…Bale inspires Wales win
…Quaison fires Sweden to extra-time win
Portugal are through to a decisive World Cup qualifying playoff final next week after beating Turkey 3-1 in Porto on Thursday, but only after Burak Yilmaz missed a crucial late penalty for the visitors.
The home side were cruising at the Estadio do Dragao thanks to first-half goals by Brazilian-born midfielder Otavio and Liverpool forward Diogo Jota.
But 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, but Yilmaz put the spot-kick over the bar and Matheus Nunes secured Portugal’s victory in stoppage time.
The 36-year-old Yilmaz may now never get the chance to play at a World Cup as Turkey’s wait to return to the finals goes on.
They have not appeared at the World Cup since coming third in Japan and South Korea in 2002.
Portugal have not missed out on the tournament since 1998 and they will now expect to secure a spot in Qatar when they host North Macedonia in a playoff decider next Tuesday.
At 37, Cristiano Ronaldo’s dream of World Cup glory remains alive and few sides in international football can match the attacking threat of Fernando Santos’s team.
Here Santos left Joao Felix on the bench and handed a surprise start to Otavio, the Brazilian-born Porto winger.
The 2016 European champions started strongly and went ahead on the quarter-hour mark as a Bernardo Silva shot hit the post and Otavio, winning just his third cap, netted the follow-up.
The second goal arrived three minutes before the interval at the end of a flowing move, as Otavio clipped a cross from the edge of the box for Jota to head in at the back post.
Portugal were cruising but then Turkey pulled one back in the 65th minute as Cengiz Under slipped a pass in for Lille forward Yilmaz to score.
The home side, missing their first-choice centre-back pairing of Pepe and Ruben Dias due to Covid-19 and injury respectively, began to look shaky and Turkey took advantage.
Jose Fonte’s contact with Unal in the box was initially missed by referee Daniel Siebert but he awarded a penalty after reviewing the images, despite the Turkey player clearly exaggerating the impact of the challenge.
Yilmaz could have forced extra time but his 85th-minute kick grazed the bar and flew over, to the relief of the home crowd.
Substitute Nunes, also born in Brazil, made it 3-1 in the fourth minute of stoppage time, in which all-time top international goal-scorer Ronaldo also hit the bar as Portugal progress.
In another game, Gareth Bale scored both goals as Wales edged Austria 2-1 in their playoff semi-final on Thursday to move a step closer to a first World Cup finals appearance in 64 years.
The 32-year-old struck home a precision free kick in the 25th minute to open the scoring, emphasing his role as the team’s talisman with a superb effort in Cardiff.
It was followed up by quick thinking from a short corner in the 51st minute from which captain Bale scored again to ensure Wales’ progress to a final playoff at home to either Scotland or Ukraine in June.
A deflected shot from Marcel Sabitzer in the 64th minute offered Austria hope of a comeback as a wasteful Wales endured a nervy finish but the home side held on for a deserved win to stay on course for only their second World Cup appearance.
Also, Sweden substitute Robin Quaison struck in the second half of extra time to secure a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic and set up a clash away to Poland next Tuesday with a place at the World Cup finals in Qatar up for grabs.
The Czechs had an early goal ruled out for a foul and the Swedes had the lion’s share of possession for most of the playoff semifinal, but the two sides struggled to break each other down in a game full of tough tackling and wayward passing.
Alexander Isak almost opened the scoring early with a deft volley form a corner that flew just wide, and winger Emil Forsberg had a shot deflected past the post just before halftime as Sweden tried to take the game to the Czechs.
The attacking trio of Forsberg, Isak and Dejan Kulusevski caused the injury-hit Czechs all manner of problems but, with the Swedes missing both of their first-choice full backs, they often struggled to get the ball to their forwards out wide.
The visitors had some dangerous moments of their own, with Tomas Soucek flashing a header just wide on the hour and Jan Kuchta wasting a decent chance by curling a shot past the left post when he should at least have forced a save by Robin Olsen.
Sweden substitute Mattias Svanberg went closest for the Swedes in normal time, but his header from Forsberg’s corner was aimed straight at visiting goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.
The game finished scoreless after 90 minutes and appeared to be heading for penalties when Quaison danced through the defence before exchanging passes with Isak and lotting the ball into the net to send the home fans in the 48,628 crowd into ecstasy. – Super Sport.
