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Rúben Neves came to the rescue for Portugal with a dramatic decisive strike in their World Cup match against the Republic of Ireland, following the Irish goalkeeper had kept out a spot-kick from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Match Summary

Neves headed home during injury time to secure a slender victory, several seasons after the star striker had scored twice at the death to overcome a stubborn Irish side.

Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men appeared poised to depart the Portuguese capital with a hard-fought point, but ultimately suffered defeat, despite regaining a significant amount of honor with a gritty performance that overshadowed some of the memories of last month’s embarrassing loss in Armenia.

However, the defeat puts them in a difficult position, with their first three qualifying group matches having yielded only a single draw. They need to defeat Armenia in Dublin on Tuesday to maintain any chance of claiming a playoff place.

Major Moments

• The Liverpool keeper seemed to have secured Ireland a point when he superbly kept out Ronaldo’s penalty with his outstretched foot after Francisco Trincão’s effort had hit Dara O’Shea’s hand.
• Neves saved Portugal in the first minute of stoppage time when he directed Trincão’s cross past Kelleher.

Other Group Outcomes

Group F

The Hungarian team boosted their chances of qualifying by securing their initial victory with a 2-0 triumph over the Armenian side, climbing above their opponents into second place behind the group leaders in Group F. A Hungarian forward provided Hungary the advantage in the first half and Zsombor Gruber secured the victory in late stoppage time.

Group K

Serbia suffered a narrow loss at home to the Albanian squad, with the outcome meaning England can now secure their passage from their qualifying group by defeating Latvia on Tuesday. Rey Manaj scored the decisive strike for his team with a neat shot in first-half added time.

The Latvian side difficulties in Group K continued as they were held to a two-all draw at home by Andorra. Ian Olivera found the net for the away side late on from time to earn them their first point of the qualifiers and extend Latvia’s poor form to several matches.

Spain’s Group

Spain maintained their impressive Group E campaign with a comfortable victory over Georgia after goals from a Spanish attacker and his teammate in Elche. The result extended the European champions’ perfect run in qualifying, having scored eleven strikes in three matches without letting in a goal.

Despite the absence of key figures such as Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams, and the midfield anchor due to injuries, Luis de la Fuente’s side showcased their superiority against a Georgian team that spent most of the match defending deep. The home side dominated the match with more than 80% of the ball, and Georgia did not have one shot on target or create a scoring opportunity, with only goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili preventing a heavy defeat.

Pino opened the scoring in the 24th minute from a well-executed dead-ball move, and Oyarzabal secured the victory in the 64th minute with a spectacular free kick after Mamardashvili had saved a Spanish player’s spot-kick.

Additional Scores

• The Turkish national team bounced back with a 6-1 thrashing over the Bulgarian side to stay close to the group leaders in their section. The Spanish club’s a young talent was among the goal-getters.
• The Italian squad boosted their hopes of at least reaching the knockout stage with a 3-1 win away to the Estonian team, thanks to strikes from a forward, another attacker, and a third scorer.

Gennaro Gattuso commented: “We’re not thinking about the group leaders or Israel. We know what we have to do.”

Italy failed to qualify for the previous two World Cups, on two occasions missing out in the playoffs, and the feared playoff path now looks their primary opportunity after Norway’s 5-0 hammering over the Israeli side in Group I. Norway are leading on eighteen points from six matches. The Italians have twelve points with a game in hand on their rivals and are a trio of points ahead of their next opponents. The Estonian squad remain fourth on three points. The top teams qualify directly for the tournament, with the runners-up going into the qualifying stage.

The Italian national team host their rivals on Tuesday, where a win would cement the runner-up position and, while they can still theoretically catch the group leaders on the table, the leaders’ much better goal ratio means a qualifying place likely awaits for the Italian squad.