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Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo shrugged off his bitter split with Manchester United to claim yet another record as he became the first player to score in five World Cups with a penalty to help steer his side to a nervy 3-2 win over Ghana on Thursday.

The first-half of the Group H clash was forgettable apart from a couple of Ronaldo chances, but it burst into life after the interval as Portugal belatedly began their campaign.

Ronaldo, a free agent after his second stint at Old Trafford ended abruptly on Tuesday, thumped home a dubiously-awarded penalty in the 65th minute after an innocuous coming together with Mohammed Salisu saw the referee point to the spot.

Ghana did nothing in the first half apart from defend deeply but gave their noisy bank of fans in the 974 Stadium something to cheer when Andre Ayew equalised in the 73rd minute.

Joao Felix restored Portugal’s lead five minutes later, however, and Bruno Fernandes then showed his class with a jinking run before sliding a pass to Rafael Leao to leave Ghana stunned.

Osman Bukari’s 89th-minute headed reply set up an anxious ending for Portugal but they survived nine minutes of stoppage time to win their opening game of a World Cup for the first time in their last four appearances.

Reuters

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Kickoff is 16:00 GMT [4pm]

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?? Portugal XI: Costa, Cancelo, Dias, Pereira, Guerreiro, Neves, Otavio, Fernandes, Felix, Silva, Ronaldo.

?? Ghana XI: Zigi, Amartey, Seidu, Djiku, Salisu, Rahman, Abdul Samed, Partey, Kudus, Williams, Ayew.

Ghana has announced its lineup for the opening Group H game of the 2022 World Cup taking place in Qatar.

Otto Addo will deploy a 3-4-3 formation in bid to nullify the attacking prowess of the star-studded Portugal team led by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Lawrence Ati-Zigi who is the most experienced goalkeeper in Ghana’s squad starts in goal, ahead of Abdul Manaf Nurudeen and Ibrabim Danlad.

Daniel Amartey, Alexander Djiku and Mohammed Salisu will occupy the center-back positions, while Alidu Seidu and Baba Rahman will occupy the right wing back and left wing back positions respectively.

New boy Salis Abdul Samed and Thomas Partey will sit in front of the defense. Skipper Andre Ayew and Mohammed Kudus will play slightly ahead of the duo, while Inaki Williams leads the attack.

The game will be played at the Stadium 974 and will kickoff at 16:00 GMT.

By Mahama Shaibu

Switzerland striker Breel Embolo scored against the land of his birth Cameroon in their World Cup Group G clash at the Al Janoub Stadium on Thursday but refused to celebrate and looked almost apologetic as his team mates rushed to congratulate him.

Embolo swept home a Xherdan Shaqiri cross to give the Swiss the lead in the 48th minute after they struggled to break the deadlock in the first half and were second best in the game, which was 0-0 at the break.

The 25-year-old striker, who was born in Yaounde but raised in Basel, stood still with an apologetic frown on his face after he scored while the Switzerland players celebrated around him.

The goal was a first shot on target for the Swiss, who had battled to contain the African side in the opening 45 minutes.

©Reuters