Reuters
Paris, June 26: A cagey 1-0 win over a rigidly organised Northern Ireland side in the last-16 clash at Parc des Princes in Paris, Saturday teed up what many Wales fans may see as a winnable quarterfinal, with a first-ever place in the last four of a major tournament up for grabs.
The last time Wales reached the quarterfinals of a major soccer tournament, at the 1958 World Cup. It has taken the best part of six decades for them to return to one of international football’s major stages and, having clawed their way into the last eight of Euro 2016 where they will face Belgium or Hungary.
The crucial moment eventually came in the 75th minute when Gareth Bale crossed in from the left side. Hal Robson-Kanu was running into its path and looked set to knock it in, but Gareth McAuley beat him to it and diverted it past his own goalkeeper. It was sloppy display, shown by the losing side defender.
Portugal relied on one, late, moment of class to grab their first victory and move into the last eight with a 1-0 win over Croatia despite failing to hit the target for almost two hours and struggling to build any cohesive attacks at Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens.
The fans got to see two hours of cagey, nervy football with only one shot on target amid some shocking finishing until mercurial Ricardo Quaresma lit up the stadium with his winner three minutes from the end of extra time.
All eyes were on Ronaldo but for almost all the game he was nowhere to be seen, shut out by two and three Croats at all times. However, it was Renato Sanches who launched a quick break to feed Nani on the left.
As always, Ronaldo dug deep into his reserves to charge up in support on the right and Nani picked him out with a clever, threaded low cross. Ronaldo’s shot from a tight angle was blocked by keeper Danijel Subasic’s quick reflexes but Quaresma, brought on in the 87 minute, nodded-in on the rebound and set up a quarterfinal with Poland.