JAKARTA - Portugal national team striker Goncalo Ramos scored the decisive goal that led Portugal to beat Croatia 2-1 to advance to the round of 16 at the BMO Field Stadium, Toronto, United States, Friday WIB.
In the 32-big match, which was also the first meeting between the two teams at the World Cup, Portugal dominated to pressure from the start of the match. Roberto Martinez's team immediately created a number of opportunities through Bruno Fernandes and Vitinha in the fourth minute, but Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic was quick to thwart the attempt.
Not staying silent, Croatia also threatened more through Ante Budimir's shot, but was not able to change the position.
The intensity of the match remained high in the first 15 minutes. Portugal again got an opportunity through a corner kick, while Croatia several times stopped the opponent's attack through fouls, including those committed by Petar Sucic and Mateo Kovacic. Cristiano Ronaldo also tried his luck, but the opportunity has not yet produced a goal.
Portugal continued to dominate possession of the ball and again created a golden opportunity in the 16th minute. Renato Veiga greeted Nuno Mendes' corner with a header that was able to overcome the control of the Croatian players, but the ball failed to score.
Entering the last 15 minutes of the first half, Portugal increasingly bombarded the Croatian defense. Livakovic was again the savior of his team in the 33rd minute by thwarting two consecutive opportunities for Bruno Fernandes.
Towards the break, the tempo of the match continued to be hard with a number of fouls from both teams, however, until the referee blew the whistle to end the half, no goal was created.
Croatia immediately took the initiative of the attack at the start of the second half and managed to break the deadlock in the 53rd minute through Ivan Perisic after continuing to pressure the Portuguese defense.
Zlatko Dalic's team threatened several times through Mateo Kovacic and Nikola Vlasic, while Diogo Costa was forced to make an important save to keep Portugal's goal.
The pressure made Portugal more defensive at the start of the second half. Portugal tried to respond through Rafael Leao who almost equalized in the 58th minute. The AC Milan winger fired a hard shot that hit the crossbar and failed to score. On the other hand, Diogo Costa showed his toughness again by thwarting Sucic's chances.
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez then made three substitutions at once by bringing in Bernardo Silva, Goncalo Ramos, and Francisco Conceicao to replace Vitinha, Joao Cancelo, and Pedro Neto. The changes immediately had a positive impact as Portugal intensified their pressure on Croatia's defense.
Portugal's momentum came in the 65th minute when the referee, after reviewing the VAR footage, decided to award a penalty kick due to Nikola Vlasic's foul in a corner situation. Ronaldo, who stepped forward as the executor, successfully carried out his duties in the 68th minute to equalize the score to 1-1.
After the score was tied again, the match became more open. Croatia obtained a number of golden opportunities through Kovacic and Igor Matanovic, but all of them were able to be broken by Costa, including a brave rescue using his face when facing Matanovic's shot in the 77th minute.
On the other hand, as reported by Antara, Renato Veiga and Goncalo Ramos also threatened the Croatian goal, while Mario Pasalic headed the ball narrowly past the post before the end of normal time.
When the match seemed to be tied, Portugal scored the winning goal in extra time. Leao sent a pass that Ramos completed to score in the 90th minute + 4 to bring Portugal back to a 2-1 lead.
Croatia managed to score at the end of the match, but was annulled after a VAR review because it was offside. The referee finally blew the long whistle after 19 minutes of extra time, ensuring Portugal's dramatic 2-1 win over Croatia.
The line-up:
Portugal (4-2-3-1): Diogo Costa; Ruben Dias, Renato Veiga, Joao Cancelo, Nuno Mendes; Joao Neves, Vitinha; Bruno Fernandes; Rafael Leao, Pedro Neto; Cristiano Ronaldo (captain).
Croatia (4-2-3-1): Dominik Livakovic; Josip Stanisic, Marin Pongracic, Josip Sutalo; Mateo Kovacic, Luka Modric (captain); Nikola Vlasic, Martin Baturina, Petar Sucic; Ante Budimir, Ivan Perisic.
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