The competition in the European region of the World Preliminary Round is very cruel, the play-off semi-finals once again appeared a number of glue games, Champions League champion Italy and former European champion Portugal almost overturned together, of which the European champion Italy could not escape the fate of the game, in this round of semi-finals 0-1 by the world only 67th North Macedonia eliminated, Portugal is thrilling, 3-1 defeat of the bitter lord Turkey, thus meeting north Macedonia in the final, the probability of promotion increased sharply.
As champions of the 2016 Champions League, Portugal have a luxurious enough squad, but they have been relying on Cristiano Ronaldo to score in previous matches, resulting in missed match points in the group stage of the World Preliminary Round and falling into a play-off situation. Now, C Ronaldo's state is much worse than before, Portugal began to change a way of life, no longer rely on C Ronaldo to score, trying to activate more offensive players, Jota, Bernardo Silva, Otavio and others stood out in this round of matches.
In this campaign, Ronaldo continued to start, and his Manchester United teammate Bruno Fernandez also started, the two seemed to continue the spell at Manchester United, failing to have a bright performance, Bernardo Silva and Ottavio once dominated the game. In the 15th minute of the match, Bernardo Silva shot at the post from a distance, and Otavio scored a goal; in the 42nd minute of the game, Jota received a cross from Otavio and directly headed the ball into the goal, giving Portugal a 2-0 lead.
In the 65th minute of the game, Irmaz pushed forward to break the goal, Turkey 1-2 Portugal; in the 85th minute of the game, Fonte fouled the penalty in the penalty area, Portugal fell into a desperate situation, but Irmaz missed the penalty opportunity, directly kicked the penalty, missed the 2-2 Portugal. In the 90+3 minute of the match, Turkey suffered another blow, Mateus Nunes pushed forward to break the goal, Portugal took the victory 3-1.
The game process is very magical, almost perfectly reproducing the last match between the two teams, just the roles are reversed, this time winning Portugal, Irmaz repeats the "Cristiano Ronaldo tragedy 10 years ago". The last time the two teams played each other was in 2012, when Portugal lost 3-1 to Turkey, and Cristiano Ronaldo also scored a goal in the match when the team was 0-2 behind, and then got a penalty to equalize, but conceded a penalty and was hit again, Turkey created Pepe's oolong in the 88th minute of the game, and finally successfully defeated Portugal 3-1.
As a result, Portugal perfectly avenged Turkey in this match and successfully reached the final of the play-offs. Statistics show that the gap between the two teams is still not large, Portugal has 60% of the ball, compared with Turkey's shots of 19-12, shooting positive contrast of 9-5, 3-1 win is not easy. In the final against the super dark horse North Macedonia, Portugal may not be so much pressure, after all, Italy's exit is more like its own problem, they blasted 32 feet to shoot 0 goals.