Portugal's national team successfully launched its eighth participation in the World Cup, achieving an exciting victory over its Ghanaian counterpart with a score of 3-2, in the opening matches of both teams in the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

The match was held at Stadium 974, which will be completely dismantled after the World Cup ends, as part of Group G of the first round of the group stage.

A Weak Start

The first half of the match was disappointing, with few scoring opportunities, before the situation completely changed in the second half, which was exciting and witnessed the scoring of all five goals.

Cristiano Ronaldo caused the Ghanaian defense to commit a foul inside the penalty area, and the American referee of Moroccan origin, Ismail Al-Fath, blew his whistle indicating a penalty in favor of Portugal.

The Ghanaian protests did not convince the referee to change his decision, so Cristiano himself stepped up and powerfully shot to the right of goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi, scoring Portugal's first goal in the 65th minute.

Thanks to this goal, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player in World Cup history to score goals in five different editions, and raised his total World Cup goals to eight.

"The Don" needs only one goal to equal the record of his compatriot Eusébio, who has nine goals, to share the throne of the top scorers of the "Europe of Brazil" in the World Cup.

But Cristiano’s joy lasted only 7 minutes, after André Ayew succeeded in equalizing the score, taking advantage of an error in the Portuguese defense coverage, placing the ball easily in the net.

Portugal’s response did not take long, as Bruno Fernandes passed the ball to João Félix, who advanced from the right side, then placed the ball over the goalkeeper into the net in the 78th minute.
Ghana’s team did not recover from the shock of the second goal, as the Portuguese rushed them with the third goal from a quick counterattack, where the ball reached Fernandes, then to Rafael Leão, who sent it to the far left corner, a ground shot into the net.

Ghana revived the match again, after Osman Bukari reduced the score in the 89th minute with a header, placing it to the left in the net, difficult for goalkeeper Diego Costa, but the match ended with an exciting Portuguese win.

Portuguese Lead

The Portuguese team topped Group G since the opening round after achieving its first three points, while the "Black Stars" are at the bottom with no points.

Meanwhile, the Uruguay and South Korea teams settled for a goalless draw in the match preceding the Portugal and Ghana encounter, which was held at the Education City Stadium.