Ronaldo scores in Portugal’s win; Morocco eliminated
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 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-year-old 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.
Ronaldo had two more free kick chances, each from less than 20 yards. But both were blocked by a solid wall of defenders as the Portuguese ground out a result from an often poor display, much like it did two years ago on its run to the European Championship title.
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.
Morocco had enough scoring chances, nearly all from set pieces, and three came in a five-minute spell early in the second half. Younes Belhanda was twice denied by goalkeeper Rui Patricio’s diving saves, and defender Mehdi Benatia scooped a shot over the bar.
In stoppage time, Benatia lifted another shot too high with an even clearer chance.
“Those who know how to be in the penalty box and know how to make plays are the ones who make all the difference,” Morocco coach Herve Renard said.
Benatia, a rugged defender who plays for Juventus, led the effort to stop Ronaldo. His hard tackles from behind, however, earned him a yellow card.
There was a separate clash in the penalty area between Morocco winger Noureddine Amrabat and Portugal left back Raphael Guerreiro. Guerreiro raised his shirt to show the referee a set of scratches across the right side of his stomach, and Renard was lectured by American referee Mark Geiger for demanding a video review of the incident.
Portugal looks set to advance to the round of 16 while Morocco will certainly be going home.
Portugal now has four points and leads Group B ahead of the late match between Iran and Spain.
The Portuguese will play Iran in their final match Monday in Saransk.
SPAIN 1, IRAN 0
In 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 defense, 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.
It was far from a beautiful win, but the goal was enough to make Spain coach Fernando Hierro smile.
“We have four points,” Hierro said. “We were happier after the match against Portugal, but we only had one point.”
Spain and Portugal lead Group B with four points each following their 3-3 draw and 1-0 victories. Iran has three points, but Morocco has been eliminated.
Costa, who scored twice against Portugal, has three goals at this year’s World Cup, trailing Cristiano Ronaldo by one. He also has nine goals in his last nine starts for Spain.
He only had one chance against Iran, and he converted it.
“It’s going be tight [with Ronaldo],” Hierro said. “I know Diego is really committed, he has scored three goals in three matches. He can do better, he works hard, he is fighting both at the back and at the front.”
Facing a very compact Iranian team that came out to defend, Spain pressed high and controlled much of the game but found it difficult to threaten against Iran’s 10-man defense.
Spurred on by their vociferous fans, Iran’s imposing players did well to handle Spain’s attacks. Iran was also dangerous on the break, using the speed of its attacking players to threaten the Spanish back four but without creating many real chances.
Spain was mostly dangerous from setpieces, including in the 25th minute when a free kick from David Silva that took a deflection was stopped by Iran goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand.
Spain continued to apply strong pressure in the second half and Beiranvand stopped a strike from Sergio Busquets in the 49th minute with a superb one-handed diving save. He then palmed the rebound away before Lucas Vazquez could get to the ball.
Hierro’s players were almost caught against the run of the play when Karim Ansarifard unleashed a powerful strike that ended up in the side-netting following a long thrown in.
Then, trailing in the second half, Iran nearly equalized when Saeid Ezatolahi had a goal ruled out on video review.
Iran continued to push hard and managed to challenge with some fast counterattacks. Spain was lucky not to concede toward the end as Mehdi Taremi connected with a cross from Ansarifard, but his header from close range went over the crossbar.
First place in the group could be decided by goal difference.
Spain will face Morocco in its final match on Monday in Kaliningrad, while Portugal plays Iran in Saransk on the same day.
But with three points, Iran has still a chance to qualify for the knockout stage. The Iranians will need to beat Portugal to advance.