Without Ronaldo, Portugal Beat Qatar 3-1

Qatar again became the target of the trial. (photo: Qatar football)

JAKARTA - Portugal succeeded in defeating Qatar, which was forced to play nine players with a score of 3-1. The friendly match between the 2016 European Champions and the 2019 Asian champions was held on Saturday, 4 September evening at the Stadium, Nagyerdel, Hungary.

Portugal took the lead through Andre Silva's header in the 23rd minute. Two minutes later Fernando Santos' men doubled the lead with a header from Otávio Edmilson da Silva Monteiro.

In this match, Portugal itself is without its captain Cristiano Ronaldo, who is undergoing preparations and tests at Manchester United.

Furthermore, in the second half, Qatar was able to reduce the lag when Abdelkarim Hassan scored a goal in the 62nd minute.

In the final minutes of the match, Qatar was forced to play with nine men. Barsham gets a red card referee. The VAR footage proves he turned down a goal-scoring opportunity.

Next Bruno Fernandes scored a penalty to seal Portugal's victory, 3-1. Qatar was forced to play with nine players after Khoukhi received a red card from the referee for being too direct in protesting the referee's decision about Qatar's penalty decision.

The defeat that plagued Qatar made Felix Sanchez's team conceded seven in the last two trials. Before losing 1-3 to Portugal, Qatar was also beaten by Serbia, 0-4 in a test match on Thursday, September 2.

This leaves Qatar, the host of the 2022 World Cup, with a lot of homework to do. Especially their backline that looks very easy to concede.

The remaining time of less than a year should be used by Felix Sanchez to build a stronger and more compact team. At least it won't be a month for the 2022 World Cup.