And that’s your lot from this one. Nick Ames will have a match report along for you in good time, but for now - farewell, my friends.
Well then. Ronaldo stalks off the pitch looking thoroughly unimpressed, and with good reason. Looking at that equalising goal again, it was pretty weak defending by Fonte to allow Moreno to reach the cross. Portugal looked great value for the win after some late impetus from their young substitutes, when combined with the usual excellence from Ronaldo, but they must settle for a point.
Full-time: Portugal 2-2 Mexico
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins + 1: Despite Portugal being much the better side for the second half, it looks like it’ll be all-square. Jonathan dos Santos swings a great cross over from a corner on the left, Moreno goes up with Fonte and muscles the West Ham man out, and flicks a header in off the far post.
GOAL! Portugal 2-2 Mexico (Moreno 90 mins +1)
Well, they haven’t really deserved that...
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88 mins: Two chances in a minute. For Mexico, an attack down the right opens space in the box, and the ball falls to Hernandez about eight yards out...but he completely misses his kick. Portugal counter, Andre Silva feeds Martins in the area who has a chance on the spin, but sends it inches wide of the post. Portugal have looked much more lively since the youngsters came on.
87 mins: There was quite a long gap there as the referee consulted the almighty VAR, but exposed one of the big problems with the system: namely, that nobody in the stadium or watching on TV had the first idea of what he was actually querying. The fans in the ground were just left looking at a man with his finger to his ear for a minute or so.
86 mins: Ronaldo slides the ball down the right for Martins, who speeds down the flank and cuts back into the area. It’s half-cleared but falls to Cedric, whose cross-shot looks to be heading well wide but is deflected home by Herrera. On reflection, that was an own-goal.
GOAL! Portugal 2-1 Mexico (Cedric 86)
The winner! Probably.
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85 mins: Great effort, great save! Great stuff all round really, as Gomes crosses from the left, Andre Silva gets up and directs a fine header towards goal, but Ochoa flings himself to his right and pushes the ball away.
82 mins: More sub action - Quaresma gets the hook, and Milan newboy Andre Silva gets a run.
80 mins: Ronaldo has come to life a bit. After feeling he was fouled on the left, he then does good work on the same flank to set up Quaresma, but has been the case with a few of his shots in this game, he hits it straight at the keeper.
78 mins: A long period of possession for Portugal ends when Carvalho spanks a pass that required a more delicate touch towards Martins. A sub for Mexico, as Oribe Peralta comes on for Jimenez.
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76 mins: Martins, who has looked lively since coming on, is fed by Gomes, and subsequently spreads to the left for Quaresma, but his shot thunks into the first man.
74 mins: ....but Quaresma massively overhits a cross from the right, and Martins does pretty well just to keep the ball in play over on the far side.
73 mins: Guardado goes into the book for tripping Ronaldo. Free-kick in a dangerous spot for Portugal...
72 mins: Slight feeling that the game isn’t really going anywhere at the moment. Air of a friendly about it. “Quite taxing for Ronaldo, leading the line on his own,” says Clive Tyldesley. “Tax maybe isn’t quite the right word...” he archly adds.
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69 mins: ...which Layun hits without much power, down the middle, and over the bar. But other than that it was a pretty good effort.
68 mins: Oooh, a booking. First of the game. Adrien Silva gets a yellow for a cheeky clip on the heels of Gio dos Santos. A free-kick for Mexico, roughly central, about 30 yards from goal...
66 mins: Sub for Mexico - Salcedo is off, and Nestor Araujo is on.
64 mins: Our pal J.R. in Illinois has been on: “A word for our Argentinian referee Nestor Pitana who is trying to disguise the fact that he is bald. Not working, Nestor. That is one epic combover he is sporting. That hairdo takes advanced planning. If Gabriel Paletta had been thinking ahead he could have imitated that look.”
62 mins: Gomes gets the ball and runs right across the area, right to left, trying to make space for the shot but can’t in the end, and tries to play back to Ronaldo. But it’s something of a hospital pass and Ronaldo gives one of those looks that seems to scream “Eeesh, I’m playing with amateurs here.”
61 mins: Quaresma does a spot of jinking on the left, then clips a cross over but it’s headed away before either Ronaldo or Martins could get near the thing.
59 mins: Guerreiro swings over a free-kick from the Portuguese right finding Pepe in absolutely acres in the middle, but his attempt at a volley goes backwards, rather than the more conventional forwards, in the direction of the goal. Relieved, Pepe then spots the offside flag, and his dignity is saved. A bit.
58 mins: Actually Mexico are making a change too - ghosts of north London potential past exchange places on the pitch, as Gio dos Santos replaces Vela. And for Portugal, Gelson Martins comes on for Nani, while Adrian Silva replaces Moutinho.
57 mins: Couple of subs in the offing for Portugal. They haven’t quite managed to get going in the second-half.
55 mins: Again Guerreiro drops a bollock, this time overrunning a ball inside. Vela picks it up, but he runs out of room at the byline on the right and the ball goes out for a goal-kick.
