-By Soul Sword-
This match was a treat to watch as it was an action-packed game just as expected. Three minutes into the game and Christiano Ronaldo had earned himself a penalty which he converted into a smooth goal. It was not long before Diego Costa equalised by scoring a tough goal which was referred to the VAR before being declared a goal. This made him the first player to be awarded a goal using VAR. He scored the goal on his own without support from his team and though he had 3 Portugal defenders and the goalkeeper blocking him he still managed to score .
VAR is the Video Assistant Referee which is being used for the first time at the World Cup. This system assists the referee to avoid errors with respect to goals, penalties, red cards and mistaken identity. The Video Assistant Referee sits with his team of 3 officials and watches the game from Moscow and alerts the main referee if an error is committed.
Both the sides were determined to keep scoring as there were repeated attempts at scoring but the defences were good as well, so none of the chances was converted to goals. It was just a few minutes to half-time when Christiano Ronaldo struck again putting Portugal in the lead again. At halftime, Portugal was leading with a score of 2-1.
Both the teams were energetic as the second half commenced. At 53 minutes Costa scored again equalising the score 2-2. Both Christiano Ronaldo and Diego Costa had two goals each under their name. 5 minutes later, Spain’s Nacho scored putting Spain in the lead with 3-2. The tempo of the already aggressive match had gone up by two notches after this goal. Spain had upped their defence trying to maintain the lead. At 86’ Ronaldo scored his hatrick in the form of a stylish free kick which curved its way around the wall right into the net, bringing the score to 3-3. Though there were repeated attempts at goal towards the end, the match ended in a draw 3-3.
This match was an electrifying one, with each team equalising the other and then going on to take the lead in the game. I was hooked to the screen for the whole 94 minutes of gameplay as it was packed with goals and lot of thirlling moments. The game came down to the wire and it could have gone either way. Both Spain and Portugal were competitive so I am quite happy with the 3-3 result as they were equally matched in the end. The Portuguese Goalkeeper Rui Patricio had a great game yesterday and if it wasn’t for him, Spain wouldn’t have stopped with just 3 goals. Spain put up a good attacking gameplay as their opponents were the formidable Portuguese led by their dynamic captain Christiano Ronaldo. In the end, it was an impressive match that we got to witness early on in the tournament. We are in for a treat if all the matches to come are going to be as fiery as this one.
The Writers Room 