{"id":19084,"date":"2022-03-30T09:39:01","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T09:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=19084"},"modified":"2026-07-09T17:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T17:32:14","slug":"wc-2022-qualifiers-portugal-beats-north-macedonia-to-qualify-for-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/03\/30\/wc-2022-qualifiers-portugal-beats-north-macedonia-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"WC 2022 qualifiers: Portugal beats North Macedonia to qualify for World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-p5nhr4\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ucgxn1\">\n<p class=\"dcr-18hrynw\">Bruno Fernandes scored twice as Portugal beat stubborn visitors\u00a0North Macedonia\u00a02-0 to qualify for the World Cup finals in Qatar after a tense European playoff tie on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-18hrynw\">Roared on by 50,000 fans at a sold-out Drag\u00e3o Stadium in Porto,\u00a0Portugal\u00a0dominated the game from the start but struggled to break down a strong defence, managing only three shots on target despite having almost 70% possession.<\/p>\n<div id=\"sign-in-gate\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"dcr-18hrynw\">Fernandes opened the scoring after half an hour after intercepting a pass by his best friend, North Macedonia captain Stefan Ristovski, working a great one-two with Cristiano Ronaldo before whipping his shot past the goalkeeper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-18hrynw\">The 27-year-old attacking midfielder sealed Portugal\u2019s win in the 65th minute, striking home a close-range volley from a Diogo Jota cross.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-18hrynw\">Fernando Santos\u2019s team then ran down the clock, celebrating at the final whistle with their joyful fans who remained in the stands for more than 15 minutes after the game, singing as the players completed a victory lap holding a huge Portugal flag.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-18hrynw\">Portugal, who won the 2016 European Championship in France, qualified for a sixth straight World Cup finals and have not missed a major international competition in more than 20 years. The last tournament they failed to reach was France 98. Portugal also won the Nations League in 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-18hrynw\">Santos said: \u201cI don\u2019t care about individual accomplishments but this display will be one to remember because it helped my country to reach a World Cup. I have already won two competitions and I hope I can win the third one in Qatar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-18hrynw\">\u201cThere was a spirit of mutual help and great support from the public. It was a deserved and fair win and qualification. I don\u2019t remember any great goalscoring situations for their team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-18hrynw\">Portugal were pushed into the playoffs after finishing second in Group A, having lost their final game at home to Serbia 2-1 last November.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-18hrynw\">That had left them needing to win two consecutive elimination games to qualify, with last week\u2019s win over Turkey, where they survived late drama, setting up a decider against North Macedonia, who had stunned Italy in their opening match.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-18hrynw\">It was a nervous occasion on Tuesday but Portugal dominated and avoided any surprises from the underdogs, who did not have a shot on target.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-15b4dbr\">\n<div class=\"css-oc28zo\">\n<aside class=\"css-hfp9tp\" data-gu-name=\"title\">\n<div class=\"css-kfb7nb\">\n<h3 class=\"css-1bu3b84\">Match Stats<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"css-dkksx6\" data-gu-name=\"possession\">\n<h4 class=\"css-1anupkb\">Possession<\/h4>\n<div class=\"css-zl1inp\">MKD35PRT65%<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-2r6e5r\" data-gu-name=\"attempts\">\n<h4 class=\"css-1anupkb\">Attempts<\/h4>\n<div class=\"css-ho1qnd\">\n<div class=\"css-sfw78v\">\n<p>8<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-bmhh4j\">Off target<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1tnvifu\">\n<p>3<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-bmhh4j\">On target<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-oow827\">\n<p>3<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-bmhh4j\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1hfv1pv\">\n<p>0<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-bmhh4j\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1c683ah\" data-gu-name=\"corners\">\n<h4 class=\"css-1anupkb\">Corners<\/h4>\n<div class=\"css-ho1qnd\">\n<div class=\"css-jpz2z9\">7<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-2dxcu\">3<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1su7vc0\" data-gu-name=\"fouls\">\n<h4 class=\"css-1anupkb\">Fouls<\/h4>\n<div class=\"css-ho1qnd\">\n<div class=\"css-1fv2w8u\">11<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-8sa9l9\">11<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-leigdi\" data-gu-name=\"subtitle\">\n<div class=\"css-kfb7nb\">\n<h3 class=\"css-1bu3b84\">Lineups<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-fghynz\" data-gu-name=\"home\">\n<h4 class=\"css-1anupkb\">Portugal<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">22<\/div>\n<div>Diogo Costa<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">20<\/div>\n<div>Cavaco Joao Cancelo\u00a0<i class=\"css-poyqhz\"><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">3<\/div>\n<div>Kleper Pepe<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">13<\/div>\n<div>Luis Danilo Pereira<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">2<\/div>\n<div>Alexandre Nuno