52 mins: A long ball is half-cleared by Fonte, it drops to Jimenez on the edge of the box and he shoots, but it’s deflected behind by Pepe.
49 mins: A brief break in play as Salcedo blocks a Ronaldo pass, which bends his foot back so that his toe gets caught in the turf, and twists his ankle a little.
48 mins: Pep legs Layun up, briefly rolls around as if his leg has been struck by Thor’s hammer, then leaps to his feet to implore the referee that a mistake has been made. Even in the autumn of his career, he will never change, and for this we should be thankful.
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46 mins: And again, we are away.
The players are back out for the second-half. No changes for either side.
‘“And almost from nowhere, Mexico are level,”’ writes Robin Sebastian Fjeldstad. “Doesn’t that describe just about every goal Hernandez has ever scored? He isnt tall, he isnt strong, he isn’t quick, he can’t dribble and he never assists. But then, almost from nowhere, he scores. LVG was crazy to sell him.”
Looking at that replay again for the first Portugal strike that was chalked off, it looks like the goal was disallowed for the offside after the ball was hoiked back into the area after Ronaldo’s first effort. That was at least two phases of play before the ball actually went in, so it’s interesting that they were allowed to go back that far. But there were about four players who were all off, and by some way, so rather than the use of VAR, the question is: why didn’t the lino spot it first time around?
Well, a slow start, but that was a pretty entertaining game for the last 20-odd minutes of the half. Haven’t seen a replay of that VAR incident which disallowed a goal for Portugal yet. What a world in which we live.
Half-time: Portugal 1-1 Mexico
Peeeeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins: Hernandez close again. Well, sort of. Vela does good work on the right, slips inside to Jimenez who takes it to the byline and cuts it back to Hernandez, about ten yards out, but the wee pea almost hits his shot vertically, and it rockets high, high, high over the bar. He stares accusingly at the turf, trying to find a bobble in the turf, but no luck for the moment.
42 mins: An absolutely deafening clanger from Guerreiro. A cross comes over from the left, which Guerrerio charges towards but sort of yorks himself and the ball slips under his heel as he tries to clear. Vela picks up the loose ball, clips it into the centre and Hernandez nips in front of a slightly sluggish Pepe and powers a header into the bottom corner.
GOAL! Portugal 1-1 Mexico (Hernandez 42)
And almost from nowhere, Mexico are level.
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40 mins: Portugal go close again. Ronaldo plays a delicious backheel to Quaresma on the edge of the box. He initially gets the ball stuck under his feet, but then shifts well enough to create a bit of space for a shot, but he drags his left-footed effort just past the post.
37 mins: Portugal the better side, but Mexico are on the attack here. Vela gets the ball on the right, he crosses into the box for Hernandez about eight yards out, but he’s retreating a little so doing that at the same time as jumping for the header is a little tricky, so there’s not a great deal of power on the effort, and Patricio saves easily.
34 mins: A goal scored by Quaresma, but assisted by the aura of Ronaldo. The great man was put free down the left channel, running free on goal in a manner that he would have just sped away and muscled the ball into the net in years past. This time he sort of gets the ball stuck under his feet, but such is the fear that he still creates in opposition defenders, three of the buggers had sprinted over to cover him, leaving Quaresma absolutely free on the other side of the box. Ronaldo does brilliantly to have the presence of mind to stop, turn and spot his colleague, who shuffles past a defenceless Ochoa and pops the ball into an empty net.
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GOAL! Portugal 1-0 Mexico (Quaresma 34)
No VAR this time.
33 mins: Portugal go close! Well, sort of. Carvalho crosses from the right, Salcedo gets his head to the ball on the edge of the area but only succeeds in sending it towards his own goal. Ochoa does brilliantly to stop, change direction, throw himself backwards and to the left and manages to tip the ball over the bar.
31 mins: VAR EXPLAINED
Complete with the soundtrack to a late-1980s BBC educational film.
30 mins: Gomes chops down Hernandez just outside the area, and Vela steps up to strike the free-kick, about 25 yards out on the right. But the effort is a little lame, and limps wide of the near post.
28 mins: “The ‘expert’ co-commentator has, in all seriousness, just described the referee’s decision to turn to the VAR as ‘brave’,” writes Matt Loten. “Brave. Of all the decisions made by a referee that could conceivably be called ‘brave’ (and I’m not sure there are many), checking your decision with a team of tech-based assistants is not one of them. One day ITV will get their commentary game together.”
That’s the broadly excellent Danny Higginbotham, Matt is talking about. ‘Brave’ (a relative term) to test out a technology that people are pretty sceptical about, I guess.
26 mins: Mexico have a brief spell of possession, but Portugal attack with a little more purpose down the right. Cedric is played in down the right side of the area, but Ochoa is out, quick as a flash, to charge down the cross-shot.
23 mins: A vexed Portugal attack once again. Gomes shoots inside the area but mishits it, and the ball eventually works its way back to Quaresma on the edge of the box, but his shot lacks purpose and direction, going straight at the keeper.
GOAL DISALLOWED!
And the telly ref decrees it was indeed offside! Technology eh? What will they think of next?
