Cup finals.
