Both the Portuguese and the Brazilians are in the round of 16. Ghana won the shootout, Serbia managed to take the lead

The Portuguese confirmed their role as favorites in the opening match on Thursday, but they struggled to win 3:2 over Ghana. After a scoreless half-time, captain Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring from the penalty spot, becoming the first in history to score at five different World Cups. Uruguay opened with a goalless draw with Korea after being twice spoiled by goal construction.

Brazil entered the tournament with a 2-0 win over Serbia on Thursday. Due to injured ankle ligaments, however, she lost striker Neymar at least until the end of the group stage. The Swiss started the championship with a 1-0 victory over Cameroon.

In the duel between the two losers from the opening duels, the Serbians managed a chance to come closer to the progress. After the turnaround, which was started by two goals in the setup of the first half by Strahinja Pavlovič and Sergej Milinkovič-Savič, Aleksandar Mitrovič increased the score to 3:1.

But the Balkans paid the price for hesitation in defense, which was punished by substitute Vincent Aboubakar with a great lob, and Eric Choupo-Moting soon equalized. Both teams still had hope for the round of 16 before the last matches in the group.

Ghana beat Korea

Ghana’s footballers entered the match with South Korea excellently. In the first half, Salisu and Kudus prevailed and the African team took a 2-0 lead. However, Korea did not wrap up the match. Cho Ku-song first reduced the deficit to one goal in the 58th minute before leveling the scores three minutes later with his second goal.

It took just seven minutes for the shaken Ghanaians to recover from their shock when Kudus restored the lead with his second goal. Korea couldn’t react anymore, after the opening draw with Uruguay (0:0), they didn’t score any more points in the group H table. With the win, Ghana overcame the opening defeat against Portugal (2:3) and thus remains in the game for promotion.

Brazil in euphoria, progress is in their pocket

The winner of the Brazil-Switzerland match could secure the round of 16 ahead of time. Captain Granit Xhaka and co. they used a careful defense against the South Americans, and the Canaries looked for some loopholes in it for a long time.

It wasn’t until the 27th minute that Vinícius Júnior had a chance to score from the center, but his volley shot was blocked by goalkeeper Yann Sommer. The Brazilians did not take advantage of the optical superiority in the rest of the half and went to the locker room with a score of 0:0.

In the second part, the action on the lawn continued for a long time without any major chances. It wasn’t until the 66th minute that Vinícius Junior broke through after a string of mistakes in the Swiss defense, but the Brazilian joy was cut short by VAR due to an offside position.

The match was decided in the 83rd minute by Casemiro, who made his mark with a beautiful volley shot after a handsome Brazilian combination. Thanks to a 1:0 win, the Canaries prematurely secured promotion from the group. After the opening win over Serbia (2:0), they have 6 points on their account. The Swiss are second with three points and have everything in their hands before the final showdown with the Serbs.

The Portuguese clinched the play-offs ahead of time

The Portuguese entered the match against Uruguay with three points and knew that a victory would advance them to the round of 16. The first half offered good football, the South Americans had the best chance. But the Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa eliminated Rodrigo Bentancur’s goal.

It was the Portuguese who struck first. After the change of sides, in the 54th minute, Bruno Fernandes got to the center and the ball from his boot fell behind the Uruguayan goalkeeper. At first, it looked like Cristiano Ronaldo had put the ball into the net, but according to the official score, Fernandes was credited with the shot.

In the 75th minute, Maximiliano Gomez could have equalized, but his projectile only hit the right post. Three minutes later, even Luis Suárez’s shot didn’t end up behind Costa. In the 93rd minute of the duel, Fernandes sealed Portugal’s victory again from the penalty spot.

Portugal is thus the third team that already knows that it will play in the knockout stage after two rounds have been played. Even before him, the French and the Brazilians secured promotion.