PORTO (Portugal)
\nPortugal on Wednesday night thumped North Macedonia in a do-or-die fixture with World Cup place at stake, thanks to Bruno Fernandez\u2019s brace.
\nNorth Macedonia, who stunned Italy after forcing them to stay away from their second consecutive FIFA World Cup, were unable to restrict Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s team.
\nManchester United\u2019s Bruno Fernandez eased Portuguese nerves at the Estadio do Dragao by finishing off Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s pass in the first half and then made the win more comfortable in the second, latching onto an inch-perfect cross from the excellent Diogo Jota.
\nThis victory means Portugal\u2019s sixth consecutive qualification, with last best result of reaching 2006 World Cup Semis, where they were beaten by Germany.
\n\u201cGoal achieved, we are in the Qatar World Cup,\u201d Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo wrote in his Instagram post.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s our place. Thanks to all Portuguese for the tireless support,\u201d the star footballer further wrote.
\nQatar in November will surely present the final opportunity for Portugal coach Fernando Santos to claim international football\u2019s greatest prize. His powers are fading even if he remains influential.
\nFernando Santos has no shortage of talent to pack around him, although there have been times, during the latter stages of this qualifying campaign, when the responsibility to haul Ronaldo over the line appeared to play upon Portuguese nerves.
\nThey fluffed their lines against Serbia, spluttered past Turkey in the first play-off tie but they secured progress with little fuss against North Macedonia, conquerors of Italy, last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PORTO (Portugal) Portugal on Wednesday night thumped North Macedonia in a do-or-die fixture with World Cup place at stake, thanks to Bruno Fernandez\u2019s brace. North Macedonia, who stunned Italy after forcing them to stay away from their second consecutive FIFA World Cup, were unable to restrict Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s team. Manchester United\u2019s Bruno Fernandez eased Portuguese […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-252286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n