On day nine of the World Cup, we said goodbye to the chaos of playing four games simultaneously. From Tuesday on, all games ran simultaneously until the knockout rounds.
We went out in style, with Cameroon pulling out a dramatic tie, Serbia and Ghana beating South Korea in a fun game, and then Brazil and Portugal both winning to secure their spots in the next round.
Here’s what happened that day.
Portugal 2-0 Uruguay
Portugal moved on to the next round in world cup with a 1-0 win over Uruguay on Monday night.
Portugal had most of the ball in a sloppy first half, but Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur had the best chance to score. Bentancur had a few good chances to open the scoring in a sloppy first half.
After the break, Portugal scored the goal they wanted, but it was strange.
Ronaldo: Did he touch it?
Bruno Fernandes sent a cross into the box, and Cristiano Ronaldo jumped the highest and wheeled away as the ball went into the goal. However, replays showed that he might not have touched the ball.
The stadium announcer said Fernandes scored the goal, but FIFA said Ronaldo scored it. Ten minutes later, FIFA changed their mind and said Fernandes scored the goal.
However, there was no question about who scored the second goal because Fernandes put in a penalty kick to seal the win.
Brazil 1-0 Switzerland
Brazil made it to the next round of the World Cup by beating Switzerland in the worst way possible at Stadium 974.
Five minutes from the end, Casemiro scored a beautiful goal. His half-volley beat Yann Sommer and sent the Selecao to the next round.
Brazil had a bad first half. Without Neymar, they looked like they didn’t have any talent, and Switzerland did a great job of holding them back.
It’s been hard to get started without Neymar.
Around the hour mark, Vinicius Junior thought he had scored the first goal, but the automated offside system saw that Richarlison had moved out of position earlier in the move and ruled it out.
South Korea 2 to 4 Ghana
After a thrilling 3-2 loss to Ghana, South Korea is in danger of being kicked out of the tournament early.
In the first 20 minutes, the Asian team was in charge without putting Ghana to the test. However, Mohammed Salisu gave them a surprise lead when Ghana made their first real attack.
Ten minutes later, Jordan Ayew’s great cross set up Mohammed Kudus for Ghana’s second goal. At this point, South Korea hadn’t even gotten a shot on goal, so it seemed like the game was over.
But Cho Gue-Sung scored two goals in a row to tie the game at the hour mark and set up a thrilling last half hour.
South Korea tried hard to get an equalizer but couldn’t find one. They were angry at the end of the game because they thought they should have had more time for a late corner. Referee Anthony Taylor would have none of it, so he gave manager Paulo Bento a red card.
Cameroon ties Serbia 3–3
On Monday morning, Cameroon and Serbia played one of the tournament’s best games.
The Indomitable Lions had to wait out a rough start before taking the lead against the run of play. Jean-Charles Castelletto scored from a corner at the far post.
But Serbia scored twice in the last few minutes of the first half to take the lead into halftime. Strahinja Pavlovic tied the game with a header, and soon after that, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic scored at the near post.
Aleksandar Mitrovic added a third goal at the end of a long pass. The Eagles looked like they would win easily, but Cameroon had other plans.
Vincent Aboubakar, who came on as a sub, raced clear and scored with a beautiful dink. Everyone thought he was offside, but a VAR check showed Nikola Milenkovic had played him on, so the goal stood.
Moments later, Milenkovic played the striker on again, and this time his pass to Eric-Maxim Chuopo Moting and his tap-in saved a point.
What brought Cameroon back?
Serbia had a lot more of the ball and sometimes played great soccer, but they were punished for wasting it and losing focus.
Cameroon kept fighting even though they had left out their best goalkeeper, Andre Onana before the game started. Ultimately, they had the best chances and scored three well-earned goals.
