2 hours ago 
Portugal surged to the apical of Group K astatine the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a commanding 5-0 triumph implicit tourney debutant Uzbekistan connected Tuesday, fueled by a record-setting performance from Cristiano Ronaldo earlier 68,777 fans astatine Houston Stadium.
The 41-year-old skipper silenced caller critics conscionable six minutes into the lucifer by converting a debased transverse from João Cancelo astatine the adjacent post. The objective onslaught established Ronaldo arsenic the first subordinate successful shot history to people successful six antithetic FIFA World Cup editions. Portugal extended its vantage successful the 17th infinitesimal erstwhile defender Nuno Mendes deceived the partition during a clever set-piece routine, curling a debased free-kick into the bottommost corner.
Portugal maintained power aft halftime successful Houston, wherever an ain extremity by Uzbekistan goalkeeper Abduvokhid Nematov extended the vantage earlier Rafael Leão added a precocious fifth. Uzbekistan concisely thought it had pulled 1 back, but a VAR reappraisal disallowed the extremity for a foul successful the buildup. Capitalizing connected the reprieve, Portugal extended its pb successful the 39th minute. Bruno Fernandes delivered a perfectly weighted done shot to Ronaldo, who confidently slotted location his 2nd extremity of the match. The onslaught raised his World Cup tally to 10, surpassing Eusébio’s 60-year-old grounds to marque Ronaldo Portugal’s all-time starring scorer astatine the tournament.
Uzbekistan, playing successful its archetypal World Cup, remained without a constituent aft a 2nd consecutive defeat. Coach Fabio Cannavaro accepted work for the effect but urged his players to proceed learning from the experience, saying the tourney represents an important measurement successful the improvement of the nationalist team. Uzbekistan volition look DR Congo successful its last radical lucifer with its hopes of advancing hanging by a thread.
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