Matchday 9 of the 2022 FIFA World Cup was a combative one, with every game hotly contested.
Match 29
Cameroon v Serbia
Cameroon and Serbia secured their first point of the tournament after playing out an intense 3-3 draw in Al-Wakrah.
Jean-Charles Castelletto opened the scoring following a well-worked corner routine on the half-hour mark, but Cameroon’s delight quickly turned to dismay at the end of added time.
Strahinja Pavlovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic struck two minutes apart to turn the balance in Serbia’s favour, and their advantage only grew in the second half through Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Mitrovic’s effort had many believing Serbia’s day was done, though the match still had one more telling twist following the introduction of Vincent Aboubakar in the 55th minute.
Aboubakar beat the offside trap, his defender and Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to halve the deficit, and, three minutes later, he set up Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting for the all-important equaliser.
Match 30
Korea Republic v Ghana
Ghana and Korea Republic played out a five-goal thriller at Education City Stadium on Tuesday morning (AEDT), the Black Stars holding off a late Korean onslaught to win 3-2.
Mohammed Salisu steered home after a goalmouth scramble to open the scoring for Ghana in the 24th minute before one became two 10 minutes later when Mohammed Kudus’ header from a beautiful Jordan Ayew cross found the back of the net.
Ghana and their fans were on a high at the half-time break up 2-0, until striker Cho Gue-sung gave the Korean fans a double dose of pandemonium with two near-identical looking headers in the space of 3 minutes to make it 2-2 after 60 minutes.
An already amazing match had one twist left though, with Kudus producing a clinical finish for his brace and Ghana’s third in the 68th minute to reclaim the lead.
Korea turned up the heat late, sending countless crosses throughout the ten minutes of injury time but none ended up in an equaliser and the Black Stars secured the 3 points.
Match 31
Brazil v Switzerland
Brazil are the latest side through to the Round of 16 after defeating Switzerland 1-0 in Ras Abu Aboud.
The Selecao pushed and probed their opponents for much of the contest but struggled to breach goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
In a performance far from their best, it took a scintillating volley from Casemiro to break the deadlock with seven minutes remaining and seal Tite’s place in the knockout stages.
Switzerland’s hopes remain intact, however, with the Rossocrociati still second in Group G following Cameroon’s draw with Serbia.
Match 32
Portugal v Uruguay
Portugal have become the third team, behind France and Brazil, to qualify for the Round of 16 after a convincing 2-0 victory over South American heavyweights Uruguay.
In a first half notably short of highlights, it was Uruguay who came closest to opening the scoring when a blistering counter-attack saw midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur find himself in a one-on-one with Diogo Costa inside the penalty area, although the outstretched Portugese goalkeeper got down in time to make a commanding save.
After Portugal threatened at both ends of the interval, they eventually got their reward when a Bruno Fernandes cross seemingly found the head of Cristiano Ronaldo in the 54th minute, although it was the former who was eventually credited with the goal after replays showed the ball drift directly in past both Ronaldo and Uruguyan gloveman Sergio Rochet.
The South Americans got close again when a long-range effort from substitute Maxi Gómez struck the woodwork, although Fernando Santos' men would eventually double their lead when a VAR check saw defender Jose Gimenez handle the ball inside the Portugese penalty area.
Fernandes converted to claim his second goal for the match, sending Portugal through to the next round.
