POR
Portugal
3
FT
2
GHA
Ghana
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Portugal vs. Ghana World Cup final score: Cristiano Ronaldo becomes first man to score in five tourneys in win

Two days after mutually agreeing to leave his club in the midst of the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo made history with a penalty kick conversion in Portugal's 3-1 win over Ghana. The 37-year-old calmly slotted his penalty past Ghanian keeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi's right side to give the Portuguese a 1-0 lead in the 65th minute. In the process, he became the first man to score in five different World Cups and joined elite company with Marta of Brazil and Christine Sinclair of Canada as the only players to ever reach that feat.

Ghana managed to equalize few minutes later with captain Andre Ayew, but it didn't last long. Joao Felix and Rafael Leao scored two goals immediately after the Ghanaian equalizer, which seemed to put an end to the game. Ghana didn't give up and scored again with Osman Bukari. Portugal keeper Diogo Costa nearly had the blunder of the tournament when he lost the ball in a display that lacked awareness, but he got away with it as Ghana failed to capitalize in the closing moments.

The match ended 3-2 and Portugal are now leading Group H (complete standings) after South Korea and Uruguay drew in their first match. Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates will be back on Monday for Matchday 2, when they will face Uruguay at 2 p.m. ET while Ghana will play against South Korea at 8 a.m. ET (complete schedule). 

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THIS IS IT! 

Portugal win the opening match of the World Cup: it's 3-2 at the end. 

 
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GOAL - Ghana scores! 

It's 3-2 now with few minutes left on the clock. Osman Bukari scored for Ghana and we are now only missing the stoppage time before the end of this match. 

 
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GOAL - Leaoooooooooo! 

It's 3-1: Rafael Leao scores the third goal for Portugal! What a play by the Portuguese strikers here. 

 
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GOAL - Joao Felix!!! 

It's 2-1 Portugal: Joao Felix scores the second goal for the Portuguese side. A very nice transition for Portugal and the Atletico de Madrid's striker doesn't miss it in front of Lawrence Ali. 

 
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It's Leao time

Rafael Leao makes his World Cup debut and replaces Ruben Neves. 

 
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GOAL - Ghana equalize!!

It's 1-1 in Doha! Andre Ayew scored the equalizer after another great play by Kudus. The captain scored the first goal for Ghana and we have a game now. Twenty minutes to go! 

 
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History is made 

Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player to score in five different editions of the World Cup (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022). 

 
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GOAL - Cristiano scores!!! 

It's 1-0 Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo scores the opening goal of the match and coverts the penalty. 

 
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Penalty for Portugal! 

The referee concedes a penalty to Portugal for a foul on Cristiano Ronaldo. The VAR doesn't intervene, but it seems a very generous whistle from the referee. 

 
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Chance for Ghana! 

Portugal gave a lot of space to Kudus who tried to shoot from outside the box but his attempt goes wide on Diogo Costa's left. Portugal is also forced to a substitution: Otavio is off injured and William Carvalho replaces him. 

 
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Ghana started better

Ghana had a better start of this second half compared to their first 45 minutes. Portugal are still making quite a lot of mistakes when they are keeping the ball. They need to be more careful. 

 
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We're back 

The second half has started with no changes in the two teams. 

 
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First half is over

Still no goals after the first 45 minutes between Portugal and Ghana. Cristiano Ronaldo had two chances so far but missed both opportunities. Portugal probably need Rafael Leao to come in in the second half. 

 
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Ronaldo's opener disallowed 

Cristiano Ronaldo almost scored the opening goal, but the referee opted to whistle before the Portuguese striker shoot the ball inside the net for a foul committed Cristiano himself. A decision that is definitely debatable. 

 
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Portugal keeping the ball 

A good start of the game from Portugal, that are keeping the ball most of the time until now (75%) and already had two chances to score the opening goal of the match. 

 
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Another miss for Cristiano

Second miss of the match for Cristiano Ronaldo, who this time had an opportunity from a corner kick but his header went wide. Two misses in few minutes for the former Manchester United player. 

 
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Chance for Cristiano! 

First big chance of the match with Cristiano Ronaldo who missed a big opportunity in front of Lawrence Ati. Cristiano's control of the ball wasn't perfect and he missed a big opportunity. 

 
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All eyes on CR7 

An emotional Cristiano Ronaldo during the Portugal national anthem. 

 
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KICK-OFF 

The game has started! Let's see if Cristiano Ronaldo will be able to score at his opening match of the competition. 

 
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Cristiano Ronaldo's last WC 

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest footballers to have ever lived and, at 38 years of age, he'll be aware that Qatar 2022 will be his last World Cup. The Portuguese will want to go out with a bang, even though his club career has been thrown into chaos following his lack of minutes - and his reaction to that - at Manchester United. He'll want to put that behind him in Qatar and fire his country to World Cup glory.

 
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Team news 

Portugal XI: Diogo Costa; João Cancelo, Danilo Pereira, Rúben Dias, Raphaël Guerreiro; Rúben Neves, Otávio; Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, João Félix; Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ghana XI: Ati Zigi; Seidu, Djiku, Salisu, Amartey, Rahman; Partey, Abdul Samed; Kudus, Iñaki Williams, André Ayew.

 
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Portugal at the World Cup 

Portugal are a proud football nation but they've never managed to win the World Cup. The closest they came was at England 1966, when they finished third. They qualified as winners from a group also featuring Hungary, Brazil and Bulgaria before seeing off North Korea in the quarter-final. But eventual winners England eliminated them in the semi-final. Portugal reached the same stage of the competition 40 years later at Germany 2006. Again, they topped a group also featuring Mexico, Angola and Iran before defeating the Netherlands in the Round of 16 and then England in the quarter-final. However, France eliminated them in the semi-final. Aside from those two competitions, Portugal have never made it past the Round of 16.

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