2017 FIFA Confederations Cup: Ronaldo's Early Header Seals 3 Important Points For Portugal 1

Portugal accounted their first victory in the FIFA Confederations Cup history after beating the hosts Russia by 1-0 with the help of Ronaldo’s early headed goal.

Russia came up with 5-4-1 formation while Portugal began with 4-4-2 formation.

Ronaldo produced the early lead for Portugal. On just 8 minutes, Raphael Guerreiro’s deep cross found Ronaldo who comfortably netted with a header.

Ronaldo was very close to score his second goal of the match on 32 minutes after creating a chance with a solo effort but it was saved by the Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev at the end.

In the first half, Russia’s defensive strategies were not allowing any danger for the Euro 2016 winners as Portugal was looking very comfortable on the pitch.

But unlike the first half, Russia much dominated in the second half as the game was looking interesting on the pitch during that period. However, their final third was still struggling as disappointedly Russia had no shots on target in the entire match.

On the other hand, Portugal was looking little uncertain in the second half however their counter-attacks were shaking continuously inside the Russian box. Russian goalie was looking busier in the second half as his efforts were crucial to not allow Portugal for their comfortable scoreline.

Till the end of the match, Portugal held their nerve as the Euro 2016 winners sealed their important three points by winning this match.

Key Moments of the match

8 min. – GOAL! (Cristiano Ronaldo) Russia 0-1 Portugal: Raphael Guerreiro raised a brilliant deep cross from the left flank, which found Cristiano Ronaldo in the front goal. Russian defender Fedor Kudryashov was not near from Ronaldo which allowed the Portuguese star to net comfortably with a header.

 

32 min. – Akinfeev saved Ronaldo’s attempt: Ronaldo danced in the front of Vasin, which helped to mislead Vasin and created a shooting chance for Ronaldo in the front of goal. Ronaldo hit that towards the goal but Akinfeev made an important save to deny Portugal’s extensive lead.

 

41 min. – Fedor Smolov disappointed attempt: It was the first chance for the hosts. Golovin produced a good cross for Fedor Smolov, but the Russian striker disappointed with his footwork as the ball raced wide of the goal.

 

50 min. – Akinfeev’s brilliant save on Andre Silva’s header: Cedric Soares created a great cross for Andre Silva whose header was superbly saved by Akinfeev.

 

61 min. – Smolov missed a header: It was the great chance for the hosts. Samedov sent a cross in the box which Smolov just missed to make a contact with his head in the front of goal.

 

63 min. – Ronaldo missed a chance: Andre Gomes created a great chance for Ronaldo with his superb cross, on which Ronaldo headed but that went off target.

 

Squads

Russia (Starting formation 5-4-1): Igor Akinfeev – Viktor Vasin, Fyodor Kudryashov (Aleksandr Bukharov; 83 min.), Giorgi Dzhikiya, Dmitri Kombarov (Dmitriy Poloz; 68 min.), Roman Shishkin (Alexandr Erokhin; 45 min.) – Aleksandr Golovin, Denis Glushakov, Yuri Zhirkov, Aleksandr Samedov – Fedor Smolov

 

Portugal (Stating formation 4-4-2): Rui Patricio – Bruno Alves, Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro (Eliseu; 66 min.), Cedric Soares – Adrien Silva (Danilo Pereira; 82 min.), William Carvalho, Andre Gomes, Bernardo Silva – Andre Silva (Gelson Martins; 78 min.), Cristiano Ronaldo