45′ + 5′ HALF-TIME: PORTUGAL 0-1 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
45′ + 5′ Jota darts in behind Coleman and hangs up a cross towards Ronaldo at the far post. He’s unsuccessful. Silva sends the ball back towards goal and Egan promptly gets rid. That’ll be all for now.
45′ + 3′ Portugal think they’ve equalised as Jota’s shot from the left of the box squirms towards the bottom left corner. Bazunu claws it off the line and clutches it to his chest. Jota bounces a half-volley wide to the right of goal seconds later.
45′ + 2′ There’ll be five minutes added onto the end of this half. Connolly’s booked for a clumsy tackle on Palhinha.
J. McGrath
Assist
45′ McGrath’s corner kick was delightful and Egan had no hesitation in getting on the end of it. Well, this is a turn up for the books!
J. Egan
Goal
45′ GOAL! PORTUGAL 0-1 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND! Egan gives Ireland the lead with a brilliant header! The Sheffield United centre-back darts forwards the near post and arrives first to McGrath’s corner, nodding it into the far bottom corner!
44′ Cullen’s ball over the top finds Connolly who is through on goal! The Brighton forward’s touch lets him down though and Patricio rushes wide to close down the shot. Palhinha pokes the ball out of play first and Ireland will have a corner.
43′ Idah draws a foul from Dias with some quick footwork, easing the pressure on Ireland. This has been an engaging game so far.
41′ Jota shifts his feet to find a bit of space in the box and Omobamidele blocks Jota’s goalbound effort with his head. Portugal get a corner which doesn’t lead to very much.
40′ Connolly and Idah combine down Ireland’s left to set Connolly up for a shot from near the D. Connolly gets a rush of blood to the head and blasts a first-time shot way off-target.
38′ Ireland are growing bolder. Coleman keeps a pass alive down the right and is inches away from finding Idah with his hooked cross. Pepe intercepts to head the ball away from danger.
A. Omobamidele
D. O’Shea
36′ O’Shea is replaced by Omobamidele, Norwich City’s highly-regarded 19-year-old centre-back.
35′ O’Shea will definitely be unable to carry on after picking up that knock to his ankle. That’s a blow to him and to Ireland. Ireland are preparing a substitution.
34′ Fernandes takes aim from outside the box and his shot careens high and wide of the crossbar. The Manchester United man claps his hands together in frustration with himself.
D. O’Shea
Yellow Card
33′ O’Shea is eventually booked as he trudges off the pitch, even just to go down to receive further treatment. It looks unlikely that he’ll be able to continue.
32′ The referee gives Portugal the free-kick but O’Shea may have to go off injured. He hasn’t got up off the floor yet since making the tackle.
30′ Jota gets caught offside from Fernandes’ throughball. Seconds later O’Shea slides into a poor challenge on the Portugal winger, injuring his own ankle in the process. It doesn’t look good for O’Shea.
28′ JOTA HITS THE POST! The Liverpool man gets on the end of Cancelo’s cross and fires a bullet header towards goal from the left of the six-yard box. It bounces off the outside of the upright and Ireland breathe a sigh of relief.
26′ Ireland race back to defend, blocking a speculative effort from Silva from the edge of the box. Up the other end, Portugal’s defence is all over the place. Connolly’s dragged shot wide is kept in play and hoisted back towards the striker whose tame header is claimed by Patricio.
25′ McGrath’s corner makes its way through to Egan who lays off to Connolly outside the six-yard box. Connolly goes for the top right corner but his curling effort is off-target.
24′ Ireland are gaining some belief after that penalty save. Coleman tries to take Pepe on in a race and ends up getting a corner out of it.
23′ Ireland enjoy their first real spell of possession. Coleman goes for a first-time cross from the right and Patricio plucks it comfortably out of the air.
21′ Egan makes a thumping clearance as the ball rolls loose into the box and accidentally catches the studs of Jota. The free-kick goes Ireland’s way.
19′ Doherty is the next Ireland player to earn a free-kick in his own half as Rafa tries to win the ball back. Ireland are defending admirably so far. They can’t surely keep this up for the whole 90 minutes though.
17′ Portugal go on the attack again, affronted by what has just happened. Fernandes swings a cross into the box from deep. Egan gets the header in and Cullen sweeps up at the second attempt. Connolly goes on a mazy run and gets nudged off the ball by Palhinha. It’s a fair challenge.
