Three changes for Portugal
Portugal made three changes to their line-up for Saturday's World Cup last-16 game against Uruguay, with Bernardo, Goncalo Guedes and Ricardo Pereira all starting for the European champions. Andre Silva, Ricardo Quaresma and Cedric Soares drop out.
Uruguay made one change from their last game, a 3-0 win over hosts Russia, with Jose Gimenez coming in at the back to replace Sebastian Coates. The winners will play France on Friday. The French defeated Argentina 4-3 earlier on Saturday
France take on Argentina in Round of 16. (Source: Reuters)
France’s chance against Argentina in the World Cup last 16 might be that Lionel Messi does not benefit from the same support with the national team than at Barcelona, his club team mate Samuel Umtiti said on Thursday. The France centre back has been Messi’s team mate for two years and he will cross the forward’s pass when Les Bleus take on Argentina in a mouth-watering second round tie on Saturday. Umtiti, who is expected to start at the Kazan Arena after being rested in France’s last group game against Denmark, said: “I see him everyday. It is very hard to stop him. He’s got outstanding qualities. “We will try to stop him but he’s not the only one in this Argentina team, they have other strikers.”
(Reuters)
24 mins - A storming run down the right wing by Bernardo Silva is brought to a halt by a fairly desparate challenge from Godin. The Portuguese midfielder beat three Uruguayans before his progress was halted. The resulting free-kick is fires across the goal, aching for a finishing touch which never comes.
Portugal have mounted an excellent response to going behind.
Diego Godin, the man who leads the best defence in the FIFA World Cup 2018 so far, will try to stop his old foe Cristiano Ronaldo when Uruguay and Portugal lock horns in a Round of 16 clash in Sochi on Saturday. It will be a fascinating battle at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi when the 33-year-old Ronaldo, who is enjoying his best World Cup 2018 by scoring four out of five of Portugal's goals, will be against a side coming through the group stage in Russia without conceding a goal. Uruguay captain Godin of Atletico Madrid is an expert at keeping clean sheets. The Atletico defence is the most formidable in the European club game as it managed to keep 34 clean sheets in all competitions last season and Uruguay have not conceded a goal in six games in 2018. (LIVE SCORES: Uruguay vs Portugal)
Live Updates of 2018 FIFA World Cup, Uruguay vs Portugal match, straight from Fisht Stadium, Sochi.
23:55 IST: Free-kick for Portugal, the ball gets past everyone inside the box. 26 minutes have been played.
23:51 IST: Free-kick for Uruguay in a promising position! Suarez on the ball, gets past the wall through a low effort but Rui Patricio does well to keep the ball out.
23:50 IST: Luis Suarez brought down, Uruguay free-kick from their own half. 19 minutes on the clock.
23:47 IST: Portugal on the attack, through Adrian and Bernardo Silva on the right flank, plays the ball back to Mario, who plays a long ball to find Ronaldo but the heavy touch has been comfortably collected by Muslera.
23:43 IST: Cristiano Ronaldo makes space for himself, takes shot from outside the box. Well blocked by Torreira.
23:41 IST: Fonte gets a header from inside the box, but puts his wide. 11 minutes on the clock in the high-octane drama.
23:37 IST: GOAL! Edinson Cavani unmarked inside the box, puts Uruguay front through a devastating header in the seventh minute off a Luis Suarez cross, well targeted.
23:36 IST: Cristiano Ronaldo gets the first shot on goal from outside the box but too easy for Fernando Muslera to gather.
23:34 IST: Corner for Uruguay as Jose Fonte tucks the ball away. Uruguay finds Godin as target-man inside the box, but a header from Portuguese defence clears away the danger.
23:31 IST: Joao Mario crosses the ball into the box, Bernardo Silva just heads it over the crossbar. Early attack from Portugal.
23:30 IST: Kick-off! Cristiano Ronaldo kicks the ball from left to right as the match gets underway.
23:28 IST: Diego Godin and Cristiano Ronaldo exchange team sheets, we are minutes away from the kick-off. We have already seen France through to the quarters, knocking Argentina out.
23:25 IST: National anthems take on the centre stage.
23:20 IST: Cristiano Ronaldo record - By making his 38th appearance at the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship, Cristiano Ronaldo has equalled a record set by 2014 world champion Bastian Schweinsteiger.
22:20 IST: The playing XI for Uruguay and Portugal has been announced. Skipper Diego Godin for Uruguay will aim to keep his counter-part captain and talisman Cristiano Ronaldo at bay.
We'll shortly discover who will be playing #FRA in the #WorldCup quarter-finals...
Here are your teams for #URUPOR! pic.twitter.com/qMfJPoEcVl — FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 30, 2018
21:30 IST: Hello and welcome to the live commentary from the Round of 16 clash between Uruguay and Portugal.
Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner, though has already scored four times at this World Cup, including a hat-trick on his last visit here when Portugal drew 3-3 with Spain. That means he has 85 international goals, more than any other male European player in history.
In the last two years, he has scored two hat-tricks for Real against Godin's Atletico, having also emerged victorious in two Madrid derby Champions League finals.
But the rugged and brave Godin, who needed reconstructive dental surgery after having three teeth punched out in an aerial challenge with Valencia's goalkeeper earlier this year, has succeeded in muzzling Ronaldo on plenty other occasions at club level going back almost a decade.
