ADLER, Russia — Set all the future videos, the YouTube clips and even the stray GIFs of the match that breathed here Friday night to whatever pieces of classical music might lurk around the house or apartment or workplace. Even the glorious dorks who make their own soccer videos because they simply cannot function otherwise need to locate some kind of soaring accompaniment. Keep in mind copyright considerations.
With the roars from 43,866 in coastal Fisht Stadium probably audible to vessels out on the Black Sea, Spain and Portugal collaborated contrarily until their crackling 3-3 draw, the fourth match out of 64 that will constitute the World Cup, galloped into the early lead as the best and will be damned-near insuperable from here.
The match reminded those with the good fortune to watch it that Spain seems to have refurbished the violin section that made it peerless around the turn of last decade, seems to have rediscovered its effective beauty. It spent much of the match surmounting nuisances of varying ludicrousness yet still seemed primed to win as the referee took an eon settling the wall of players before Cristiano Ronaldo’s late free kick.
Then it reminded that of all the best conductors in sports, of all the Peles and Maradonas and Jordans and Jameses and Tendulkars and Bradys and Montanas, Ronaldo might just be the ultimate peacock, with his comprehensive vanity fueling an inability to surrender that would match any such inability on Earth. When he faced that wall in the 88th minute and sent a ball with a life of its own around the right edge of the people and the thing traveled upward until it made its planned curl down into the top right side of the net, yards and yet miles from a frozen goalkeeper, well, at very least . . .
At very least a string quartet should have played nearby.
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With that latest and last roar, blaring while Ronaldo ran madly and giddily in a leftward loop, the whole occasion had proved so powerful that you could forget for long swatches that Spain had fired its manager Wednesday and that its new manager had held the helm for about five minutes. At moments when that thought did recur, it seemed that perhaps every team in every sport, when it approaches an humongous event, ought to consider firing its coach or manager.
“We feel very proud of the players after the adversity of the match itself,” said the nascent manager, Fernando Hierro, who soon added of his veteran-rich bunch: “This is a mature squad. It harbors no doubts. It knows what it wants.”
It absolutely knows how to overcome, four years after it descended to a dud in Brazil at the 2014 World Cup, opening with a 5-1 loss to the Netherlands that made it look elderly and following that with a 2-0 loss to Chile that booked it back across the Atlantic. On this memorable Friday night, it overcame a calamity just 130 seconds into Hierro’s tenure, when Ronaldo tried to step by Nacho near the top left corner of the box and the defender’s left calf grazed Ronaldo’s right foot, spilling the 33-year-old global superstar from Madeira and wreaking a penalty.
Ronaldo shoved that into the top right of the goal while goalkeeper David De Gea guessed the other way, and Ronaldo already had become the fourth player in the 21 World Cups to post goals in four different ones, while Spain already had trouble. It would have more in the 44th minute when Portugal took a 2-1 lead via a candidate for the gaffe hall of fame, when Ronaldo’s left-footed attempt from the top of the box one-hopped its way to De Gea, then caromed off De Gea’s left hand toward the back left corner of the net.
Those two goals alone might discourage many, but Spain carefully assembled its recoveries. Both nostalgically and promisingly, it hogged 67 percent of possession. Yet its two reply goals owed nothing to any lovely tap-tap. In the 24th minute, Sergio Busquets’s long ball found Brazil-born he-man Diego Costa alone down there without any of his mates, and by the time he had shoved Pepe on the shoulder and danced amid two defenders from the questioned Portuguese defense, he looked cartoonish, as if seven might not stop him.
His eventual shot skittered through the two and through the legs of Portugal defender Cedric and into the back left corner of the net.
After De Gea’s blunder caused pity and scorn around the world and later a hug from Hierro, a former Spain mainstay as a player, and after they all went to halftime, Spain’s offense really got pretty, even off a free kick. David Silva took that in the 55th minute, and it traveled down right of the goal to Busquets, who headed a stunning cross that a charging Costa crammed in. Only three minutes passed before Andres Iniesta and his teammates made some beauty near the left edge of the box. The threat looked cleared until Nacho appeared outside the top right corner of the box.