Penalty Save
15′ BAZUNU SAVES THE PENALTY! Ronaldo shoots powerfully towards the left of the net but Bazunu guesses the right way and pushes the shot aside! The Portsmouth goalkeeper will be an instant hero in Ireland with that save.
G. Bazunu
Penalty Save
15′ Penalty Save Gavin Okeroghene Bazunu
Cristiano Ronaldo
Penalty Miss
15′ Penalty Miss Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro
13′ YEP, PENALTY FOR PORTUGAL! After what feels like far too long, the referee re-enters the field of play and points to the spot! Ronaldo will finally take the spot-kick.
12′ VAR has taken a look at the decision and has asked the referee to go over to the monitor to take a look for himself. On second viewing, the incident is more favourable to Hendrick but Fernandes did get his toe to the ball first.
J. Hendrick
Yellow Card
10′ Hendrick is booked for his challenge on Fernandes. There’s a bit of argy-bargy between Ronaldo and O’Shea before the penalty is taken, which sees Ronaldo wafting an arm at his Irish counterpart. Naughty.
9′ PENALTY FOR PORTUGAL! Fernandes goes down in the penalty area as Hendrick slides in to tackle. It looks like Hendrick might have got a touch on the ball but the referee points to the spot!
7′ Ireland kick the ball long, hoping to get upfield that way, but Portugal’s defenders are alive to the danger. Portugal have already gained control of this game early on.
5′ Doherty wins a free-kick in his own half after being clipped by Silva.
3′ Portugal start to assert their dominance straight away, winning two corners in a row off Ireland’s left wing-back Doherty then O’Shea. Ireland survive. No doubt they’ll be spending most of their time in this game defending.
1′ And we’re underway!
The two teams are out on the Estadio Algarve pitch. Portugal are playing in their red and green home colours. Ireland are in their smart white away kit with a green trim.
Ireland last visited Portugal for an away match in October 2000, drawing 1-1 in Lisbon. Portugal have lost just one of their last 38 home matches in World Cup qualifying, a 3-2 defeat to Denmark in 2008. Ireland, meanwhile, have won none of their last 13 competitive matches, scoring just five times during that run. If Ireland even score here, they’ll take that as a positive.
There are three changes to Portugal’s starting 11 from the team that lost to Belgium at Euro 2020. Cancelo, Fernandes and Rafa come in. Ireland make five changes from their 0-0 draw with Hungary in June as they start with a 3-5-2.
SUBS: Caoimhin Kelleher, Daryl Horgan, Ryan Manning, Harry Arter, James Talbot, James McClean, Jayson Molumby, Conor Hourihane, Andrew Omobamidele, James Collins, Troy Parrott.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (3-5-2): Gavin Bazunu; Shane Duffy, Dara O’Shea, John Egan; Seamus Coleman (c), Jeff Hendrick, Josh Cullen, Jamie McGrath, Matt Doherty; Aaron Connolly, Adam Idah.
SUBS: Goncalo Guedes, Ruben Neves, Otavio, Nuno Mendes, Anthony Lopes, Nelson Semedo, Joao Mario, Danilo Pereira, Joao Moutinho, Andre Silva, Domingos Duarte, Diogo Costa.
PORTUGAL (4-3-3): Rui Patrício; Joao Cancelo, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Raphael Guerreiro; Bruno Fernandes, Joao Palhinha, Bernardo Silva; Rafa, Cristiano Ronaldo (c), Diogo Jota.
Ireland are already facing an uphill struggle to qualify for the World Cup finals in Qatar, having started their campaign with two disappointing defeats against Serbia and Luxembourg. No nation has ever qualified for the finals after losing their first two group games. While a win is unlikely, Stephen Kenny will want to see continued improvement from his team here.
Portugal return to international duty sitting pretty at the top of Group A after three games. Despite losing to Belgium in the round of 16 of Euro 2020, Fernando Santos’ team have won 11 of their last 12 matches in World Cup qualifying and will be confident of keeping their good start going with a win over the Republic of Ireland.
Hello! Welcome to our live text commentary of this 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group A match between Portugal and the Republic of Ireland at the Estadio Algarve.
A. Connolly
Yellow Card