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The Portuguese midfielder came to the rescue for the Portuguese side with a last-gasp decisive strike in their World Cup clash against the Republic of Ireland, following the Irish goalkeeper had kept out a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo.

Game Summary

Neves nodded in during added time to snatch a 1-0 victory, four years after Ronaldo had bagged a brace late on to overcome a resilient Irish side.

Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men appeared poised to depart the Portuguese capital with a hard-fought point, but in the end suffered defeat, despite restoring a good deal of pride with a gritty performance that erased some of the recollections of last month’s disappointing defeat in Armenia.

Nevertheless, the defeat leaves them staring down the barrel, with their first three Group F games having yielded only a solitary point. They need to beat Armenia in Dublin on Tuesday to keep alive any chance of claiming a playoff spot.

Key Moments

• The Liverpool keeper seemed to have secured Ireland a draw when he superbly saved Ronaldo’s spot-kick with his trailing leg after a Portuguese player’s shot had hit Dara O’Shea’s arm.
• Neves came to his side’s rescue in the opening moments of stoppage time when he headed Trincão’s cross past the Irish goalkeeper.

Additional Group Outcomes

Portugal’s Group

Hungary enhanced their hopes of advancing by picking up their initial victory with a 2-0 victory over Armenia, moving above their opponents into the runner-up spot behind Portugal in Group F. Daniel Lukacs gave his team the lead in the opening period and a teammate secured the victory in second-half added time.

Group K

Serbia slipped to a narrow loss at home to Albania, with the outcome meaning the Three Lions can now secure their qualification from their qualifying group by defeating Latvia on Tuesday. Rey Manaj netted the only goal for Albania with a neat volley in late stoppage time.

Latvia struggles in Group K persisted as they were held to a 2-2 draw at home by the Andorran team. Ian Olivera found the net for the away side late on from time to claim them their first point of the qualifiers and extend Latvia’s poor form to five games.

Spain’s Group

Spain maintained their dominant Group E run with a comfortable victory over the Georgian side after strikes from Jéremy Pino and his teammate in Elche. The result extended the title holders’ perfect run in the qualifiers, having scored eleven strikes in three matches without letting in a goal.

Despite the absence of players such as a talented winger, Nico Williams, and Rodri due to injuries, the Spanish squad demonstrated their superiority against a Georgian team that spent most of the match sitting back. Spain dominated the match with over eighty percent of the ball, and the visitors did not have a single attempt on target or create a scoring opportunity, with only goalkeeper their keeper preventing a rout.

The scorer opened the scoring in the 24th minute from a expertly taken set-piece move, and Oyarzabal wrapped up the victory in the second period with a spectacular free kick after Mamardashvili had denied Ferran Torres’s spot-kick.

Other Scores

• The Turkish national team returned to winning ways with a 6-1 thrashing over Bulgaria to stay close to the group leaders in Group E. Real Madrid’s Arda Güler was among the scorers.
• Italy improved their hopes of at least reaching the knockout stage with a comfortable victory away to the Estonian team, thanks to goals from Moise Kean, Mateo Retegui, and Francesco Pio Esposito.

The Italian coach said: “Our focus isn’t on the group leaders or Israel. We know our responsibilities.”

Italy failed to qualify for the previous two World Cups, on two occasions missing out in the playoffs, and the dreaded playoff path now looks their most likely chance after Norway’s 5-0 win over the Israeli side in Group I. Norway are top on eighteen points from six games. The Italians have twelve points with a game in hand on their rivals and are three points ahead of Israel. Estonia remain fourth on three points. The group winners advance automatically for the tournament, with the second-placed sides entering the playoffs.

Italy face Israel on Tuesday, where a victory would cement the runner-up position and, while they can still mathematically overtake the group leaders on the table, the leaders’ much better goal ratio means a qualifying place likely awaits for Gennaro Gattuso’s side.