With a roar of 50,000 fans at a sold-out Dragão Stadium in Porto, Portugal dominated the game from the start, but struggled to break up a strong defense, scoring just three shots on goal despite having almost 70% of the possession. Fernandes opened the scoring half an hour after cutting a pass from his best friend, the leader of Northern Macedonia, Stefan Ristovski, worked one or two with Cristiano Ronaldo before hitting his shot next to the goalkeeper. The 27-year-old attacking midfielder sealed Portugal’s victory in the 65th minute, with a volley from close range from Diogo Jota’s cross. Fernando Santos’s team then ran, celebrating at the final whistle with their happy fans remaining on the podium for more than 15 minutes after the game, singing as the players completed a winning round holding a huge Portuguese flag. Portugal, which won the 2016 European Championship in France, has qualified for the sixth consecutive World Cup final and has not lost a major international event in more than 20 years. The last tournament they failed to reach was France 98. Portugal also won the Nations League in 2019. Santos said: “I am not interested in individual achievements, but this appearance will be unforgettable because it helped my country reach a World Cup. I have already won two competitions and I hope to win the third in Qatar. “There was a spirit of mutual help and great support from the public. It was a worthy and fair victory and qualification. I do not remember big situations for goals for their team “. Portugal advanced to the playoffs after finishing second in Group A, having lost their last home game to Serbia 2-1 last November. That left them having to win two consecutive knockout games to qualify for last week’s victory over Turkey, where they survived the drama, setting a precedent against Northern Macedonia, who had stunned Italy in the opening match. It was a nervous occasion on Tuesday, but Portugal dominated and avoided any surprises from the underdogs, who did not have accurate shots.
