DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo closed his eyes, took in a deep breath after which made World Cup historical past.The Portugal striker grew to become the primary male participant to attain at 5 World Cups along with his Sixty fifth-minute penalty in a 3-2 win over Ghana on Thursday.Days after his contract was terminated at Manchester United following a tell-all interview, he let his soccer do the speaking initially of seemingly his last World Cup.“This was a stupendous second,” Ronaldo mentioned. “The world file, the one participant to attain in 5 World Cups, makes me very proud.”Wheeling away after the ball struck the again of the web to provide Portugal a 1-0 lead, a smiling Ronaldo carried out his common leap and swivel within the air — the group roared his trademark “SI-UUU” as he did the pirouette — earlier than getting mobbed by teammates.He has now scored in each World Cup since his first in 2006, when a penalty towards Iran began his run of targets within the match that’s now as much as eight in 18 matches. He has a males’s file 118 worldwide targets.“I feel Cristiano is a phenomenon, a legend,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos mentioned. “In 50 years, we’ll proceed to speak about him.”His newest scoring file provides to the luster of a resume that ought to guarantee Ronaldo receives loads of gives from new golf equipment after splitting with United on Tuesday. That got here after he gave an unauthorized interview to Piers Morgan criticizing the supervisor, house owners and his teammates on the English membership.His fraught buildup to the match didn’t seem to have an effect on Ronaldo towards Ghana, although he wasted two clear-cut probabilities within the first half.“It was per week that completed this chapter (with United),” Ronaldo mentioned. “It’s closed and now I wish to begin with the great foot ahead. We began, we gained, I wish to assist my staff and all the remaining doesn’t matter.”Ronaldo ended the match along with his head in his fingers in pure reduction after Ghana virtually snatched a draw within the ninth minute of stoppage time due to a chunk of ingenuity.Within the final motion of the sport, Ghana striker Inaki Williams hid behind Diogo Costa because the Portugal goalkeeper rolled the ball on the bottom and ready to clear it. Williams dispossessed Costa and, regardless of slipping, managed to poke the ball towards objective.Portugal defender Danilo raced again and cleared the ball away from close to the road as Ronaldo, who was sitting within the dugout after being substituted, watched in disbelief.All of the targets got here in a wild last half-hour, with Andre Ayew equalizing for Ghana eight minutes after Ronaldo transformed his penalty after tumbling beneath a problem by Mohammed Salisu.Ghana coach Otto Addo referred to as the penalty “a particular reward from the referee.”Joao Felix regained the lead for Portugal within the 78th minute following a through-ball by Bruno Fernandes, who then arrange Rafael Leao so as to add a 3rd. Osman Bukari diminished Ghana’s deficit within the 89th, celebrating in comical trend by performing Ronaldo’s “SI-UUU” twirl.AFRICA’S STRUGGLESNone of the 5 African groups on the World Cup gained their first match within the group stage. Ghana misplaced, like Senegal and Cameroon, whereas Tunisia and Morocco drew their video games. “They didn’t win however I noticed they’ll compete with the opponent,” Addo mentioned. “I hope we will enhance.”WILLIAMS BROTHERSInaki Williams made his first aggressive begin for Ghana, a day after his brother, Nico, got here on as an alternative to Spain in a 7-0 win over Costa Rica. Inaki Williams switched allegiance this yr from Spain to Ghana, which is the nation the place his dad and mom had been born and left many years in the past whereas his mom was pregnant with him.UP NEXTPortugal performs Uruguay on Monday. Ghana faces South Korea on the identical day.______Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
Ronaldo makes World Cup historical past, Portugal beats Ghana 3-2
