Portugal Score Last Minute Goal to Bag Crucial Point
VOA Staff
Jermaine Jones of the U.S. celebrates with Alejandro Bedoya (11), Matt Besler (5) and DaMarcus Beasley after scoring a goal during the 2014 World Cup G soccer match between Portugal and the U.S. at the Amazonia arena in Manaus June 22, 2014.
Portugal Score Last Minute Goal to Bag Crucial Point
WASHINGTON — In the final match of the day on Sunday, the United States settled for a 2-2 draw with Portugal in their World Cup face-off in Manaus, Brazil.
Portugal scored the equalizer in the last seconds of injury time to silence the Americans who were almost on the verge of qualifying for the next round in Group G, commonly referred to as the group of death.
With the draw, both teams are still in a position to qualify for the knockout round, though the U.S. with four points is now in a much better shape than Portugal (one point), which must beat Ghana (one point) on Thursday.
Also in World Cup football action Sunday, Belgium scored a late goal in Rio de Janeiro to beat Russia 1-0.
Divock Origi's strike against Russia in the 88th minute gave the Belgians two wins in two Group H matches to clinch a berth in the round of 16.
Also Saturday, Argentina squeeked out a 1-0 win over Iran to qualify for the round of 16, and Nigeria kept its hopes alive of reaching the knockout round with a 1-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
A spectator holds up a message for Russia before the start of the 2014 World Cup Group H soccer match against Belgium at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro June 22, 2014.
Meanwhile, in the other Group H game, Algeria defeated South Korea 4-2 in Porto Alegre. In doing so, Algeria became the first African team to score four goals in a World Cup game, surprising South Korea. If Algeria wins its final group match against Russia, it will advance to the next round.
Russia has one point in Group H and plays Algeria on Thursday. A Russian win would put that team in the next round.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
