Ronaldo, Portugal Wallop Uzbekistan 5-0
- Forrest Wimberly
- 22 hours ago
- 3 min read
Credit Sky Sports
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
A sea of red shirts welcomed both teams to the pitch in Houston, Texas for match day two of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Group K competition. The heavily favored Navigators in all red pressed early against the White Wolves, making just their second World Cup appearance in this their debut tournament. When the final whistle sounded, it was a convincing 5-0 win for Portugal.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr) wasted little time in opening the scoring in the 6th minute to the loud roars of the mostly pro-Portugal crowd. CR7 one-timed a skipping cross from Joao Cancelo (FC Barcelona) provided from the right flank into the lower corner of the near post to set the Navigators on their way over the stunned White Wolves.
The Uzbeks seemed a step slower than their opponents and struggled to contain the Portuguese possession and attacking movements resorting to playing a very defensive-minded 1-5-4-1 formation and conceding frequent fouls to disrupt the endless attacking waves. One such foul created a Portuguese free kick at the top of the box in the 16th minute. As the referee sorted out the double wall, thousands of phones came out ready to certainly capture CR7 taking the free kick to secure his brace. The left-footed Nuno Mendes (PSG) also stood over the ball with CR7 and it was Mendes who stepped up and rocketed a low, curling, driven shot to the surprise of everyone except Mendes and CR7 into the lower back corner of the net for the early 2-0 advantage.
Uzbekistan seemed to regroup after the hydration break and came out of their defensive shell playing higher up the field. A hard challenge at the top of the Portugal box turned the ball over to the Uzbek attack that created a magical moment for Aziz Ganiev (Al Bataeh) who fired his shot into the back post upper 90.
VAR, however, would check the shocking goal and ultimately disallow the goal due to the foul in the buildup play keeping the score 2-0 Portugal.
CR7 earned his brace in the 39th minute running down a through ball inside the Uzbek box to then roll the ball low into the back post past the onrushing White Wolves’ keeper and into the commanding 3-0 lead.
CR7 almost had his hat trick before the break but Uzbek defender Abdukodir Khusanov (Manchester City) cleared the ball off the line in first-half stoppage time to keep the score 3-0 in a very one-sided half.
Portugal kept winning free kicks in dangerous areas and in the 58th minute tried to convert a kick from something cooked up on the training ground. Ronaldo made a dummy run over the ball to then continue moving forward up to the defensive wall, timing his run to the taking of the free kick. The kick was scooped up and over the wall to the running CR7 all alone inside the Uzbek box. The Uzbek goalkeeper Abduvohid Nematov (Nasaf) was quick off his line to meet CR7 at the penalty spot right at the critical moment of the shot to turn the ball away for a corner kick.
The ensuing corner kick was driven low into the near post area where it pinballed around off numerous players from both teams before it ultimately came off an Uzbek player and crossed the line for an own goal and the 4-0 lead in the 60th minute.
The final 30 minutes of the match saw Portugal keep feeding the ball into CR7 looking for his hat trick and numerous substitutions for both teams. Substitute Rafa Leao (AC Milan) was the beneficiary of an unfortunate bounce off an Uzbek defender in the 88th minute to make it 5-0. A driven cross from the right flank defected off the leg of a recovering defender and fell kindly to Leao who was making a late, back-post run. Leao smashed the ball into the upper 90 near post netting to make no mistake as to the result of this match.
CR7 had one final sliding chance in second-half stoppage time but just didn’t have the youthful legs needed to connect with the driven cross to turn the ball into the nets.
Portugal moves to the top of the group and Uzbekistan is eliminated with the result. Portugal plays Columbia in Miami and Uzkekistan plays DR Congo in Atlanta on June 27 in the Group K finales.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREMIER MEDIA GROUP / NATIONAL SOCCER NETWORK /
NATIONAL SOCCER NETWORK ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561215500230
— All Rights Reserved, Premier Media Group / National Soccer Network
Comments