32′ Carvalho is shown the second yellow card of the match, after a mistimed tackle on Miguel in midfield.
30′ Mario takes the free-kick quickly, putting a low, square pass into the penalty area for Ronaldo. Unmarked, the forward looks to hit the effort at the first time of asking, but miscues the chance and gets nothing but air.
Abdelkarim Hassan
Yellow Card
28′ Abdelkarim’s mistimed sliding challenge on Mendes earns the Qatar defender the first yellow of the match.
26′ Dalot’s cross from the right finds Ronaldo, who is unable to generate any power on his header as he turns it comfortably towards the goalkeeper.
24′ Portugal have only kept one clean sheet in their last six matches, after managing three back-to-back clean sheets.
22′ GREAT CHANCE FOR DALOT! The Manchester United full-back has space to work with in a central area and fires a quick shot at goal – which misses the far corner narrowly.
20′ Andre Silva fires a swiveled right-foot shot at the first time of asking but the striker misses the target by some distance from 20 yards out.
18′ Mendes intelligently wins the ball back from Miguel, before he’s taken down from behind by the right wing-back. The referee doesn’t seem impressed as he emphasises his point to captain Al Heidos – reminding the side of the match’s friendly nature.
16′ GREAT SAVE! Guedes barrels into the penalty area and draws the keeper off his line before attempting to sneak the ball between the legs of the goalkeeper, who does just enough to turn it behind for a corner.
14′ Danilo lifts a pass over the top for Matheus, who is clattered by a stooping Adbelkarim Hassan during an attempt to clear the ball. The referee doesn’t award the hosts a free-kick, though he does stop play for the midfielder to receive some treatment.
12′ Andre Silva times his run well inside the penalty area and has a first-time strike at goal – sending his effort off the face of the goalkeeper and behind for a corner, momentarily delayed due to Al Sheeb’s need for a bit of treatment.
10′ Pereira – operating today as a centre-back – looks to have instructions from Santos to step into midfield at every opportunity in order to shorten the pitch and dictate play from the back. Naturally a midfielder, Pereira had similar instructions the last time the two sides met, to great effect.
8′ Mendes plays a clever diagonal pass looking for the run of Mario at the edge of the penalty area, but Salman does just enough to get a touch on the delivery – redirecting it for an easy Al Sheeb save.
6′ The Manchester United forward lines up a strike from the set-piece but the well-placed wall does its job as the goalkeeper is kept protected.
5′ Portugal win a free-kick after Matheus is brought down outside the penalty area by an overzealous combination of Hatem and Boudiaf – who give Ronaldo a chance to strike at goal from the free-kick.
3′ Ronaldo cuts inside, taking on two defenders before playing a backheel flick into the penalty area for Mendes. The left-back latches onto the pass and immediately fires a cross into the penalty area, but it’s nodded away from danger by Fonte.
1′ Qatar get the match underway from the kick-off!
Qatar coach Sanchez makes just a single change to the XI that drew Luxembourg 1-0, with goalkeeper Yousof Ali replaced by Al Sheeb.
Santos makes 10 changes to the Portugal XI that beat Azerbaijan 3-0 last time out – as only Andre Silva retains his place. Costa is in for Patricio between the posts, while Fonte and Pereira replace Pepe and Dias at centre-back. Mendes and Dalot are in at left and right-back respectively ahead of Guerreiro and Cancelo, while wholesale changes in midfield see Matheus, Carvalho and Mario replace Fernandes, Palhinha and Moutinho. Andre Silva gets the nod again at striker, while Guedes and Ronaldo send Bernardo Silva and Jota to the substitute’s bench.
QATAR SUBS: Mohammed Jadoua, Ahmed Al Aaeldin, Ali Asad, Yusuf Abdurisag, Musab Al Khader, Ahmad Moein, Ahmed Fathy, Sultan Al Brake, Abdullah Al Ahrak, Youssef Hassan, Meshaal Barsham, Assim Madibo.
QATAR XI (3-5-2): Saad Al Sheeb; Bassam Al Rawi, Tarek Salman, Abdelkarim Hassan; Pedro Miguel, Hassan Al Haydos, Karim Boudiaf, Abdelaziz Hatim, Homam Ahmed; Almoez Ali, Akram Afif.
PORTUGAL SUBS: Rui Patricio, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Nelson Semedo, Joao Moutinho, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Lopes, Rafael Leao, Joao Palhinha, Joao Cancelo.
Portugal XI (4-3-3): Diogo Costa; Nuno Mendes, Jose Fonte, Danilo Pereira, Diogo Dalot; Matheus, William Carvalho, Joao Mario; Goncalo Guedes, Andre Silva, Cristiano Ronaldo.
With 10 minutes to go before kick-off, let’s take a look at the team news – starting with our hosts!
Having already qualified for the World Cup by virtue of their status as hosts, Qatar are continuing to play through their friendly fixture list in order to prepare for opening day. A run of three consecutive losses to the United States, Serbia and Portugal was arrested two days ago with a draw against Luxembourg, though coach Felix Sanchez will get another shot at overturning the hosts, who beat Qatar 3-1 in a friendly in September.
Portugal will use this friendly fixture ahead of a World Cup qualifying match against Luxembourg to test the depths of their squad in pursuit of a fourth consecutive victory in all competitions. Fernando Santos is keen to put the disappointment of the Euros behind him in pursuit of a place at the 2022 World Cup – with the Iberians currently two points ahead of second-placed Serbia in group A.
Hello and welcome to our LIVE commentary of the international friendly between Portugal and Qatar!
William Carvalho
Yellow Card