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Rúben Neves came to the rescue for Portugal with a injury-time winning goal in their World Cup match against Ireland, following the Irish goalkeeper had denied a penalty from the veteran forward.

Game Overview

The Wolves midfielder headed home during injury time to secure a narrow triumph, four years after the star striker had scored twice late on to defeat a resilient Ireland team.

The Irish squad looked set to depart the Portuguese capital with a hard-fought draw, but in the end left empty-handed, despite regaining a significant amount of pride with a battling performance that erased some of the memories of last month’s disappointing defeat in Armenia.

Nevertheless, the defeat leaves them facing elimination, with their initial trio of qualifying group games having produced only a solitary draw. They must beat Armenia in Dublin on Tuesday to keep alive any hope of claiming a playoff place.

Key Moments

• The Liverpool keeper looked to have earned Ireland a draw when he brilliantly saved Ronaldo’s spot-kick with his trailing leg after Francisco Trincão’s shot had hit Dara O’Shea’s hand.
• The match-winner saved Portugal in the opening moments of added time when he headed Trincão’s cross past the Irish goalkeeper.

Other Group Results

Portugal’s Group

The Hungarian team enhanced their chances of advancing by picking up their initial victory with a two-goal triumph over the Armenian side, moving above their opponents into second place behind Portugal in the standings. Daniel Lukacs provided Hungary the advantage in the opening period and a teammate secured the victory in late stoppage time.

Group K

The Serbian national team suffered a narrow loss at home to the Albanian squad, with the result meaning the Three Lions can now secure their passage from Group K by beating Latvia on Tuesday. An Albanian striker netted the only goal for Albania with a well-taken shot in late stoppage time.

The Latvian side struggles in Group K continued as they were forced to a 2-2 tie at home by the Andorran team. Ian Olivera scored for the away side 12 minutes from time to earn them their initial draw of the qualifying campaign and extend Latvia’s winless run to several matches.

Spain’s Group

Spain continued their impressive qualifying group campaign with a 2-0 win over Georgia after strikes from Jéremy Pino and Mikel Oyarzabal in Elche. The win continued the European champions’ flawless run in qualifying, having scored eleven strikes in three matches without conceding.

Despite the absence of players such as Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams, and Rodri due to fitness issues, Luis de la Fuente’s side demonstrated their superiority against a Georgian team that spent the majority of the game sitting back. The home side controlled the encounter with over eighty percent possession, and the visitors did not have one shot on target or generate a scoring opportunity, with only shot-stopper their keeper preventing a rout.

Pino opened the scoring in the first half from a well-executed set-piece move, and Oyarzabal wrapped up the win in the second period with a spectacular free kick after Mamardashvili had saved a Spanish player’s spot-kick.

Additional Scores

• The Turkish national team returned to winning ways with a 6-1 victory over Bulgaria to keep the pressure on Spain in Group E. The Spanish club’s Arda Güler was one of the scorers.
• Italy improved their hopes of at least reaching the qualifying playoffs with a comfortable win away to Estonia, thanks to strikes from Moise Kean, another attacker, and Francesco Pio Esposito.

Gennaro Gattuso said: “Our focus isn’t on the group leaders or Israel. We know what we have to do.”

Italy failed to qualify for the last two World Cups, twice falling short in the playoffs, and the feared backdoor route now looks their primary opportunity after Norway’s 5-0 hammering over Israel in their qualifying group. The Norwegians are leading on 18 points from six matches. The Italians have 12 points with a game in hand on their competitors and are a trio of points ahead of Israel. Estonia stay fourth on three points. The group winners qualify directly for the World Cup, with the second-placed sides going into the playoffs.

Italy host their rivals on Tuesday, where a victory would cement the runner-up position and, while they can still theoretically catch the group leaders on the table, the leaders’ far superior goal ratio means a qualifying place likely awaits for the Italian squad.