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GOAL! POSSIBLY! IT'S VAR TIME!
Ronaldo puts his free-kick into the wall, the rebound falls back to him and he hammers it against the bar. Then the ball is hooked back into the area and finds its way into the net via Pepe, but the referee goes upstairs to check if he was offside from the initial ball back...
19 mins: Quaresma is felled by Guardado, with a pull on the arm and a hook to the ankle. It’s a hair to the left of centre, about 30 yards out, and here’s Cristiano...
16 mins: Herrera tries a cross into the middle, it deflects off Moutinho into the path of Vela, who completely misses his kick and it goes out. But, like a man tripping on a paving stone and instantly trying to style it out by pretending to start running, Vela appeals for a corner, as if he meant to let it run out. He gets said corner, but nought comes of it.
15 mins: An email! See, the people love the Confed Cup. Akshay Kulkarni writes: “How much do you want to put on the first question being asked of Ronaldo after the match, win or loss, being “Are you going to play at Real Madrid?” What an awkward situation.
“As a neutral I’m surprised Bernardo Silva and Andre Silva are on the bench. I thought that Fernando Santos would give his young guns a bit of a go, considering it is an international tournament, but he’s stuck with Quaresma and Nani - let’s see how that works out. Just hoping for some action, honestly, not a borefest typical of these tournaments. Cheers!”
13 mins: Neither team have found their range yet. Moutinho fires a beefy pass at Gomes’s head, which does little useful beyond testing the solidity of the Barca midfielder’s hair. The do is staunch, although the ball bounces away harmlessly.
10 mins: There’s a brief break in play as Nani goes down following a rogue (if unintentional) Herrera elbow to the back of the head. Pepe seems to be the chief medical officer in this situation, which is a concern, but ultimately Nani is OK and rises, if a little groggily, to his feet.
8 mins: Layun gets down the left and hoys over a cross, but it’s far too strong and goes out. At the other end, Cedric tries to feed the grand animated statue Ronaldo, but the pass has too much on it, and the Real Madrid wantaway solemnly applauds the effort.
6 mins: Vela makes a direct run at goal, but he’s bundled over just outside the right edge of the area by Nani. Free-kick in a dangerous position. Guardado shoots, it flicks off Fonte on the end of the wall and then rebounds off the shins of Reyes, and it goes out for a goal-kick.
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4 mins: Quiet early stages, like two boxers very tentatively testing each other out with jabs. Layun tries to pick out Vela with a booming crossfield pass, but it sails over the ex-Arsenal man’s head.
1 min: We’re underway. Mexico are wearing all white, Portugal are in maroon jerseys, maroon knickerbockers and green stockings.
A minute’s silence is held for the people killed in some horrendous forest fires in Portugal this weekend.
The players are gathering in the tunnel. Ronaldo is looking more and more like his statue every day.
Look who’s there...
Well well! Nice spot by @mexicoworldcup at Mexico vs. Portugal. #ConfedCup pic.twitter.com/ZaySiTuuOW
— James Tyler (@JamesTylerESPN) June 18, 2017
Just time for a little pre-match reading - here’s my friend and yours Nicholas Ames, with a Confederations Cup Joy of Six...
Not to go all ‘modern football is rubbish’ on you, but...
Is it normal these days for stadium seats to spell out hashtags? pic.twitter.com/qo6LJSlijG
— Nick Ames (@NickAmes82) June 18, 2017
Tell you what, it’s a good job Ronaldo is playing after all that...
Team news
Portugal
Patrico; Cedric, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro; Carvalho, Andre Gomes; Quaresma, Moutinho, Nani; Ronaldo.
Mexico
Ochoa; Salcedo, Reyes, Moreno, Layun; Dos Santos, Herrera; Guardado, Vela, Jimenez; Hernandez.
Preamble
Everyone’s been asking about Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portugal players. The Portuguese coaching staff. The Portuguese media. Even Marco Asensio, after scoring a hattrick for the Spanish Under-21s in Poland yesterday, was asked about Cristiano Ronaldo. “I would put my hands in the fire for [Ronaldo’s] character and integrity,” said Portugal coach Fernando Santos. “As a person and as an athlete. I have a pact with the players and we treat these personal matters away from the national team. All these issues will not affect us.”
None of this, though, has really been about football. More about the talk, possibly started by the man himself, that he wants to leave Real Madrid, to leave Spain. It’s at times like this when you understand why elite sportspeople sometimes say the only place they can attain peace is on the pitch, while being watched by thousands in the ground and millions on TV. It’s the only time they can truly escape the noise. Even if, admittedly, they might have caused the noise themselves.
So for this afternoon we have Cristiano Ronaldo the football player, rather than Cristiano Ronaldo the transfer rumour staple. And with him a brilliant collection of young Portuguese players, not least Manchester City’s newest toy Benardo Silva, Milan’s shiny purchase Andre Silva, plus forward Gelson Martins and perennial prospect William Carvalho. This Portugal side might have won Euro 2016, but they might just be getting exciting.
Kick-off: 4pm BST
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