Mendes<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">11<\/div>\n<div>Miguel Bruno Fernandes<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">8<\/div>\n<div>Felipe Joao Moutinho<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">10<\/div>\n<div>Mota Bernardo Silva<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">16<\/div>\n<div>Monteiro Otavio<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">19<\/div>\n<div>Diogo Jota<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">7<\/div>\n<div>Cristiano Ronaldo<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 class=\"css-1mrwz4i\"><\/h4>\n<h4 class=\"css-1anupkb\">Substitutes<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">15<\/div>\n<div>Rafael Leao\u00a0(s 77&#8242;)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">14<\/div>\n<div>Silva William Carvalho\u00a0(s 77&#8242;)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">1<\/div>\n<div>Pedro Rui Patricio<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">9<\/div>\n<div>Miguel Andre Silva<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">12<\/div>\n<div>Pedro Jose Sa<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">17<\/div>\n<div>Manuel Goncalo Guedes<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">23<\/div>\n<div>Sequeira Joao Felix\u00a0(s 88&#8242;)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">6<\/div>\n<div>Jose Fonte<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">5<\/div>\n<div>Raphael Guerreiro<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">21<\/div>\n<div>Soares Cedric<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">4<\/div>\n<div>Ferreira Vitinha\u00a0(s 90&#8242;)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">18<\/div>\n<div>Nunes Matheus Luiz\u00a0(s 88&#8242;)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-b5b6mg\" data-gu-name=\"away\">\n<h4 class=\"css-1anupkb\">North Macedonia<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">1<\/div>\n<div>Stole Dimitrievski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">13<\/div>\n<div>Stefan Ristovski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">14<\/div>\n<div>Darko Velkovski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">6<\/div>\n<div>Visar Musliu\u00a0<i class=\"css-poyqhz\"><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">8<\/div>\n<div>Ezgjan Alioski\u00a0<i class=\"css-poyqhz\"><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">5<\/div>\n<div>Arijan Ademi<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">10<\/div>\n<div>Enis Bardhi<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">21<\/div>\n<div>Tihomir Kostadinov<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">7<\/div>\n<div>Eljif Elmas<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">9<\/div>\n<div>Aleksandar Trajkovski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">19<\/div>\n<div>Milan Ristovski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 class=\"css-1anupkb\">Substitutes<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">2<\/div>\n<div>Todor Todoroski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">23<\/div>\n<div>Bojan Miovski\u00a0(s 46&#8242;)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">12<\/div>\n<div>Kristijian Naumovski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">11<\/div>\n<div>Darko Churlinov\u00a0(s 59&#8242;)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">20<\/div>\n<div>Stefan Spirovski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">15<\/div>\n<div>Nikola Serafimov<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">18<\/div>\n<div>Dorian Babunski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">16<\/div>\n<div>Boban Nikolov\u00a0(s 87&#8242;)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">17<\/div>\n<div>David Babunski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">22<\/div>\n<div>Damjan Siskovski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">4<\/div>\n<div>Kire Ristevski<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1anupkb\">\n<div class=\"css-189mca3\">\n<div class=\"css-1gti9zv\">3<\/div>\n<div>Stefan Askovski\u00a0(s 75&#8242;)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>source:theguardian<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bruno Fernandes scored twice as Portugal beat stubborn visitors\u00a0North Macedonia\u00a02-0 to qualify for the World Cup finals in Qatar after a tense European playoff tie on Tuesday. Roared on by 50,000 fans at a sold-out Drag\u00e3o Stadium in Porto,\u00a0Portugal\u00a0dominated the game from the start but struggled to break down a strong defence, managing only three [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":19117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6409,3295],"tags":[7034,7452,1791,6287,10739,9505,9026,7470,5247,5575,7090,803,10954,1392,10641,10640,10634,8126,9158,12085,6973,7964,5461,11973,8641,1565,13256,5283,1975,8552,194,13211,9230,5597,11259,8840,7419,2570,10885,3954,36,5248,594],"class_list":["post-19084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-world-sport","tag-bernardo-silva","tag-bruno-fernandes","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-diogo","tag-display","tag-european","tag-fans","tag-fernandes","tag-football","tag-france","tag-games","tag-goalkeeper","tag-international","tag-italy","tag-joao-cancelo","tag-joao-felix","tag-lost","tag-match","tag-milan","tag-nations","tag-nations-league","tag-north","tag-north-mercedonia","tag-one","tag-otavio","tag-pedro","tag-players","tag-playoffs","tag-portugal","tag-qatar","tag-ronaldo","tag-sa","tag-santos","tag-serbia","tag-shot","tag-strong","tag-the-game","tag-turkey","tag-victory","tag-will","tag-world","tag-world-cup","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51485,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19084\/revisions\/51485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}