At the Lusail Iconic Stadium in Qatar on Monday night, Bruno Fernandes scored twice as Portugal defeated Uruguay 2-0 to go to six points in Group H and secure a place in the knockout stages.
Portugal survived a frantic game-ending sequence to advance to the round of 16, joining France and Brazil. Portugal will play South Korea on Friday to wrap up group play.
In a scoreless first half, Portugal outpossessed Uruguay by about 70%, although the South Americans came the closest to scoring when Rodrigo Bentancur broke through only to have goalie Diogo Costa stop his attempt in the 32nd minute.
Early showboating by Cristiano Ronaldo, who used his shoulder to deflect a long pass into William Carvalho’s path so that his thunderous volley would go over the crossbar, set the tone for the game.
Bernardo Silva, Fernandes, and Joao Felix were initially frustrated in front of goal as Portugal first appeared dangerous on the approach but struggled to create goalscoring opportunities.
In the 54th minute, Ronaldo appeared to have deflected a crossshot from Fernandes into the net, beating Uruguayan goalkeeper Sergio Rochet. On closer scrutiny, it was discovered that Ronaldo’s former Manchester United teammate Fernandes really scored the goal that had been originally assigned to Ronaldo.
A protester carrying a pride flag entered the field of play shortly after the goal, but was quickly pursued down and brought away by security personnel.
Uruguay fought valiantly to draw even and came close to doing so in the 75th minute when substitute Maxi Gomez curled a shot from the top of the penalty area, but Costa was beat and it miraculously rebounded off the post.
Portugal was eliminated early from the 2018 World Cup.
