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The Portuguese midfielder came to the rescue for the Portuguese side with a injury-time winning goal in their World Cup encounter against the Republic of Ireland, after the Irish goalkeeper had kept out a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Match Summary

Neves nodded in during injury time to snatch a slender win, four years after Ronaldo had scored twice late on to defeat a stubborn Ireland team.

The Irish squad appeared poised to leave Lisbon with a hard-fought draw, but ultimately left empty-handed, despite restoring a good deal of pride with a gritty performance that overshadowed some of the memories of last month’s disappointing loss in Armenia.

However, the loss puts them in a difficult position, with their first three qualifying group games having produced only a single point. They need to defeat Armenia in Dublin on Tuesday to maintain any chance of claiming a qualifying spot.

Major Incidents

• The Liverpool keeper seemed to have earned Ireland a point when he superbly saved Ronaldo’s spot-kick with his trailing leg after a Portuguese player’s effort had hit an Irish defender’s hand.
• The match-winner saved Portugal in the opening moments of added time when he headed a delivery from the wing past the Irish goalkeeper.

Other Group Results

Portugal’s Group

The Hungarian team enhanced their hopes of advancing by securing their initial victory with a 2-0 victory over Armenia, moving above their rivals into the runner-up spot behind the group leaders in the standings. A Hungarian forward gave Hungary the lead in the opening period and a teammate secured the points in late added time.

Group K

Serbia suffered a 1-0 loss at home to the Albanian squad, with the result meaning the Three Lions can now secure their passage from their qualifying group by defeating Latvia on Tuesday. An Albanian striker netted the only goal for Albania with a well-taken volley in late added time.

The Latvian side struggles in Group K persisted as they were forced to a two-all draw at home by Andorra. Ian Olivera scored for the visitors late on from time to claim them their initial draw of the qualifying campaign and extend Latvia’s poor form to five games.

Group E

The Spanish national team continued their impressive Group E run with a 2-0 victory over the Georgian side after goals from a Spanish attacker and Mikel Oyarzabal in Elche. The result extended the European champions’ perfect record in the qualifiers, having scored eleven strikes in three matches without conceding.

In spite of the unavailability of players such as a talented winger, another forward, and Rodri due to injuries, Luis de la Fuente’s side demonstrated their superiority against a Georgia team that passed most of the match defending deep. Spain dominated the match with over eighty percent possession, and Georgia did not have one shot on target or generate a scoring opportunity, with only shot-stopper Giorgi Mamardashvili preventing a rout.

The scorer broke the deadlock in the 24th minute from a well-executed dead-ball move, and his compatriot wrapped up the win in the second period with a stunning set-piece after the Georgian keeper had denied Ferran Torres’s spot-kick.

Additional Scores

• The Turkish national team returned to winning ways with a 6-1 thrashing over Bulgaria to keep the pressure on Spain in Group E. The Spanish club’s Arda Güler was among the goal-getters.
• The Italian squad improved their hopes of at least reaching the qualifying playoffs with a comfortable win away to Estonia, thanks to goals from Moise Kean, Mateo Retegui, and Francesco Pio Esposito.

Gennaro Gattuso commented: “Our focus isn’t on Norway or Israel. We are aware of what we have to do.”

The Azzurri missed out for the last two global tournaments, on two occasions missing out in the qualifying rounds, and the feared playoff path now looks their most likely chance after the Norwegian team’s comprehensive hammering over the Israeli side in their qualifying group. The Norwegians are leading on eighteen points from six matches. The Italians have twelve points with a game in hand on their competitors and are a trio of points ahead of Israel. The Estonian squad stay in fourth place on three points. The group winners advance automatically for the World Cup, with the second-placed sides entering the playoffs.

Italy host Israel on Tuesday, where a win would secure the runner-up position and, while they can still theoretically overtake Norway on the table, the Norwegians’ far superior goal ratio means a playoff spot likely beckons for the Italian squad.