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Ronaldo misfires as Portugal bows out

Saturday, 28 June 2014 00:00 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

BRASILIA (Reuters): Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first goal of the World Cup but crucially wasted several other good chances in Portugal’s 2-1 win over a haphazard Ghana on Thursday that sent both sides home. The Portuguese finished level on four points with the United States in Group G but the Americans advanced to the last 16 courtesy of a better goal difference despite their 1-0 loss to group winners Germany in Recife. The World Player of the Year could have changed that had he converted three great chances which would have sent the Europeans through at the expense of the US on goals scored. All he could manage, though, was an 80th minute strike – his 50th goal for his country – after Ghana goalkeeper Fatawu Dauda flapped at a high ball and directed it straight to the grateful Real Madrid forward. “We created a lot of chances we didn’t convert all of them, we needed three goals and we were depending on the Germany result. It wasn’t possible,” Ronaldo told reporters. “We knew it was complicated, that’s football, we leave with our heads held high, we tried out best and we didn’t succeed.” The Portuguese skipper, who also hit the crossbar in the first half with a cross shot, cut a frustrated figure throughout the match at the Brasilia national stadium and again appeared shorn of full fitness amid concerns about long term knee woes. He should have opened the scoring in the 19th minute but his close range header was well parried by Dauda, with the keeper also repelling a long range free-kick from the Real Madrid man seven minutes earlier. Dauda, though, was left to helplessly pick the ball out of his own net when team mate John Boye skewed a clearance in off the crossbar in the 31st minute of a game lacking quality despite both teams still chasing a place in the last 16. Referee mishap The goal came after a Ghana break was ended by Bahrain official Nawaf Shukralla accidentally blocking an attempted pass, handing possession to the Portuguese who went up field and scored. The messy opener followed Ghana’s ragged preparations for the game, with a row over World Cup appearance fees only resolved on the eve of the match after money was sent by the country’s president. However, more problems surfaced hours before kick-off when midfielders Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari were sent home for ill-discipline. The industrious team refused to fold, though, and were deservedly back on level terms in the 57th minute after striker Asamoah Gyan headed home at the back post following a brilliant cross with the outside of his foot by Kwadwo Asamoah. It was Gyan’s sixth World Cup goal and he is now the highest-scoring African in finals history, surpassing the five scored by Cameroon’s Roger Milla. Gyan then turned provider, putting in another ball from the left for an unmarked Abdul Majeed Waris moments later but the striker could only steer his header wide from six yards out. A 2-1 victory for Ghana, who reached the quarter-finals four years ago, would have sent them through to the second round but Waris’ profligacy was punished by Ronaldo with 10 minutes remaining to knock the wind out of the Africans. Ronaldo, lacking the usual mazy runs and skilful flicks and tricks, should have added another minutes later but Dauda was on hand to parry the forward’s side footed effort from close range. The keeper also blocking an effort from the skipper in the dying stages as the Portuguese poured forward in their fruitless search for goals against the beaten Africans. “We are very disappointed. We have to go home and come back stronger,” Gyan said after they finished bottom of the group with one point.
 
 Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (C) tries to score but misses during their 2014 World Cup Group G soccer match against Ghana at the Brasilia national stadium in Brasilia 26 June – REUTERS
 

 Slimani fires euphoric Algeria as Russia head out

CURITIBA Brazil (Reuters): Islam Slimani headed an ecstatic Algeria into the last 16 of the World Cup for the first time with the equalizer in a 1-1 draw against Russia on Thursday that dumped Fabio Capello’s team out of the tournament. On a momentous night for the North Africans, who were the last team through to the knockout round, Slimani rose to the occasion and nodded home in the 60th minute to cancel out Alexander Kokorin’s sixth-minute header. There was controversy surrounding the Algerian goal, however, with Capello complaining that goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev had been distracted by a laser beam shone from the crowd. Television images seemed to back up his assertion, with what appeared to be green beams flashing across the keeper’s body as he tried to reach the cross. “Our goalkeeper was affected by a laser 10 seconds before the goal. He was blinded by a laser, there are photos, films of it,” said Capello, who was also critical of the Turkish referee. With Belgium beating South Korea to advance as Group H leaders, Algeria finished runner-ups and face former champions Germany in Porto Alegre on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals. That will be a match with a back story and the potential for revenge, Germany and Austria conspiring in a ‘non-aggression pact’ at the 1982 World Cup to ensure they went through at Algeria’s expense. “This history is repeating itself after 32 years,” declared Algeria’s Bosnian-born coach Vahid Halilhodzic. “We are very proud of what we have achieved this evening. We played a heroic match and I think our qualification was totally deserved. Tonight we have received a great gift but we went out and earned it.” In a tense match with everything at stake and 2018 hosts Russia needing a win to go through, the ‘Desert Foxes’ deserved the draw and might even have snatched a late winner against a Russian side that started brightly but ran out of steam.
 
 Algeria’s Islam Slimani (R) heads the ball to score a goal against Russia – REUTERS
 

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