Cristiano Ronaldo leads Portugal into last four
Saint Petersburg, June 25: Cristiano Ronaldo expressed his delight at firing Portugal into the Confederations Cup semifinals after netting his 75th international goal in Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing of New Zealand.
“I’m very happy to be in the semi-finals. We’re confident and want to win,” said Ronaldo, who picked up his third straight manof-the-match award in Russia.
Despite the off-field turmoil over his taxes and constant speculation about his future, the Portugal captain has dazzled on the pitch in Russia and scored two goals in three matches.
Ronaldo converted a 33rd-minute penalty to fire the Euro 2016 winners in front in Saint Petersburg before Bernardo Silva turned in the second goal four minutes later.
Andre Silva added a third on 80 minutes before Nani completed the rout in stoppage time to ensure Portugal finished above Mexico on goal difference.
“I thought we played well in many parts of the game; in others, not so well. Overall though, it was a fair victory,” said Portugal coach Fernando Santos.
Ronaldo’s latest goal sent him level with Hungary great Sandor Kocsis and to within nine of the legendary Ferenc Puskas’ European record of 84 at international level.
After demolishing New Zealand, Portugal progressed as Group A winners and will face the runners-up in Group B — likely Germany or Chile — next Wednesday in Kazan for a place in the July 2 final.
Mexico eliminated hosts Russia with a 2-1 win to join Portugal on seven points, with the Gold Cup winners to meet the second-placed side from Group B in the last four.
Lozano heads Mexico into semis
Hirving Lozano’s courageous second-half header sealed Mexico’s comeback victory over 10-man Russia in Kazan.
Hosts Russia took a deserved 25thminute lead through Aleksandr Samedov, but Nestor Araujo equalised for Mexico with a looping header on the half hour. Igor Akinfeev was then left embarrassed as Lozano nipped in front of the Russia goalkeeper to head in from the edge of the area on 52 minutes after a towering clearance caused chaos in the home defence. Russia suffered a further blow when Yury Zhirkov was dismissed on 68 minutes and substitute Igor Smolnikov blazed over from close range with a quarter of an hour remaining to compound their misery.
“We knew we were going to have a really tough game against a very strong side in the host nation, who simply had to go for the win,” said Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
“This is a big victory for Mexican football. I think we deserved to win and we’re delighted with the result and the performance of the team.”
For Russia, it was their final competitive fixture ahead of next year’s World Cup, but coach Stanislav Cherchesov remained upbeat despite his side’s early exit.
“I’m confident that all the players who’ve taken part in the tournament will draw on the experience to develop and mature,” he said. St Petersburg: The relaid pitch at the St Petersburg stadium was criticised again on Saturday, this time by Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo and coach Fernando Santos after their 4-0 win over New Zealand in the Confederations Cup. The 68,000-seat stadium, the home of Russian football powerhouse Zenit, will be a flagship venue at the 2018 World Cup. It will also host the final of the current tournament next Sunday. The pitch had to be hastily relaid after severe criticism from football officials when it cut up badly during the inaugural match there in April. It appeared to survive the previous Confederations Cup games between Russia and New Zealand and Cameroon and Australia, but Ronaldo reopened the wounds on Saturday, complaining that the grass was too long. “It was a difficult pitch where the grass was somewhat too long and it was almost impossible to Moscow: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko on Sunday shrugged off a report that the country’s entire 2014 World Cup squad was under Fifa investigation for doping. British newspaper The Mail on Sunday wrote that the Russian players are being probed by Fifa as part of a broader scandal over allegations of state-backed doping in the country. play better than we did,” he told Portuguese media after picking up his third successive man-ofthe-match award. Coach Fernando Santos said the teams were prevented from training on it the day before the game. “It’s an excellent stadium but it’s a shame the pitch has problems,” he told reporters. “I hope they can get the pitch in better condition because it’s always important for the quality of the match, especially where you have teams which are technically strong and fast.” Reuters But Mutko — who also heads the country’s football authorities — blasted the report as “nonsense” and insisted that there has never been any problem with doping in the Russian game. “There have never been and will never be any problems with doping in our football - our team are permanently being tested, they undergo doping tests after every match,” Mutko told TASS news agency. The Mail on Sunday reported that the 2018 World Cup hosts’ squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and a further 11 players are being looked into after they ended up on a list of over 1,000 “people of interest” compiled by world antidoping authorities. The article quoted a Fifa spokesman as saying that football’s governing body was “still investigating the allegations”. There is as yet no clear proof that the players were guilty of doping despite the alleged suspicions, the newspaper added. Four of the Russian players from the 2014 World Cup squad in Rio have been involved at the Confederations Cup.