Portugal battle to narrow World Cup qualifying win over Azerbaijan
European champions Portugal got their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign away to an absolute start because of an Azerbaijan individual goal in a good 1-0 Group A victory in Turin in Wednesday.
Azeri captain Maksim Medvedev turned the ball into his own net on 36 minutes, but that was first all Portugal could muster against their 108th-ranked opponents.
“We'd some difficulties, some concerns, it’s undeniable,” explained Portugal trainer Fernando Santos, after his 50th gain in control from 80 matches.
“In the second half, the workforce lacked motivation and fluidity.”
Cristiano Ronaldo failed to score at his club side’s Juventus Stadium - with the game on neutral surface due to coronavirus travel constraints - remaining seven goals short of Iranian Ali Daei’s all-time international scoring record of 109 goals.
Portugal struggled because of poor finishing, a dogged Azeri defence and a number of excellent saves from visiting goalkeeper Shakhrudin Magomedaliyev.
“We haven’t been performing together for a long time,” Santos added. “It’s ordinary we need to warm up a little more, but we’ve carried out what everyone predicted us to do.
“We finished up winning, it’s authentic with an own target, but maybe we would have deserved to win with a higher score.
“I’m quite content with the performance, even if there is area for improvement. Our potential is quite promising.
“We want to get back on track nowadays against opponents who will be attacking more than tonight.”
- Profligate Portugal -
The Portuguese were camped before their rivals’ goal early, dominating the first half, with an Andre Silva header flying over the bar in the 12th minute.
The Azeri keeper kept out a Ronaldo header on 23 mins, with Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo rifling just wide from a tight angle prior to the half-hour mark.
The breakthrough originated from a goalmouth scramble, with Magomedaliyev punching the ball out, hitting Medvedev and bouncing in to the back of his own net.
Ronaldo directed an overhead kick attempt prior to the break over and missed further probabilities to score his 103rd Portugal aim in the second half despite Azerbaijan appearing more dangerous after the break.
Joao Felix came off the bench for the ultimate quarter of one hour but did not look for a second goal.
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo create Bruno Fernandes with 15 minutes to go, however the Manchester United midfielder’s shot was tipped more than the bar by Magomedaliyev, who preserved a Ronaldo free-kick at total stretch with 5 minutes to go.
“This is a satisfactory result, many feared Portugal could score many goals against us,” said Azerbaijan’s Italian coach Giovanni De Biasi.
“We had been too shy in the initial half, in the second one half we changed something and things much better, even taking into consideration the technical differences between your two teams.”
Portugal, who reached the World Cup semi-finals in 1966 and 2006, next happen to be Serbia in Saturday and Luxembourg 3 days later.
