Portugal survived a mighty scare in a drama-filled 2-1 victory over Croatia to qualify for the Last 16 of the FIFA World Cup football tournament in Toronto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The match had fans from both sides at their edge of their seats. A goal against the run of play, a penalty, an injury time winner and two disallowed goals, with the second coming three minutes past the proclaimed 10-minutes injury time in the second half, all made the match-up memorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was also a match that was likely to be the last World Cup appearance for Portuguese stalwart Cristiano Ronaldo or Croatian veteran Luka Modric. Ronaldo was subbed off late in the second half when both sides were tied 1-1, but it turned out that he is the one that would be back for at least one more match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goncalo Ramos scored the injury-time winner as Portugal battled into the last 16. Ramos connected with a superb pass from Rafael Leao in the fourth minute of stoppage time to snuff out a Croatia team which had created the lion’s share of the chances in sapping evening heat in Toronto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a dramatic ending, Croatia thought they had equalised in the dying seconds but Josko Gvardiol’s goal was chalked off for offside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Croatians were left stunned by the decision, while Portugal’s players celebrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A keenly-fought first half saw Portugal dominating play but were let down by poor decision making in the final third as Croatia soaked up the pressure to take the game into the break on level terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a different story in the second half as Croatia started exhibiting more control with the evergreen Luka Modric dictating play at the heart of the European side’s midfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perisic had stunned the Portuguese by slotting the ball under the advancing Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa in the 53rd minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within minutes, Ronaldo had the ball in the net after controlling a long pass, but his effort was disallowed for offside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Portugal got level when Renato Veiga was grabbed by Croatia’s Nikola Vlasic in the penalty area and after a VAR check, the referee pointed to the spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ronaldo stepped up to convert the penalty with ease, hitting the ball straight down the middle of the goal and pumping his fists with joy afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a pulsating game, Manchester City forward Mateo Kovacic’s low shot was pushed onto a post by ‘keeper Costa’s fingertips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still Croatia pushed and Peta Sucic had the ball in the net but the assistant referee’s flag was up for a clear offside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ronaldo was withdrawn in the 81st minute to allow Ruben Neves to come on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Croatia continued to create more chances than their opponents and Mario Pasalic came so close to winning the game with a header at the far post, but it bounced just wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when Ramos connected, the net bulged and Portugal were through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Portugal survived a mighty scare in a drama-filled 2-1 victory over Croatia to qualify for the Last 16<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[430],"tags":[276,63],"class_list":["post-14434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-fifa","tag-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t