Portugal left the lackluster performance of its debut behind and achieved its first victory in the 2026 World Cup. With two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, the team beat Uzbekistan 5-0 this Tuesday (23), in Houston, and provisionally leads Group K.
CR7 opened the scoring six minutes into the first half, completing a cross from João Cancelo. Nuno Mendes added a free kick in the 16th minute. Just before the break, the number 7 scored again after receiving a pass from Bruno Fernandes. In the final stage, an own goal by Khusanov and a shot by Rafael Leão in the draw closed the score.
The first goal went down in history. At 41 years old, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score in six different editions of the World Cup. With the second, he reached ten goals in World Cups and surpassed Eusébio, who had nine, as Portugal’s top scorer in the history of the competition.
In the other game in Group K, Colombia suffered from the African wall, but managed to beat the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 in the early hours of Wednesday (24), at the Akron stadium, in Guadalajara, Mexico, and guaranteed early classification to the 32-team phase.
Full-back Muñoz’s goal gave the South American team their second victory in the World Cup, which took them to 6 points and take the lead in the group, two points more than Portugal.
With 1 point, the Democratic Republic of Congo still has a chance of qualifying if they beat Uzbekistan in the last round, on Saturday (27). On the same day, Colombia and Portugal will decide the group leader.
The Colombians tried 16 times, but only on the 17th shot did they manage to score a goal. The team had three goals disallowed by the referee: one with Muñoz, in the first half, and two with striker Luis Díaz, in the second. Despite the dominance, the African defense and goalkeeper Mpasi stood out.
England 0 x 0 Win
After beating Croatia and enchanting with good football in the first round, England stopped against Ghana in another 0-0 draw in the 2026 World Cup, in the second round of Group L, at Boston Stadium, in Massachusetts, in the United States. It is the fourth goalless game of the tournament.
One off-field factor caught attention: England fans booed Ghanaian Thomas Partey’s first touches of the ball during the match.
He faces seven charges of rape and two of sexual assault in the UK, charges he denies. In addition to the boos, England defender Djed Spence apparently refused to shake hands with him before the match.
It was Partey’s first match in the tournament, as he was unable to play in Ghana’s opener, the 1-0 victory over Panama in Toronto, because he was refused a visa to enter Canada due to accusations of sexual crimes.
Panama 0 x 1 Croatia
Panama was not intimidated by Croatia’s excellent campaigns in the last two World Cups (runner-up in 2018 and third place in 2022) and began to set the pace of the match this Tuesday, at the BMO Field stadium, in Toronto. But the pressure was not enough to keep alive the dream of qualifying for the knockout stages in their second appearance in the World Cup and they ended up losing 1-0.
The Europeans improved in the second half and midfielder Budimir came off the bench to score the only goal of the match, valid for the second round of Group L.
With the victory, Luka Modric’s team, who completed 200 matches with the national team’s shirt in the duel, goes to 3 points and leaves the definition of the group’s classifieds until the last round. The Panamanians will only complete the schedule in the clash against England on Saturday (27), the same date on which the Croatians face the Ghanaians.
