Fernandes' brace sends Portugal to The World Cup
Key takeaways:
- Bruno Fernandes' brace brings him up to eight international goals.
- Bruno Fernandes dispatched Portugal to the World Cup with a double in their play-off final victory over North Macedonia.
Fernandes won the ball in midfield, played a one-two with Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo and shot home from the box's border to open the scoring in Porto.
He then volleyed in Diogo Jota's cross for the second, having helped begin the action himself outside his box.
The Macedonians, who shook Italy in the semis, offered little throughout.
They never looked like getting a first World Cup and failed to test Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa once.
Portugal qualifies for their sixth World Cup in a row with Ronaldo, 37, heading to the tournament for a fifth and probably the last time.
Fernando Santos has guided his nation to Euro 2016 and the 2019 Nations League and is now targeting their first-ever World Cup title.
"I have already succeeded in two competitions, and I hope to win the third one in Qatar," coach Santos said.
"There was a spirit of mutual support and great help from the public. It was an earned and fair victory and qualification. I don't remember any significant goalscoring problems for their team."
Portugal reaches there finally
Portugal closed their World Cup place four and a half months after expected. They were seconds away from winning their group before Aleksandar Mitrovic's 90th-minute goal shipped Serbia through instead.
They pecked their luck in the semi-final against Turkey, who missed a penalty at 2-1 before Portugal scored late to make it 3-1.
But there was no actual drama this time in Porto as they outclassed North Macedonia, ranked 67th globally, who had given everything they had to knock out Italy the previous week.