Portugal vs North Macedonia: FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, 2022

Portugal is set to go to this year’s FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar.

At 12:15 am IST, the kick-off between Portugal and North Macedonia took place. After 90+1 minutes of play, Portugal secured their spot in the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar later this year by beating North Macedonia. 

The final match of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers ended at 2-0 with the two goals in Portugal’s favour. Bruno Fernandes scored a brace against North Macedonia at 32 minutes and 65 minutes.  

North Macedonia entered the Qualifiers final in hopes of playing in the FIFA World Cup for the first time in history. They had surprisingly defeated the reigning Euro Cup Champions, Italy in the semi-final with a last minute goal at 90+2 minutes by A. Trajkovski.

The country’s hope of repeating their victory against Portugal however failed. In Porto, the hosts led by Cristiano Ronaldo always maintained the upper hand with better ball possession rate than North Macedonia.

According to speculations, the 2022 World Cup is most likely to be the last World Cup played by the legendary footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. 

In the first half of the game, Bruno Fernandes scored as Ronaldo assisted at 35 minutes. After half-time at 65 minutes,  Fernandes again scored this time with Jota’s assistance.  

Portugal’s win confirmed the country’s spot for the sixth consecutive time in the FIFA World Cup to be played later in the year in Qatar. Though unable to repeat their shocking victory against Italy, the visitors, North Macedonia gave the hosts, Portugal a good fight as despite the higher rate of ball possession the hosts only managed to take 3 shots on target. 

The winner of 2016 European Championship in France, Portugal has not missed a major international competition in the past 20 years.  

After finishing second in Group A due to their loss to Serbia (2-1) in November 2021, Portugal went into the playoffs to qualify for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. Portugal needed to win two consecutive elimination games to qualify. After last week’s win against Turkey, Wednesday’s match against Macedonia was a decider. 

At the host country’s victory, the fans cheered on and stayed in the stands for more than 15 minutes after the conclusion of the game. They celebrated by singing as the players did a victory lap around the field while waving a huge Portugal flag. 

The winner of the 2016 Euro Cup and 2019 UEFA Nations League, Portugal is yet to take home a FIFA World Cup trophy. 

Published By: Manan Khurana

Edited By: Subbuthai Padma