Ronaldo makes it to another World Cup

PORTO, Portugal (AP):

There will be at least one more World Cup for Cristiano Ronaldo.

The all-time top scorer in men's international football will get to play in his fifth World Cup in Qatar after Portugal defeated North Macedonia 2-0 in the European qualifying play-offs yesterday.

This time there was no stunning late winner for North Macedonia to eliminate the traditional powerhouse, like against European champions Italy last Thursday in Palermo.

Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring for the hosts after a pass by Ronaldo in the first half and added another goal in the second to secure Portugal's place in the World Cup for the sixth straight time.

There will be no first finals appearance for North Macedonia, who were coming off their first participation in a major tournament at the 2020 European Championship.

After escaping the play-offs, Portugal will be a seeded team in Friday's draw for football's showcase event in November.

The 37-year-old Ronaldo will be playing in his 10th straight major tournament in a streak that started at Euro 2004. He has played in four World Cups and five Euros, winning the European title in 2016.

The highest scorer in men's international football with 115 goals, Ronaldo is the only player to have scored at least once in the finals of nine top tournaments in a row.

Portugal had also needed to go through qualifying play-offs for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, beating Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2010 and Sweden in 2014.

They had been relegated to the play-offs this time after conceding late and relinquishing a lead at home in the final group game against Serbia last year. In the first game of the play-offs last week, Portugal defeated Turkey 3-1 in Porto after the visitors squandered an 85th-minute penalty kick that could have erased a two-goal lead from the first half.

Ronaldo missed Portugal's first good chance in a breakaway in the 14th minute yesterday, then gave a soft pass to his Manchester United teammate for the opening goal after a blunder by the North Macedonia defence in the 32nd. Fernandes entered the area and fired a low shot by the far post, then added to the lead from close range after a pass by Diogo Jota in the 65th.