Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo believes that their World Cup playoff final against North Macedonia is a matter of life and death. The visitors are ranked 67th in the world and are hoping to qualify for the World Cup for the first time. The unlucky finalists stunned European Champions Italy in the semi-final 1-0. This will most likely be the last time that Ronaldo will get to feature at the World Cup. They have been ever-present at the World Cup with 1998 being the last time they failed to qualify for one.
“I urge the fans – I want hell breaking loose at Dragao [Stadium]. I went to bed last night thinking that I want the stadium to shut down the music for our national anthem and let the fans sing it acapella to show our passion, our strength, and our union around the objective of reaching the World Cup,” Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo said ahead of their World Cup playoff final. “The one who will decide my future is me,” said Ronaldo. “If I want to play more, I play. If I don’t want to, I don’t play.”
“If we think that, theoretically, the Macedonians are weaker, we are on the wrong track, it’s the worst possible scenario,” Portugal head coach Fernando Santos said. “We have to face North Macedonia as we would have faced Italy.”
“We won against one of the best teams in the world. We won’t stop here. We have one last step to get to the World Cup,” North Macedonia forward Aleksandar Trajovski said. “We are well on our way to confirming why we are among the top 20 teams in Europe. This will be one of our most difficult matches, but also certainly the most exciting for all of us. We are 90 minutes away from the World Cup and fulfilling our childhood dreams – not only ours but the whole of North Macedonia. We must not miss our chance and we have to give everything on the pitch to succeed.”
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