Portugal are on the brink of progressing through to the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup, requiring victory over outsiders New Zealand on Saturday to make certain.
But Portugal's talisman was at his best in an action-packed first half in his team's opening match, with hosts Russian Federation and New Zealand still to come in the group. "We have four points and we have to congratulate our team".
The Russian captain and custodian, Igor Akinfeev, on his 100th appearance was enormous between the sticks and made a sensational stop to deny Andre Silva in the second-half to keep his side in the game.
"As you know, Federation Internationale de Football Association is very serious about the chanting that we do when the goalkeeper takes a kick, and the possible sanctions are serious", FMF said in a statement directed at the team's supporters.
"Raphael was just taken to the hospital", Portugal coach Fernando Santos said after the game.
Chris Wood opened the scoring late in the first half against the run of play when he slotted into the net after a defensive mix-up.
All Whites coach Anthony Hudson knows it is all or nothing for his team in their second game at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Russian Federation. "They deserve a lot more out of tonight", Hudson said.
"Very happy for my first goal", he told Uefa.
Russia down All Whites in Confed Cup
Speaking about the Russian national team, the 30-year-old midfielder said "they are a decent side and we expected that". New Zealand is now without a win in four trips to the Confederations Cup , and next plays Mexico on Wednesday in Sochi.
But the national team of New Zealand, as I said, at this tournament is considered an absolute outsider, while the team is not even considered potentially to leave the group. Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and Hector Moreno scored the goals to come away with the point from that match.
Commenting on the match results, Akinfeev said "unfortunately we lost, but there were no apathetic players on the field".
The Russians seemed to recover after the break as deep into the second half they began coining up risky attacks on the Portuguese goal one after another.
A much changed Mexico line-up nearly came unstuck against New Zealand at the ongoing FIFA Confederations Cup but held on to win 2 - 1 in a hard-fought win.
Besides the Andre Silva header saved by Akinfeev, the Portuguese also threatened to score a second when Ronaldo headed wide in the 63rd and blasted a shot over the bar shortly after.
After the game, Portugal's 32-year-old captain Ronaldo was awarded the trophy of the match's best player.
Mexico had a solid start to its Confederations Cup campaign, drawing 2-2 to Portugal in the first match day of the competition.
Comments