Portugal vs. North Macedonia result: Ronaldo's heading to Qatar, as Bruno Fernandes goals win UEFA playoff

Will Savage

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Portugal vs. North Macedonia result: Ronaldo's heading to Qatar, as Bruno Fernandes goals win UEFA playoff image

Cristiano Ronaldo will be in Qatar after all. Portugal made easy work of North Macedonia in a single-elimination World Cup playoff final to advance to its eighth men's World Cup tournament in the country's history.

Bruno Fernandes scored in each half. The first one, which saw him capitalize on a poor North Macedonian backpass, set Portugal's nerves at ease. The second one on a sublime half-volley into the top corner allowed the local fans to let loose and celebrate.

It gets better for Portugal: They are set to be a top seed at the Qatar World Cup by virtue of their No. 8 FIFA World Ranking. That would mean they will avoid six of the top-ranked teams during the group stage and could set themselves up for a knockout round run at the World Cup title.

A title run would be a dream for the 37-year-old Ronaldo, who is playing his fifth World Cup but doesn't yet have a World Cup to his name. A talented side, which  showed off its world-class quality against North Macedonia, Portugal also has the gamebreakers and steely attitude to stand up to the biggest teams on the planet.

MORE: When will Cristiano Ronaldo retire?

Portugal vs. North Macedonia final score

  1H 2H Final
Portugal  1 1 2
N. Macedonia  0 0 0

Goals:
POR — Bruno Fernandes (Cristiano Ronaldo) — 32nd min.
POR — Bruno Fernandes (Diogo Jota) — 65th min.

(All times Eastern)

Final: Portugal 2, North Macedonia 0

77th min.: SUBS — Portugal bring on Rafael Leao and William Carvalho for Diogo Jota and Otavio. A little flash and some braun to see out the match.

74th min.: Yellow card to Alioski, who takes down Otavio near the penalty area and gets booked for stopping a promising attack. And the fans are celebrating already. They sense this one is done. North Macedonia still without a shot on goal.

65th min.: And just like that Portugal get their second! It's Bruno Fernandes again with a first-time shot on a pinpoint pass from Diogo Jota. When you have talent that can decide a game like that, there was probably never any reason to panic.

64th min.: It's been a quiet start to this second half. It's a mirror of what's happened in the first half. The game is slow and predictable so far. North Macedonia are comfortable sitting back, but they're going to need to take some chances.

46th min.: Second half is underway. Portugal is 45 minutes away from the World Cup.

Halftime: Portugal 1, North Macedonia 0

Halftime: Outside of the one mistake on Portugal's goal, it was a better half for North Macedonia than it was for the home side. Cristiano Ronaldo & Co. had three good chances, but North Macedonia are still very much in this and it's telling that Portugal needed an error to get the breakthrough.

40th min.: Now the spaces are opening up for Portugal. When they get the ball, they're pushing up fast and are proving dangerous in transition. Diogo Jota is up for this, and Ronaldo is increasingly involved. Good news for Portugal.

34th min.: Didn't take long for Portuguese media to jump on the fact that Ristovski (who had the bad giveaway) and Bruno Fernandes were teammates at Sporting Lisbon.

32nd min.: Goal Portugal! Bruno Fernandes intercept an awful backpass by Ristovski, and after a give-and-go with Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernandes fires past the 'keeper. The home team has the all-important breakthrough.

23rd min.: Diogo Jota goes close! On the corner kick he heads it down and the ball bounces over the bar.

18th min.: Good spell from North Macedonia with a couple of consecutive set pieces. The visitors are showing they're more than capable of putting together an attack.

14th min.: Ronaldo chance! Great through ball by Otavio to Ronaldo and his first-time diagonal shot goes wide right. The star forward should've gotten that one on target.

13th min.: Totally unconvincing from Portugal. A Joao Cancelo cross that was kind of chipped into the box and Bruno Fernandes header goes high.

11th min.: Still nothing doing for Portugal. The match is being played at the pace that North Macedonia definitely prefer.

1st min.: We're off at the Dragao.

2:42 p.m.: Sing it loud and proud. Portugal anthem.

12:34 p.m.: We're not the only ones counting down the minutes till kick off!

Portugal vs. North Macedonia lineups

Portugal had Joao Cancelo available again after suspension and Pepe recovered from his COVID-19 positive test to take up a spot in the starting lineup.

Portugal lineup (4-3-3): Diogo Costa (GK) — Nuno Mendes, Danilo Pereira, Pepe, Joao Cancelo — Bernardo Silva, Joao Moutinho, Bruno Fernandes — Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Jota, Otavio

Portugal subs (12): Rui Patricio, Jose Sa, Raphael Guerreiro, Cedric Soares, Jose Fonte, Matheus Nunes, Vitinha, William Carvalho, Rafael Leao, Andre Silva, Goncalo Guedes, Joao Felix

North Macedonia, meanwhile, will welcomed back midfielders Eljif Elmas and Tihomir Kostadinov from suspension.

North Macedonia lineup (4-2-3-1): Stole Dimitrievski (GK) — Stefan Ristovski, Darko Velkovski, Vikar Musliu, Ezgjan Alioski — Enis Bardhi, Arijan Ademi — Aleksandar Trajkovski, Eljif Elmas, Tihomir Kostadinov — Milan Ristovski

North Macedonia subs (12): Kristijan Naumovski (GK), DAmjan Shishkovski (GK), Kire Ristevski, Todor Todoroski, Nikola Serafimov, Stefan Spirovski, Boban Nikolov, Stefan Askovski, David Babunski, Darko Churlinov, Dorian Babunski, Bojan Miovski

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Will Savage