ZCZC
BSP-01
FBL-WC-2022-EUR
Ronaldo helps Portugal past Luxembourg, Belgians join Qatar protests in
Belarus rout
PARIS, March 31, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Cristiano Ronaldo helped Portugal to a
hard-fought 3-1 win over Luxembourg on Tuesday with his first goal of the
2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, while Belgium became the latest team to
join the protests over human rights in Qatar before hitting eight past
Belarus.
Juventus forward Ronaldo bagged his 103rd international goal five minutes
after the break to stop his side falling foul of a Luxembourg team whose
recent performances have defied their small status and tiny population.
Ronaldo had been controversially denied what looked to have been an added-
time winner in Saturday’s draw against Serbia in Belgrade, but he was not to
be denied when he tapped home Joao Cancelo’s cross.
Luxembourg beat the Republic of Ireland last time out and another shock
result looked possible when Gerson Rodrigues put the hosts in the lead with a
glancing header half an hour into the Group A contest at the Stade Josy
Barthel.
Diogo Jota put the European champions back on level terms in first-half
stoppage time with a close-range header of his own, finding himself unmarked
to nod home Pedro Neto’s cross.
Ronaldo put Portugal ahead and then Joao Palhinha added a third to save
Portugal’s blushes and put them top, level on seven points with Serbia, who
won 2-1 at Azerbaijan earlier on Tuesday thanks to an Aleksandar Mitrovic
brace.
The 36-year-old Ronaldo is now six goals short of Iranian Ali Daei’s all-
time record of 109 international strikes.
“The goal before half-time came at the worst time,” said Luxembourg coach
Luc Holtz.
“That is the turning point because I would have liked to return to the
dressing room at 1-0. After, the individual quality made the difference.”
– Belgium join Qatar protests –
Belgium’s players donned t-shirts in support of migrant workers building
the stadiums for next year’s finals in the Gulf state and then smashed
Belarus 8-0 to move top of Group E despite coach Roberto Martinez playing a
second-string side. Germany, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands have
recently staged similar protests, and the Belgian gesture mirrors the one
made by their Dutch neighbours with t-shirts emblazoned with the message
‘Football supports change’.
Human rights groups have been critical of the treatment of migrant workers,
claims Qatar disputes.
On the field in Leuven Belgium made easy work of their opponents, Michy
Batshuayi starting a deluge of goals in the 14th minute.
Two braces from Hans Vanaken and Leandro Trossard — the Brighton winger’s
first for his country — and further strikes from Jeremy Doku, Dennis Praet
and Christian Benteke gave Belgium a thumping win.
It leaves them three points ahead of the second-placed Czech Republic
after they lost 1-0 to Wales in Cardiff in a match which finished with 10 men
on each side.
– Dutch close in on Turkey –
The Netherlands closed the gap on Group G leaders Turkey to one point
after they won 7-0 in Gibraltar.
Frank de Boer’s team were far from their best but got maximum points after
taking a long time to break down their minnow opponents, who were playing in
front of a home crowd thanks to Gilbraltar’s successful coronavirus vaccine
programme.
Steven Berghuis opened the scoring three minutes before the break and in
the second half the Dutch managed to make their superiority count.
Luuk de Jong made it two with a 55th-minute tap-in and then three goals in
as many minutes from Memphis Depay, Georginio Wijnaldum and Donyell Malen put
the Dutch five ahead.
Donny van de Beek lashed home the sixth from close range before Depay
added his second of the night to complete the scoring with two minutes
remaining.
They move closer to the Turks, who beat the Netherlands in the group’s
opening round of fixtures, thanks to Davis Ikaunieks’s late strike which
allowed Latvia to draw 3-3 in Istanbul.
The Dutch are level on six points with Norway and Montenegro, who lost 1-0
at home to the Norwegians.
Croatia moved top of Group H thanks to their 3-0 win over Malta. They are
level on six points with Russia, who fell to a 2-1 defeat at Slovakia.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0830 hrs