Ireland defeated its guest, Portugal, and prevented it from securing direct qualification to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals, after defeating them 2-0 on Thursday in the penultimate round of qualifiers, which witnessed captain Cristiano Ronaldo being sent off with a direct red card for the first time in his international professional career.Ireland, which had not defeated Portugal since 2005, in five previous confrontations between them, decided the match in the first half with two goals by Troy Parrott (17 and 45), before Ronaldo was sent off in the 61st minute after elbowing Dara O'Shea.
This is the first time Ronaldo has been sent off during his career with the Portuguese national team, which began in 2003, in his 226th international match.Portugal could have qualified for the finals hosted by North America if they had won and moved away at the top of Group 6, but their goal was postponed until their match against Armenia, who are at the bottom of the standings in the final round.Portugal could lose the direct card if they are defeated in their last match and Hungary, who beat Armenia 1-0, beat their guest Ireland, who are also fighting for second place and at least a place in the play-offs.
The Portuguese national team was severely affected by the absence of injured left-back Nuno Mendes, while the team's Spanish coach, Roberto Martinez, made a series of adjustments to his latest starting lineup, which tied with Hungary 2-2 in the previous round.Although the visitors took the initiative to threaten, specifically through Ronaldo, with a shot blocked by Kaomin Kelleher (2) and then unsuccessful attempts from Vitinia and Ronaldo himself, Parrott gave Ireland the advantage with a header after he also received a header from Liam Scalise following a corner (17).
Ronaldo left the field applauding the audience, who booed him.Despite Martinis' substitutions, the Portuguese players were only able to threaten the Irish goal with two shots in the final minutes that were blocked by the goalkeeper, in light of the numerical shortage.
