FIFA World Cup 2022 Live Score Portugal vs Ghana: Missed chances for Ronaldo as Portugal look to break down Ghana

Ronaldo turns away from Alexander Djiku and finishes it nicely to find the back of the net but the referee has blown the whistle for a foul. It is against Ronaldo for the contact he made with Djiku while turning away from him. It is a loose one and Ronaldo looks livid, as you would expect him to. 

Good work by Ronaldo and Fernandes down the right allows Guerrero to send a cross in and that is headed clear by Amartey. Goalkeepers have had little to nothing to do thus far.  

The Ghana fans have brought the party to the stands but neither of the teams have done anything of the sort in the middle. Ghana have been patiently letting Portugal have all the possession they want, Portugal have done practically nothing with it. This game could use some infusion of energy. 

13th min: Cross from the left, Ronaldo brings out one of his monster jumps and it looks like this is going to be a clear goal. Only that it isn’t, he heads it down to the wrong side of the bar with half of the goal gaping unguarded in front of him. If one forgets all the drama from THAT interview, one would remember that Ronaldo had been in pretty rotten form this season with Manchester United and it was exactly these kinds of chances that he was missing. 

10th min: Fantastic work from Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi to thwart the Portugal captain. Ghana lose the ball carelessly just ahead of their final third, Fernandes passes the ball forward to an utterly scot-free Ronaldo. He was not given time for a proper first tuch though as the keeper ran forward and cleared the threat. 

Set pieces at both ends that come to nothing. Ghana had got a free kick which was conceded by Ronaldo. Portugal, on the other hand, had won a corner from which Octavio’s shot goes wide. 

Ronaldo kicks it off in Doha. Portugal in red and green, Ghana in all whites

Portugal’s anthem plays out first, Ronaldo looking like he had tears in his eyes as he sang it before beaming with a smile at the end of it. Then came Ghana’s national anthem. The team photographs followed, the coin toss has been done and Portugal will now kick it all off. 

Cristiano Ronaldo leads out Portugal, Al Sadd’s Andre Ayew, the former West Ham and Swansea striker, has the captain’s armband for Ghana. 

Even the most ardent of fans would say that is a difficult question to answer. Ghana were utterly woeful in the African Cup of Nations in January this year. That led to head coach Milovan Rajevac being shown the door but Otto Addo has since led them to qualification to the World Cup, beating Nigeria in a play-off final. 

Cristiano Ronaldo’s interview with Piers Morgan, which mostly involved Morgan prodding the Portugal captain to make a controversial statement in case he forgot to make one during an answer, dropped just before the national teams gathered together for the trip to Qatar. All of it ended this week with Ronaldo splitting with Manchester United and so, for the first time in his career, he plays this 

If you had watched the match between Spain and Costa Rica, you would remember Nico Williams, the Athletic Bilbao winger who had come on as a second half substitute. His elder brother, Inaki Williams, plays for the same club but not the same national team. The brothers were born to Ghanaian parents and Inaki even got a Spanish national team callup, although that was only a friendly. He was eventually allowed to play for Ghana, which he chose to do just before the 2022 World Cup. 

Lawrence Ati-Zigi, Abdul-Rahman Baba, Daniel Amartey, Alexander Djiku, Mohammed Salisu, Alidu Seidu, Thomas Partey, Salis Abdul Samed, Mohammed Kudus, Andre Ayew, Inaki Williams.

Diogo Costa, Joao Cancelo, Danilo Pereira, Ruben Dias, Raphael Guerreiro, Ruben Neves, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Otavio, Joao Felix, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Rarely has a team’s buildup to a tournament as big as the World Cup been dominated by the club situation of one of their players but that has been the case for Portugal. However, as their players have said, they know that they have a megastar in their midst in Cristiano Ronaldo and always knew that they would have had to speak about him even if his situation was calm and serene going into this World Cup. So let’s get down to the brass tacks, this could be the last time we see Ronaldo in this tournament, although everyone had said the same thing back in 2018 as well, and so this could also be the last chance for him to clinch the World Cup, that one missing piece in his ridiculously shiny trophy cabinet.