Portugal survived a late scare against Ghana to begin their World Cup campaign with a 3-2 win, with Cristiano Ronaldo became the first ever player to score at five different World Cup tournaments.
All five goals came in the final half hour, with Ronaldo scoring from the spot, before an Andre Ayew equaliser and quickfire Portugal strikes from Joao Felix and substitute Rafael Leao. Ghana sub Osman Bukari made a game of things late on, while Ghana could even have equalised at the death.
Mohammed Kudus had made the headlines ahead of the game for spiky comments about Neymar he later branded ‘fake news’. But the Ajax talent started poorly and was caught on the ball a couple of times when trying to play too deep.
The second of those saw Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi, usually a back-up until injuries made him number one here, rush out to smother a Ronaldo effort. Not long after, Ronaldo had another glorious chance, this time in the air, but bizarrely didn’t connect properly.
Ronaldo did hit the back of the net half an hour in, only for the play to be pulled back as the 37-year-old had committed a foul when winning the ball.
Ghana had worked hard throughout the first half to keep Portugal at bay at the expense of much attacking inventiveness. But Kudus was always likely to be the best source of something and he showed flashes of his quality with a driving run and low shot that just missed the target.
The Black Stars probably should have seen Alidu Seidu sent off around the hour mark. He was cautioned for a foul on Felix but was then only warned rather than further punished when he aggressively pushed his head against the Portuguese player.
Ghana were incensed not long after when Ronaldo went tumbling in the area as Mohammed Salisu tried to win the ball. But the 37-year-old did get to the ball first ahead of the touch from the defender and then made no mistake as he fired into the top corner from 12 yards.
Kudus had started to threaten more and more, and when he ran beyond the ball into an advanced position, he was able to fire a low cross into the path of Ayew to equalise. The ball squeezed through the legs of Danilo Pereira before the Ghana captain fired in.
But Kudus and Ayew didn’t last much longer on the pitch and the momentum quickly shifted back to Portugal when Bruno Fernandes finally popped up with some meaningful contributions. Two measured through balls, one to the right, one to left, handed Fernando Santos’ team a quick fire double a couple of…
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