Who else?

MOSCOW, June 20 

A below-par Portugal were again rescued by Cristiano Ronaldo’s eye for goal as they stumbled to 1-0 victory over Morocco on Wednesday that meant the unlucky North African side become the first to be eliminated from the World Cup. Ronaldo headed his fourth goal of the tournament after four minutes, following his last-gasp equaliser in a hat-trick in the 3-3 draw with Spain, to take the European champions to the top of Group B. 

Morocco, who had a real go but failed to convert their chances, are pointless and cannot progress to the second round. Portugal struggled to impose themselves and ended up defending for long spells, leaving coach Fernando Santos unimpressed. “We have to look at this, we lost control of the game,” he said. “We misplaced a lot of passes, we lost confidence.” 

Morocco will rue the unforgivable defending that made all their subsequent good work irrelevant — though they claimed a Portuguese foul was at the root of it. They qualified for the finals without conceding a goal in six matches yet somehow opted against marking Ronaldo in the six-yard box when Joao Moutinho swung in a cross from a short corner and striker duly buried the header. Morocco coach Herve Renard said he was unhappy at what he felt was a foul by Pepe on Khalid Boutaib that opened the way for the goal. “We put a man at the front post and when there is a crude foul on this man who is prevented from getting to the ball, it passes over,” he said. — Reuters

85 International goals for Cristiano Ronaldo — a new record for a European player. Ronaldo passed Ferenc Puskas and is now second on the all-time list behind Ali Daei (109 goals)

Short Passes

Lay off Messi, says Argentina coach

NIZHNY NOVGOROD: Argentina’s coach urged fans on Wednesday to stop blaming Lionel Messi when games do not go to script and instead appreciate all their captain has done for the national side over the years. Messi was furious with himself for missing a penalty in the South Americans’ opener against Iceland, which ended 1-1 in an inauspicious start for what may be his last chance to emulate Diego Maradona’s feat of winning a World Cup for Argentina. “When Argentina don’t win, we attribute responsibility to Leo. I think that’s too easy a way for Argentinians to think,” smarted Jorge Sampaoli on the eve of their next Group D game, against Croatia. “There were lots of factors of irritation for not winning against Iceland. There are 40 of us at this World Cup.” 

Senegal, Japan fans praised for cleaning up stadium

VOLGOGRAD: There were jubilant scenes among Senegal fans on Tuesday after their side secured a 2-1 victory over Poland in their opener, in the process becoming the first African team to win at this year’s tournament in Russia. But while supporters could have been forgiven for celebrating in the stands with reckless abandon, videos have instead been going viral showing fans methodically cleaning up after themselves in the emptying stadium. One clip shared showed fans scouring the stands for rubbish and assembling it in a single pile. It has been viewed more than four million times. Senegal’s fans were not the only ones winning praise on social media for their sense of social responsibility. Images from the aftermath of the Japan-Colombia match showed Japanese fans, some armed with plastic bags they had brought along with them, similarly clearing their portion of the stadium.

Iceland fans show their Viking spirit

VOLGOGRAD: Two Iceland fans have paid homage to the spirit of the Vikings by travelling 5,000km in a Russian-built Lada to support their team. Postal service worker Kristbjorn Hilmir Kjartansson and his friend Gretar Jonsson, a film student, took 14 days to make the trip from Reykjavik to Volgograd. The pair, both 30, painted the car in the red, white and blue colours of their national team before taking a ferry from Iceland to Denmark. — Agencies