Football

Portugal survive penalty drama to beat Turkey and stay on track for FIFA World Cup

By Aman Shukla

Portugal are through to decisive World Cup qualifying play-off final next week after defeating Turkey 3-1 in Porto on Thursday, however solely after Burak Yilmaz missed a critical late penalty for the visitors. The home side were cruising at the Estadio do Dragao because of first-half goals by Brazilian-born midfielder Otavio and Liverpool forward Diogo Jota. However, Turkey’s veteran skipper Yilmaz pulled a goal back in the 65th minute, setting up a tense finish. Turkey were then awarded a late penalty when a foul on Enes Unal was detected by the German referee following a VAR review, yet Yilmaz put the spot-kick over the bar and Matheus Nunes secured Portugal’s victory in stoppage time.

Portugal have not missed out on the tournament since 1998 and they will presently hope to get a spot in Qatar when they have North Macedonia in a play-off decider next Tuesday.

At 37, Cristiano Ronaldo’s dream of World Cup glory stays alive and few sides in international football can match the attacking threat of Fernando Santos’s team.

Aman Shukla

Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication. A media enthusiast who has a stronghold on communication, content writing, and copy writing. Aman is currently working as a subeditor at dailyindianews.com and can be reached at [email protected]