Ronaldo's magic, Portugal's reign: Uzbekistan lost 3-0
Elena Gómez
— · 2 min read
A one-sided first leg in Houston, where Portugal closed out the first 45 minutes with a 3-0 scoreline against Uzbekistan, against Fabio Cannavaro's side aided by a superb Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese team started strongly from the start: Bruno Fernandes broke through in the 2nd minute to trouble the opposition defence, while two minutes later Nuno Mendes easily set up Cristiano Ronaldo, but he couldn't capitalize. The first goal was scored in the 6th minute. Pedro Neto ran deep and passed to Cancelo, whose president Ronaldo played in on time. It was a historic goal: the Portuguese footballer became the first player to score six separate chances. Portugal continued their momentum to score the second goal. Cancelo went close to the goal line when he scored the second goal in the 11th minute, then in the 14th minute Khamrobekov misjudged Neto's position, which earned him a penalty. In the 17th minute, Nuno Mendes beat the Uzbekistan goalkeeper to score the second goal. After a cooling break in the 23rd minute, Uzbekistan tried to respond and Ganiev scored a second goal in the 29th minute, but the goal was disallowed by VAR. In the 39th minute, Joao Felix made a brilliant pass and Ronaldo easily took the opportunity for his second goal. Félix eventually missed the chance to score a fourth goal, but in reality Portugal were comfortable with a 3–0 lead.
