Portugal looking to avoid Brazil

Doha, Dec. 2: Back-to-back wins. Qualification with a game to spare. Cristiano Ronaldo already among the goal scorers. The group stage could hardly have gone any better for Portugal at the World Cup.

There’s still one loose end to tie up. Portugal needs a point in its last Group H match against South Korea on Friday to guarantee finishing in first place. That might come with a perk — avoiding Brazil in the last 16.

“If we had to face each other, it would be a game between two great teams,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos said. “But our wish, and Brazil’s, is that we meet later on.”

After the 2-0 win over Uruguay on Sunday, Santos said he wasn’t planning to rest too many key players against South Korea. Ronaldo may be an exception.

Three games in nine days could prove to be too much for the 37-year-old striker, who hasn’t played significant minutes this season for Manchester United. Ronaldo missed team training on Wednesday, instead completing a session in the gym, and there’s a chance he is saved for the last 16. That would give the likes of Gonçalo Ramos or Andre Silva a rare chance to start up front.

South Korea needs a win as well as a favor in the other game taking place concurrently, between Ghana and Uruguay, to join Portugal in advancing from the group.

A win for Ghana, which is in second place on three points — three behind Portugal and two clear of South Korea and Uruguay, means the South Koreans cannot qualify whatever their result at Education City Stadium outside Doha.

Ghana vs Uruguay 

Ghana and Uruguay meet at the World Cup on Friday in a repeat of one of the tournament’s most contentious games, and Luis Suarez still isn’t apologizing for his central role in the controversy 12 years ago.

Uruguay striker Suarez’s deliberate handball on the goal-line at the end of extra time in the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa denied Ghana a certain goal and a place in history as the first African team to reach the semis. Suarez was sent off for the handball but celebrated wildly on the sidelines when Asamoah Gyan hit the penalty off the crossbar. Uruguay won the ensuing penalty shootout.

Ghana can now go some way toward settling the score. By beating Uruguay in their final Group H match, Ghana would advance to the round of 16, while knocking Uruguay out of the tournament. A draw could also be enough depending on the result of South Korea vs. Portugal.

Uruguay must beat Ghana and hope South Korea doesn’t beat Portugal to extend its stay at the World Cup and Suarez’s international career for at least one more game. Goal difference will decide it if Uruguay and South Korea both win.

Swiss, Serbia go head-to-head 

When Serbia plays Switzerland at the World Cup on Friday, it will be a head-to-head elimination match to get into the knockout rounds.

The European rivals seemed destined for a win-and-advance final group stage match at 974 Stadium ever since the tournament draw in April placed them in Group G with heavily favored Brazil. “We knew at the beginning of the tournament that the game against Serbia would be the final in this group,” Swiss captain Granit Xhaka said after a 1-0 loss to Brazil on Monday.

That result sent Brazil to the round of 16 even before playing its last game against Cameroon, and left Switzerland in second place likely needing only a draw with Serbia to advance. Not that the Swiss plan on playing for a tie.

Serbia has not played a World Cup knockout match since becoming an independent nation, and a relative lack of tournament experience — playing at three of the four World Cups since 2010 but no Euros — perhaps showed in Qatar.

Barring an unlikely big win for Cameroon against Brazil on Friday, Switzerland and Serbia are playing for second place in the standings and a last-16 game next Tuesday against the Group H winner – likely to be Portugal.

Cameroon fight for survival

Still without Neymar and already secured in the round of 16, Brazil will use its last group game at the World Cup to give playing time to its reserves.

Coach Tite was expected to make changes in every position for Brazil’s match against Cameroon on Friday, when a draw will be enough to give the five-time champions first place in Group G.

The game means more to Cameroon, which needs a win to keep its hopes of advancing alive. And that may not even be enough depending on the result of the other group game between Switzerland and Serbia. Brazil has six points, three more than Switzerland and five more than both Cameroon and Serbia.

Cameroon is trying to advance past the group stage for the first time since its run to the quarterfinals in 1990, when a squad led by striker Roger Milla was eliminated by England in extra time in the tournament in the United States. Cameroon did not qualify for the tournament in Russia four years ago.

The Africans, who opened in Qatar with a loss to Switzerland and then drew with Serbia, theoretically are catching a break for the final group game because of all the changes expected in the Brazil squad.

Tite planned to use only reserve players, starting with Ederson replacing Alisson in goal. Veteran Dani Alves was among those coming into the defense, while Fabinho was set to play in the midfield. Antony and Gabriel Martinelli were expected to be added to the attack. (AP)