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Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal are heading home after a brace from Edinson Cavani secured Uruguay a place in the World Cup quarter-finals.
There have been all manner of arresting goals scored in this tournament but a pair of centre-forwards combining to convert what was effectively a 100-yard one-two for the opening goal provided a new category altogether.
With just over six minutes on the clock, Cavani picked up the ball on Uruguay’s right touchline, about 15 yards past the halfway line, and speared a raking pass over to Suarez on the opposite side. Suarez controlled on his chest and, while Cavani made a dash for the six-yard box, the Barcelona striker cut inside Ricardo and then bent a venomous cross from the edge of the penalty area over Jose Fonte and the despairing Raphael Guerreiro to Cavani.
Initially, it looked as if Cavani had craned his neck quite superbly to head home from close range. In fact, the ball hit his face and bounced in but the combination play was still something to savour.
That was seven minutes in and an early reminder that, for all its pre-match billing as a bruising, cynical slugfest between some of the game’s most wily and belligerent individuals, there were plenty of players on show who could play a bit, too.
Let’s be honest, though, more than a fair share wanted to see the fine arts interspersed with some occasional dark arts. It just wouldn’t have felt quite right without it, would it? And so we had the usual play-acting from Suarez and Pepe, a late poleaxing of Fonte by the uncompromising Martin Caceres and some grizzled old-school defending from Diego Godin, whose reaction to planting his forehead into the back of Goncalo Guedes’s head was the quickest rub and a shrug of the shoulders.
Towards the end of the first half, Suarez spent two minutes holding his head in apparent agony, like someone who had just been glassed, when he had actually been struck in the back by Guerreiro.
It was slim pickings for Ronaldo in that opening 45 minutes. Much like the 2009 Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United, he kept trying his hand from distance. One sighter was comfortably saved, another charged down and then he bludgeoned a free-kick into a wall.
The thing about Ronaldo, though, is that he always draws the eye. Even when he appears subdued, opponents know they can ill afford to allow him to escape their attentions. It has the added benefit of freeing up space and opportunities for team-mates and that certainly seemed to be the case when Pepe equalised for Portugal.
Portugal had won a corner after an intricate move that culminated in Diego Godin blocking a shot from Adrien Silva. Guerreiro played a short corner to Joao Mario, got the ball back and flung over an excellent cross. Godin and his central defensive partner for both club and country, Jose Gimenez, had been largely impenetrable in the air up until this point but the Atletico Madrid pairing appeared to be momentarily preoccupied by Ronaldo sandwiched between them. They had forgot about Pepe who powered into the hole behind them to thunder home his header.
The goal was a frustration for Uruguay but no more. Their obdurate, highly-organised backline had seldom looked like being breached but there is strength and balance running through Oscar Tabarez’s side and, within seven minutes, they were back in front. The ease with which Rodrigo Bentancur picked up possession, after a long punt upfield was knocked down, will have grated with Fernando Santos, the Portugal coach, but make no mistake about the quality that followed. Bentacur swept the ball across the edge of the penalty, right to left, and into the path of Cavani, who opened up his body and stroked a sublime first time finish low into the far corner.
Portugal pushed men forwards looking for an equaliser, with Ronaldo and Bernardo Silva leading the charge, but Uruguay held out.
Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-cup/2018/06/30/uruguay-vs-portugal-world-cup-2018-live-score-cristiano-ronaldo/