London, March 28: Portugal and Belgium were left frustrated by draws in their World Cup qualifying matches. Ireland was left in shock.
Portugal was held 2-2 by Serbia while top-ranked Belgium could only salvage a 1-1 draw in the Czech Republic.
On a night when underdogs tested big names, Luxembourg pulled off the biggest shock of all to beat Ireland 1-0. Stéphanie Frappart made more history as the first woman to referee a men’s World Cup qualifier as the Netherlands beat Latvia 2-0.
Ronaldo had tossed his captain’s armband on the field as he walked off at the end of Portugal’s draw with Serbia, believing he should have had a winning goal. His shot was heading over the line when Serbia’s Stefan Mitrovic slid and cleared the ball. TV replays indicated the ball did cross the line, but goal-line technology and video review aren’t used in the World Cup qualifiers.
Diogo Jota put the reigning European champions ahead with a pair of first-half headers. But halftime substitute Nemanja Radonjic set up two goals to pull the hosts level with half an hour to play.
Also in Group A, Luxembourg’s Gerson Rodrigues scored with five minutes remaining to humble the Irish.
Ireland failed to deal with a high ball and Rodrigues pounced to smash a dipping shot past 19-year-old goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu from 25 yards on Bazunu’s international debut.
Romelu Lukaku extended his impressive scoring record with Belgium to salvage a 1-1 draw against Czech Republic as the top-ranked team was lucky to escape with a point. Lukaku, Belgium’s all-time leading scorer, took his tally to 59 goals in 91 international matches after Kevin De Bruyne’s brilliant assist.
In the other Group E match, Belarus twice came from behind to kick off its World Cup qualification campaign with a 4-2 win over 10-man Estonia.
The Netherlands got its World Cup qualification back on track by beating Latvia 2-0, while Turkey continued its strong start in Group G with a 3-0 victory over Norway to go top on goal difference.
Montenegro beat Gibraltar 4-1 while Croatia secured a 1-0 win over Cyprus. Russia is top of Group H after beating Slovenia 2-1 to pick up its second win.
Artem Dzyuba scored both of Russia’s goals to move within one goal of the Russian team record of 30 held by retired striker Alexander Kerzhakov.
Malta earned a rare point in a 2-2 draw with Slovakia.
France collected its first win in World Cup qualifying by beating Kazakhstan 2-0 on Sunday after Ousmane Dembele’s strike and an own goal by Sergey Malyy. (AP)
