On one side of the barricades on Wednesday was the famous 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo and one of Portugal’s most talented generations in the country’s history, and on the other side was Congolese, who returned to the biggest football tournament after a 52-year absence.
The last time Congo played in the World Cup was in 1974, when it was still called Zaire. Then the Africans lost all three matches, did not score a single goal and conceded as many as 14 of them.
The first goal was almost in the net – 6 minutes. after a pass into the penalty area, Joao Neves gave the Portuguese the lead with an excellent header. After him, the team calmed down more and Portugal had 68% of the ball. time, but hit the goal only 2 times.
Meanwhile, the Congolese footballers managed to score against Portugal in the “locker room” in the last seconds of the first half.
In the 5th minute added by the referee, the representatives of Congo took a corner, it was played out and after passing the ball to the penalty area, Yoane Wissa disarmed the Portuguese goalkeeper with a beautiful header. So after the first half, the teams parted peacefully – 1:1.
All eyes were on Ronaldo, but he had just 16 first-half touches, the worst of any player. Diego Costa, the goalkeeper of the Portuguese national team, touched the same number of balls in 45 minutes.
In the second half, the Portuguese rebounded, in the 55th minute. scored a goal, but it was disallowed after a VAR review – Joao Cancelo was offside.
On the other hand, the Congolese team also hit the post. Europeans from 68 min. played furiously on the opponent’s side, but the ball could not find its way into the Congolese goal.
The match ended in a draw, which was equivalent to a defeat for the Portuguese, as the latter team publicly says that they came to the championship to win the main trophy.
The legendary C. Ronaldo ended up being the worst player in the Portuguese team – he touched the ball the least: just 25 times.
Ronaldo, 41, is now competing in his sixth World Cup and has the chance to become the first player in history to win six different World Cups. However, he failed to score in the first match.
