Izuchukwu Okosi
Portugal claimed all three points against Ghana Thursday evening in their Group H game with a 3-2 win to enhance chances of qualification to the round of 16 stage.
Portugal dominated proceedings in the first half but both sides went for the broke in the second half and Cristiano Ronaldo controversially earned a penalty in the 64th minute becoming the first player to ever score in five World Cups.
It wasn’t long before Ghana came back, with Andre Ayew slotting the ball past the Portuguese keeper at the 75th minute from a pass from teammate Mohammed Kudus.
Soon after, Joao Felix put Portugal back in the lead at minute 78, with Rafael Leao widening the lead two minutes later.
Ghana’s Osman Bukari managed to close the gap in minute 89, but it was too late for the Black Stars to come back.
Uruguay and South Korea, the other two teams in group H, ended their game earlier today with a 0-0 draw. The victory places Portugal in an early lead as the team aims to make it out of the group stage.
Former Nigeria international Julius Aghahowa bared his mind on the game in the World Cup studio of Brila FM Lagos.
The Group G clash looked to be any team’s for the taking but Portugal went in front in the 64th minute through Ronaldo who was on Tuesday relieved of his Manchester United contract.
“The penalty awarded to Portugal demoralized Ghana. The referee should have gone to the monitor to confirm that it was indeed a penalty. He didn’t and that affected the Ghanaians,” Aghahowa who was Nigeria’s star of the 2002 World Cup in Korda/Japan where he scored the Eagles, goal in the 2-1 defeat to Sweden said on radio.
“The penalty is contestable. My problem with that is the ref didn’t even go to check.
“But thankfully they scored two goals and spiritedly went for the third and should motivate the team going into the last two group matches,” the onetime Shakhtar Doneskt and Wigan Athletic forward said.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
