Portugal and Mexico qualify to next round

CAIRO – 25 June 2017:Portugal and Mexico were able to qualify to the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup that is currently being held in Russia after beating both New Zealand and Russia.

Mexico managed to gain a 2-1 victory against the hosts, Russia, on Saturday at Kazan Stadium. In a decisive match, Aleksandr Samedov opened the score for Russia in the 25th minute. Mexico did notlet Russia have the lead for long, managing to score the equalizer after just five minutes. Nestor Araujo scored the equalizer for Mexico in the 30th minute.

The second half opened and Mexico did notwait long to take the lead by scoring a goal in the 52nd minute, made by Hirving Lozano. Russian captain Yuri Zhirkov got sent off on the 68th minute after receiving his second yellow card. With one man down the Russians tried to score two goals in the remaining minutes of the match but were faced by a solid defense and strong goalkeeper from Mexico.

On another Saturday match,Portugal went on a party at Spartak Stadium by winning 4-0 against New Zealand. Portuguese captain and their all-time goal scorer Cristiano Ronaldo opened the score in the 33rd minute by scoring a penalty kick. Manchester City’s new player Bernardo Silva scored the second goal on the 38th minute to secure the score. Andre Silva, the 21-year-old striker, wanted to become part of the party so he decided to score a goal in the 80th minute. The Portuguese star player Luis Nani who entered the match in the last 30 minutes was able to score the fourth goal in the last few minutes.

With these results Portugal, who came first in Group A, is expected to play the second place team in Group B, while Mexico, who came in second, will play the first place team in Group B.