He redirected it back the other way and off the left post, then it pinballed over way right until it came to rest with the score 3-2.
From there Spain, whose first-half turns of excellence had featured Isco hitting the underside of the bar and Iniesta directing one that smiled at the right post before moving on, played some of the world’s highest-level keep-away.
“We played a favorite for the World Cup,” Ronaldo said afterward, soon adding, “We are not the favorites, but we’re candidates.”
With the two moving on to play Morocco and Iran on Wednesday and both figuring to turn up in the knockout stage, the minutes waned with Spain having advantage but Portugal having Ronaldo. The star who had never scored against Spain made a few bids at a third goal until those minutes started to look like filler, enough that viewers might have forgotten that Ronaldo has what Portugal Manager Fernando Santos called “incredible mental endurance.”
Then Gerard Pique fouled Ronaldo 25 yards from the goal, and a stadium waited to see whether anything would come of that.
And the Friday night symphony simply would not stop playing.
— Chuck Culpepper
***
In-game updates
A game-saving block
In the second minute of stoppage time and with the game tied 3-3, Spain’s Koke made a sliding block of a shot by Ricardo Quaresma to keep it from getting to the net. The longtime rivals finished with a 3-3 tie, leaving Iran alone atop Group B.
Goal!
Wow. Cristiano Ronaldo’s bending, dipping shot off a free kick gave him a hat trick and evened the score at 3-3 in the 88th minute. Words can’t do this seemingly impossible strike justice, so just watch:
Portugal substitution: Silva replaces Guedes
Portugal is out of substitutions after Andre Silva came on for Goncalo Guedes in the 80th minute.
Spain substitution: Aspas for Costa
There will be no hat trick for Spain’s Diego Costa. Each team has one substitution remaining after Iago Aspas replaced Costa in the 77th minute.
Something’s got to give
Portugal has never lost when Cristiano Ronaldo scores at least two goals, but that streak is in jeopardy with 15 minutes remaining. Portugal, which trails 3-2 after leading 2-1 at halftime, has yet to mount a serious attack in the second half.
A wave of substitutions
In the 68th minute and 69th minutes, Joao Mario replaced Bruno Fernandes and Ricardo Quaresma replaced Bernardo Silva for Portugal. Spain’s first substitution came in the 70th minute, when Thiago Alcantara replaced Andres Iniesta.
Goal!
Nacho gave Spain its first lead of the game in the 58th minute with a right-footed rocket that deflected off the left post, off the right post and in. The goal of the tournament thus far is a bit of redemption for the 28-year-old defender, who set up Portugal’s first goal by taking down Cristiano Ronaldo in the box. That’s two goals in the span of 3:21 for Spain.
Goal!
Diego Costa equaled Cristiano Ronaldo with his second goal of the game and pulled Spain level in the 54th minute. Costa scored on a perfectly executed set piece, with Nacho heading a long pass to the far post from David Silva toward the front of the net.
Quiet start to the second half
After an action-packed first half, the first eight minutes since the break have been relatively uneventful. Spain continued to dominate possession, patiently waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Portugal has the only shot of the second half, a right-footed effort by Bruno Fernandes from outside the box that bounced well wide of the goal.
Halftime update
It’s Cristiano Ronaldo 2, Spain 1 after 45-plus thrilling minutes in Sochi. Portugal’s star forward scored in the fourth and 44th minutes Friday, becoming the fourth player to score in four different World Cups. Diego Costa scored the lone goal in the first half for Spain after a beautiful individual effort to beat two defenders and goalie Rui Patricio. There’s just a little more talent on the field for this match than the Group B opener between Morocco and Iran, and it’s shown. Despite trailing, Spain has all five corner kicks and has outshot Portugal, 9-4.
Goal!
Portugal regained the lead in the 44th minute on Cristiano Ronaldo’s second goal of the match, a left-footed rocket off a pass from Goncalo Guedes that deflected off Spain goalkeeper David de Gea’s hands before rolling across the goal line. De Gea is one of the best keepers in the world, but he didn’t look it on this play.
