Portugal was with its star Cristiano Ronaldo on time after reaching the final of the third track of the European qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, by defeating its guest Turkey 3-1 Thursday at the “Dragao” stadium in Porto.
Otavio (15), Diogo Jota (42) and Matos Luis Nunish (90 + 4) scored the goals of Portugal, and Burak Yilmaz (65) scored Turkey’s only goal, knowing that he also missed a penalty kick in the 85th minute.
And Portugal hit a date on Tuesday in the final of the track with North Macedonia, which achieved a resounding surprise by defeating Italy in the last home 1-0 in overtime to prevent it from participating in the finals for the second time in a row.
The Portuguese national team entered the thirteenth international tournament in a row since its last absence in the France World Cup finals in 1998. While the Turkish team was Yemeni in continuing the journey and the possibility of participating in the world finals for the third time after 1954 and 2002 when it came third.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos decided to involve the Brazilian wing, Otavio, of origin, on the right flank, to support Ronaldo, who played as a spearhead, while Jota occupied the position of the left wing.
On the other hand, Manchester City left-back Joao Cancelo was absent due to suspension, and his teammate, Robin Diach, due to injury.
The owners of the land started the match strongly and controlled the course of the game completely in the midst of a Turkish loss.
After Jota missed a very easy opportunity when he hit a ball from a few meters over the crossbar (10) and the Turkish goalkeeper saved Ronaldo’s shot (12), Portugal scored the first goal when the ball reached Bernardo Silva on the outskirts of the area, so he fired it strong with his left I wanted from the right post and prepared in front of Ottavio He followed it into the net despite the intervention of the Turkish goalkeeper (15).
The Turkish team abandoned its guard and exchanged attacks with its Portuguese counterpart, and Genghis Onder, the French player of Marseille, hit a surprisingly powerful ball, taking advantage of a mistake by Danilo in the hands of Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa (21), then the latter threw a cunning ball around a corner (27).
But Portugal responded by scoring the second goal after a counterattack in which the ball reached Ottavio, who raised it inside the area, to be followed by Jota with his head into the net (42).
At the beginning of the second half, Turkey goalkeeper Ogurchan Çakir saved a powerful shot from Bernardo Silva (46).
Then Jota tried to drop the ball over the advancing goalkeeper, but he shot it far (56).
The Turks succeeded in reducing the difference after a cunning ball from Ondiz towards Yilmaz, who followed it in the absence of the Portuguese defense into the net (65).
The Turks pressed in an attempt to equalize, and they had a golden opportunity when the referee awarded a penalty kick after a violation by veteran defender Jose Fonte inside the area. Yilmaz spurned her but knocked her over the crossbar (85).
Substitute Mateusz Luis Nunish decided the result in favor of Portugal after receiving a perfect ball from fellow substitute Liao, who followed it into the net.
In the last seconds Ronaldo hit the crossbar.