Bruno Fernandes, who was given credit for the first goal in Portugal’s 2-0 victory over Uruguay to advance to the World Cup’s round of 16, said, “I don’t really think it matters.”
After defeating Uruguay at Lusail Stadium, the Manchester United midfielder scored twice as Fernando Santos’ team ensured their progress into the knockout stage with one game remaining.
Cristiano Ronaldo first appeared to have glanced in Fernandes’ cross in the 54th minute as Portugal’s first goal, but FIFA eventually stepped in and gave it to the latter.
Fernandes secured the victory with a late penalty kick and is now concentrated on avoiding defeat against South Korea on Friday in order to take first place in Group H.
“I don’t really think it matters who scored the goal at this point,” he said when asked about Portugal’s first strike. “The feeling I had at the time was that Cristiano touched the ball. I was passing the ball to him.
“But what’s important is that we were able to go on to the next round after a very important win against a tough opponent.
“The importance of being first [in Group H] includes winning the next game, which would allow us to come out of the group undefeated with three wins, and that’s what we want.
“We know we will find a very well-organised [South Korea] team ahead of us. Our objective is to think match after match – to win all the ones in the group phase, we still have one ahead of us.
“We have to do our very best because we want to win all the matches.”
Portugal won its first two World Cup games for only the third time, also accomplishing the feat in 1966 and 2006 in runs to the semi-final stage. Santos expects Portugal can complete the task to win Group H.
Nuno Mendes will be evaluated in “24 hours,” the head coach of Portugal said, adding that after hobbling off during the first half.
“All our team have a great performance,” Santos said. “The game was difficult, our opponent was difficult.
“In the second half, we managed to play as we are used to; despite the fact that the Uruguayan players were playing very well.
“Our players responded with purpose, and we managed to win with fair play. We have a feeling of satisfaction as we can move to the next stage.
“[Two wins from two is] exactly what I wanted for my team. As I said back in Portugal, our team is very united, we have a very good team building, and now we are given the answers to what was asked of us.
“There is still a match to be played; we need to be careful with our considerations. We do want to be first [in Group H], but we are not first yet. As a result, we need to continue improving on our tactics.”