Juuuust wide
In the 35th minute, Spain’s Andres Iniesta one-touched a nifty feed into the box just wide of the right post. Spain has a 6-3 advantage in shots thus far.
Yellow card to Bruno Fernandes
Since taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute, not much has gone right for Portugal. In the 28th minute, midfielder Bruno Fernandes was issued a yellow card for a hard tackle on Nacho. Spain came within inches of taking a 2-1 lead moments after Costa’s equalizer, but a missile of a shot by Isco deflected off the crossbar and the goal line.
Goal!
Diego Costa scored the equalizer for Spain in the 24th minute with an incredible individual effort. After receiving a long pass in the box, Costa went from right to left, and then back to his right to elude Portugal defenders Jose Fonte and Cedric before burying a shot in the bottom left corner of the net.
Yellow card to Sergio Busquets
The Spanish midfielder was shown a yellow card for an aggressive slide tackle in the 17th minute. Cristiano Ronaldo drilled the ensuing free kick into a wall of Spanish defenders.
Portugal mounts counterattack
After Portugal denied an attempted feed into the box by Nacho, a beautiful touch by Cristiano Ronaldo led to a counterattack by Goncalo Guedes. Sergio Ramos recovered in time for Spain to deny Guedes a shot on goal.
A decent chance for Spain
Spain is still looking for its first shot on goal after David Silva lost his footing and sent a shot over the net after a service into the box in the 10th minute. It was only 76 degrees at kickoff, but the humidity is 80 percent, and the pitch is slick as a result.
Goal!
It took less than four minutes for Cristiano Ronaldo to join Miroslav Klose, Pelé, and Uwe Seeler as the only players to score goals in four different World Cups and give Portugal a 1-0 lead. After Nacho was whistled for taking Ronaldo down in the box, the Portuguese star buried the penalty kick into the back of the net for the 82nd goal of his international career.
Starting lineups
There are no real surprises in either squad’s starting 11. When players from both sides were introduced about 15 minutes before kickoff, Fox’s announcing team of John Strong and Stu Holden reported that the biggest cheers were for Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, followed closely by Spain’s Andres Iniesta.
Pregame thoughts
Portugal and Spain clash in one of the more intriguing matches of the group stage; the winner will have the inside track to finishing atop Group B, which also includes underdogs Iran and Morocco. (Iran bested Morocco, 1-0, on a late own goal earlier in the day.) The Iberian Peninsula rivals have faced off 35 times dating back to 1934, but Friday will mark only their second meeting in the World Cup. In 2010, Spain shut out Portugal, 1-0, on a David Villa goal in the Round of 16 en route to winning the championship in South Africa.
Portugal, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, is the reigning European champions. Hours before Friday’s match, Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that the star has reached a deal with Spanish prosecutors in his tax-evasion case, agreeing to a massive fine and a prison sentence, though he is unlikely to serve any time because he’s a first offender. Spain features a number of aging and accomplished players in Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique and Andres Iniesta, as well as a new coach. Fernando Hierro, a former player for the Spanish national team and Real Madrid, was named as Julen Lopetegui’s replacement after Lopetegui was fired two days before the tournament over his decision to take the head-coaching job at Real Madrid without informing the Spanish Football Federation.
“I’ve been near a ball for 30 years,” Hierro, who had been acting as Spain’s sports director, said ahead of his coaching debut.
— Scott Allen
Team profiles
Portugal
- Last World Cup showing: Group stage, 2014.
- Best finish: Third place, 1966.
- Notable: The reigning European champions are looking to move past a disappointing 1-1-1 showing at the 2014 World Cup that ended in the group stage.
- FIFA world ranking: 4. ELO world ranking: 6.
Spain
- Last World Cup showing: Group stage, 2014.
- Best finish: Champion, 2010.
- Notable: La Furia Roja opened the 2014 World Cup with a 5-1 loss to the Netherlands and never recovered, failing to make it out of the group stage. They were playing extremely well under Lopetegui; how will they respond to Hierro?
- FIFA world ranking: 10. ELO world ranking: 3.
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