Ronaldo adds to his legacy in Portugal win
MOSCOW Off the top of his head, Cristiano Ronaldo scored yet another goal, set a European record and eliminated Morocco from the World Cup.
The Portugal forward headed in a fourth-minute cross from the right to give Portugal a 1-0 victory on Wednesday. It was his 85th goal for his country, the most for any European player in almost 150 years of international soccer.
“It was beautiful for me,” Ronaldo said after being voted the man of the match for the second straight game.
Ronaldo celebrated his goal by pointing at his chest during a trademark run and soaring leap toward the corner flag at the Luzhniki Stadium.
The goal moved the 33-yearold Ronaldo ahead of Ferenc Puskas, another Real Madrid great who scored his last goal for Hungary in 1956. He is alone in second place worldwide behind Ali Daei’s 109 goals for Iran.
“He has a great coach,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos said through a translator, laughing when asked about Ronaldo. “He’s like a port wine. He knows how to refine his capacity and age at his best.”
Ronaldo’s four goals top the individual scoring chart at this year’s World Cup. Buoyed by his hat trick in a 3-3 draw against Spain on Friday, including a spectacular free kick late in the game, Ronaldo scored against Morocco with his first meaningful touch of the match.
He was too strong for marker Manuel Da Costa and found space in the goalmouth to meet Joao Moutinho’s cross following a short corner.
There were 42 fouls in the match, and only two Portuguese shots on target. Most of the best play came from Morocco, but the North Africans now have no chance of advancing from the group stage after a second straight 1-0 loss.
SPAIN 1, IRAN 0
KAZAN, Russia — Patience is a virtue, and Spain showed plenty of it to overcome a tough challenge from Iran.
During a frustrating evening at the Kazan Arena when the 2010 champions struggled to break through the stubborn Iranian defence, Diego Costa scored on a deflection for a win.
Costa scored in the 54th minute after being set up by Andres Iniesta. The powerful striker turned in the area and took a shot that deflected off Ramin Rezeian before bouncing back onto Costa’s knee and into the net.
0 URUGUAY 1, SAUDI ARABIA
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia — With a single goal, Luis Suarez settled the fate of four teams in the group stage of the World Cup.
The controversial striker, who was making his 100th appearance in his national team’s light blue, scored to give Uruguay a victory over Saudi Arabia and a spot in the round of 16.
The result, though, had a domino effect in Group A. It also put host Russia into the next round while eliminating both Saudi Arabia and Egypt at the same time.
Suarez, who was kicked out of the last World Cup for biting an opponent during a match, knocked in a corner kick from Carlos Sanchez in the 23rd minute for his 52nd goal for his country in that century of matches.