On Tuesday, Bruno Fernandes scored twice in a 2-0 win over Italy’s conquerors in North Macedonia to propel Portugal to the 2022 World Cup. When Italy was knocked out of the World Cup, North Macedonia dreamed of their first-ever appearance in the finals. But Portugal and Fernandes proved to be too much for them in Porto.
During the first half of the match, Fernandes scored off a pass from Real Madrid. Fernandes then made the win even easier in the second half by latching on to an inch-perfect cross from Diogo Jota.
Portugal’s win means they have qualified for six of the last six World Cups. Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, is getting to his fifth World Cup 37.
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The striker’s best previous result was making it to the semi-finals in 2006 when Portugal lost to Germany.
On Friday, North Macedonia, which is ranked 67th globally, beat Germany to finish second in Group J and then knocked out European champions Italy in the play-off semi-finals. Aleksandar Trajkovski scored a 92nd-minute winner in Palermo.
On the other hand, Portugal hasn’t been able to find a balance between its traditional conservative approach and a wide range of attacking talent that any country in the world would be proud of.
They didn’t get the top spot in Group A, and Fernando Santos’ team was happy when Turkey missed a penalty in the 85th minute with the score 2-1.
North Macedonia also got off to a good start. Their possession lasted long enough to get boos from an angry home crowd.
In the 14th minute, Jota set Ronaldo up, and the striker unleashed with his left foot, only to shoot wide of the far post.
It started with a Jota goal from a corner by Fernandes. Then in the 32nd minute, Fernandes scored after North Macedonia captain Stefan Ristovski made a mistake in front of the goal.
Fernandes caught Ristovski’s wild cross-field pass and passed it to his Manchester United teammate Ronaldo with a cushioned pass. Instead of shooting, Ronaldo moved to the right and went through the legs of Visar Misliu and back to Fernandes, who drove into the area where the game was going on.
This was Portugal’s most aggressive run, but Jota missed a chance to make it 2-0 before halftime. North Macedonia was relieved to reach the break without more punishment after Portugal’s best game run.
At the start of the second period, the visitors regrouped and found their feet. Fernandes and a slick Portuguese break led to a goal for the hosts.
Enis Bardhi and Portugal were away, so the ball went to Jota, who made a great cross into the area. This is how it worked: Fernandes came and caught the finish on the half-volley just right when he did. Pepe was taken away.
A late penalty was called for the North Macedonian team when Danilo Pereira snatched the ball away from Bojan Miovski in the area. Then, on another counter-attack, Ronaldo was stopped from getting Fernandes’ cross to the near post.
With the minnows out of the way, Ronaldo can look to Qatar.
