Cristiano Ronaldo's hat trick powers Portugal into UEFA Nations League final

By
Cristiano Ronaldo holding a red ball: Cristiano Ronaldo scored three times in his Nations League debut to lift Portugal. (Getty)
Cristiano Ronaldo is Portugal’s joint-leading scorer in the UEFA Nations League this season. And he just got done playing his first game in the competition.

Ronaldo’s hat trick lifted Portugal past Switzerland in the Nations League semifinals and into Sunday’s final, where they will face either England or the Netherlands.

The Nations League is a new tournament in Europe designed to replace meaningless friendlies with matches with genuine stakes, in this case rewarding successful teams with various legs up in Euro 2020 qualifying.

Portugal won its group last fall, winning two matches and drawing two others. Andre Silva scored three times over those four games to carry the offense.

Ronaldo chose to sit those out. He sat Switzerland down on Wednesday.

The first goal was a trademark Ronaldo free kick aided by some questionable positioning from Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer, in terms of both himself and his wall:

After Switzerland drew level through a 57th-minute Ricardo Rodriguez penalty, Bernardo Silva played a ball in that Ronaldo drove past Sommer with a clinical finish:

Shortly after, Ronaldo sealed the victory by cutting inside and finishing far post:
For their part, the Swiss gave a decent account of themselves, playing physically and controlling possession despite missing the final product. They stunned many by winning their group last fall by virtue of a 5-2 hammering of the Belgians in November.

But they’re going home now. Cristiano Ronaldo will do that to teams.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prostitution; Nigerian Women At Growing Risk From Human Traffickers In Germany.

By
Image
According to InfoMigrants, Nigerian women are at growing risk from traffickers in Germany who exploit and engage them in prostitution. Read the full report below by InfoMigrants. The new prostitute protection law in Germany was meant to identify victims of human trafficking – most of them migrant women. More than 18 months after the law came into effect, thousands continue to be targeted for exploitation, and the risk for Nigerian women seems to be increasing. There are campervans parked by the roadside. Some have hearts painted on them, one says “girls, girls” in red letters. It’s an easy matter for someone to stop for a quick transaction in one of these Love-Mobiles – sex with one of the “girls” in exchange for the going rate. Prostitution is mainly legal in Germany, as are these mobile brothels. But many of the women in the business – including those working from the Love-Mobiles – are victims of illegal human trafficking. Most of the women are from Eastern Europe or Nige
Read more

FULL TEXT: A sacrifice for our new political order – Ezekwesili

By
Image
“When the ACPN leadership approached me in a series of visits to appeal that I run for office on their platform, the party appeared to be a good fit. It was founded by some disgruntled PDP members some years ago, but when its prime founder decided to return to the PDP, a core of its membership refused to move back with him. I was told that they stayed back because of their opposition to the ways of the PDP. Considering my vocal disapproval of the PDP and the APC, I admired the ACPN’s decision to stand firm and refusal to be co-opted.” It has been an interesting one week since I made the tough but necessary decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency. I have been truly overwhelmed by the reactions to my announcement from Nigerians. Even in airports outside the country as I travelled last week, Nigerians walked up to me with questions, concerns, encouragement, and motivation. I also saw disappointment by some who had poured their hearts and hopes into actualising our mission
Read more

Update On Slay Queen Who Was Stripped Naked And Tortured Over Missing Phone.

By
Image
The League of Patriotic Lawyers has given Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olusegun Odumosu, 24 hours to unravel those behind the torture and insertion of pepper into a girl’s private part in Benin City over alleged stealing of a mobile phone.  Chairman of the platform and former Student Union President of the University of Benin, Mr. Abubakar Yesufu, who said this in a statement yesterday, also urged the state Director, Department of State Services, DSS, to be involved in the investigation. A video of the incident, seen by Vanguard yesterday, showed the girl being stripped naked by a group of people, who inserted pepper into her private parts for allegedly stealing a phone. The unidentified girl was heard crying and saying she didn’t steal any phone, while she was being humiliated by the crowd. Yesufu said: “The League of Patriotic Lawyers has given the Edo State Commissioner of Police 24 hours to arrest and commence prosecution of all the street urchins behind this ba
Read more