For 90 minutes on Sunday night, all Ghanaians were fans of the Portuguese national side. They were playing the USA, and for Ghana to have any chance of making it out of group G, Portugal had to win.
They couldn’t quite manage it, but the 95th minute equaliser and the 2-2 draw gave Ghana a small lifeline, and on Thursday the two will lock horns to determine who qualifies, hopefully with a little help from Germany.
‘A Selecao’, or ‘The Selection’ is how the Portuguese national team is known. Currently ranked no.4 in the world, they were supposed to be one of the heavyweights in this year’s world cup. After the group stage draw as well, they alongside Germany were the obvious picks from the group; yet after two games all they have to show is a measly point and even victory against Ghana on Thursday might not be enough to send them through.
Portugal qualified for the world cup via the European play-offs, beating Sweden 4-2 on aggregate in a spectacular 2-legged tie that saw Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic score all six goals between them.
The second leg game, which Portugal won 3-2, was a tour de force from Ronaldo. In that 90 minutes in Lisbon Ronaldo single-handedly annihilated the Swedish side, giving the world a taste of what they should expect come this mundial.