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Rúben Neves was the hero for Portugal with a dramatic winning goal in their World Cup encounter against Ireland, following the Irish goalkeeper had saved a spot-kick from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Game Summary

The Wolves midfielder nodded in during injury time to secure a 1-0 triumph, several seasons after Ronaldo had scored twice at the death to defeat a stubborn Ireland team.

Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men looked set to leave Lisbon with a hard-fought draw, but ultimately left empty-handed, despite regaining a significant amount of honor with a battling performance that overshadowed some of the recollections of last month’s embarrassing loss in Armenia.

Nevertheless, the defeat puts them in a difficult position, with their initial trio of qualifying group games having produced only a solitary point. They need to defeat Armenia in Dublin on Tuesday to keep alive any hope of claiming a playoff place.

Major Moments

• The Liverpool keeper seemed to have earned Ireland a point when he superbly kept out Ronaldo’s penalty with his trailing leg after Francisco Trincão’s effort had struck Dara O’Shea’s hand.
• Neves saved Portugal in the first minute of stoppage time when he directed Trincão’s cross past Kelleher.

Additional Qualifying Results

Portugal’s Group

The Hungarian team enhanced their chances of qualifying by picking up their first win with a 2-0 victory over the Armenian side, climbing above their rivals into second place behind Portugal in Group F. Daniel Lukacs provided his team the advantage in the opening period and Zsombor Gruber made sure of the victory in second-half added time.

England’s Group

Serbia suffered a narrow loss at home to Albania, with the result meaning England can now secure their passage from their qualifying group by beating Latvia on Tuesday. An Albanian striker scored the decisive strike for his team with a neat shot in late added time.

Latvia difficulties in their group continued as they were forced to a two-all draw at home by Andorra. Ian Olivera scored for the away side 12 minutes from time to claim them their initial draw of the qualifiers and prolong Latvia’s poor form to several matches.

Group E

Spain maintained their impressive Group E campaign with a 2-0 win over Georgia after strikes from a Spanish attacker and Mikel Oyarzabal in the match venue. The win extended the European champions’ perfect run in qualifying, having notched 11 goals in three games without letting in a goal.

In spite of the unavailability of key figures such as a talented winger, another forward, and Rodri due to fitness issues, Luis de la Fuente’s side demonstrated their dominance against a Georgia team that passed the majority of the game sitting back. Spain dominated the encounter with over eighty percent of the ball, and Georgia did not have a single attempt on target or create a clear chance, with only goalkeeper their keeper averting a heavy defeat.

Pino opened the scoring in the 24th minute from a well-executed dead-ball routine, and Oyarzabal secured the win in the second period with a spectacular set-piece after the Georgian keeper had saved Ferran Torres’s spot-kick.

Additional Results

• The Turkish national team bounced back with a comprehensive thrashing over Bulgaria to keep the pressure on the group leaders in their section. Real Madrid’s a young talent was one of the goal-getters.
• The Italian squad improved their prospects of at least making the knockout stage with a comfortable win away to Estonia, thanks to goals from Moise Kean, another attacker, and Francesco Pio Esposito.

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

Italy failed to qualify for the last two World Cups, twice falling short in the qualifying rounds, and the feared backdoor route now looks their most likely chance after the Norwegian team’s comprehensive win over Israel in Group I. The Norwegians are leading on 18 points from six games. Italy have twelve points with a game in hand on their competitors and are a trio of points ahead of their next opponents. The Estonian squad stay in fourth place on three points. The group winners advance automatically for the World Cup, with the runners-up going into the qualifying stage.

Italy host their rivals on Tuesday, where a win would cement second spot and, while they can still theoretically catch Norway on points, the Norwegians’ far superior goal ratio means a qualifying place likely awaits for the Italian squad.