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The Portuguese midfielder came to the rescue for Portugal with a last-gasp winning goal in their World Cup encounter against Ireland, after Caoimhín Kelleher had saved a penalty from the veteran forward.

Match Summary

Neves found the net during added time to claim a slender victory, four years after Ronaldo had scored twice late on to defeat a resilient Ireland team.

The Irish squad looked set to leave Lisbon with a well-earned point, but in the end left empty-handed, despite regaining a significant amount of pride with a gritty display that erased some of the memories of last month’s disappointing loss in Armenia.

Nevertheless, the defeat leaves them staring down the barrel, with their first three qualifying group matches having produced only a solitary draw. They must beat Armenia in Dublin on Tuesday to maintain any hope of claiming a qualifying place.

Major Incidents

• Kelleher looked to have secured Ireland a point when he brilliantly saved Ronaldo’s spot-kick with his trailing leg after Francisco Trincão’s shot had struck an Irish defender’s hand.
• Neves came to his side’s rescue in the first minute of stoppage time when he directed a delivery from the wing past Kelleher.

Additional Group Outcomes

Group F

The Hungarian team enhanced their hopes of advancing by picking up their initial victory with a 2-0 triumph over Armenia, moving above their opponents into second place behind the group leaders in Group F. Daniel Lukacs gave his team the advantage in the first half and a teammate secured the points in late added time.

Group K

Serbia suffered a 1-0 loss at home to Albania, with the outcome meaning the Three Lions can now seal their qualification from Group K by defeating Latvia on Tuesday. An Albanian striker netted the decisive strike for Albania with a well-taken volley in late added time.

The Latvian side difficulties in their group continued as they were forced to a two-all tie at home by Andorra. Ian Olivera found the net for the away side 12 minutes from time to claim them their first point of the qualifiers and extend Latvia’s poor form to five games.

Group E

Spain maintained their dominant Group E campaign with a comfortable victory over the Georgian side after goals from Jéremy Pino and Mikel Oyarzabal in the match venue. The win extended the European champions’ perfect run in the qualifiers, having notched eleven strikes in three games without letting in a goal.

In spite of the absence of players such as Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams, and Rodri due to fitness issues, the Spanish squad demonstrated their dominance against a Georgian team that spent the majority of the game defending deep. The home side controlled the encounter with more than 80% possession, and the visitors did not have one shot on target or generate a scoring opportunity, with only goalkeeper their keeper preventing a heavy defeat.

The scorer opened the scoring in the first half from a well-executed set-piece routine, and his compatriot wrapped up the win in the 64th minute with a spectacular free kick after Mamardashvili had denied a Spanish player’s penalty.

Other Scores

• Turkey bounced back with a 6-1 thrashing over Bulgaria to keep the pressure on Spain in Group E. The Spanish club’s a young talent was among the scorers.
• The Italian squad improved their prospects of at least reaching the qualifying playoffs with a 3-1 victory away to Estonia, thanks to strikes from a forward, Mateo Retegui, and a third scorer.

Gennaro Gattuso commented: “We’re not thinking about the group leaders or our next opponents. We know what we have to do.”

The Azzurri missed out for the previous two global tournaments, twice missing out in the playoffs, and the feared backdoor route now looks their most likely chance after the Norwegian team’s 5-0 win over the Israeli side in their qualifying group. The Norwegians are top on 18 points from six games. The Italians have twelve points with a game in hand on their competitors and are three points ahead of their next opponents. Estonia stay in fourth place on three points. The group winners qualify directly for the tournament, with the second-placed sides entering the qualifying stage.

The Italian national team face Israel on Tuesday, where a win would secure the runner-up position and, while they can still theoretically catch Norway on points, the leaders’ much better goal ratio means a qualifying place likely awaits for the Italian squad.