{"id":284226,"date":"2025-11-14T15:30:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/284226\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T15:30:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:30:44","slug":"cristiano-ronaldo-may-be-banned-for-first-two-games-of-his-final-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/284226\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo may be banned for first two games of his final World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to be banned for the first game of the World Cup finals after being sent off for elbowing an opponent \u2014 and he may even miss two matches of the tournament, should Portugal qualify.<\/p>\n

The 40-year-old had a yellow card upgraded to red after he elbowed the Ireland defender, Dara O\u2019Shea, in the back during the second half of Portugal\u2019s 2-0 defeat in Dublin on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Fifa\u2019s disciplinary rules state that any red card will carry a one-match ban, which rules Ronaldo out of Portugal\u2019s final qualifier against Armenia on Sunday, but that offences of serious foul play should be punished with a two-match ban and three matches for violent conduct.<\/p>\n

The sanction should be \u201cat least three matches for violent conduct\u201d or \u201cat least three matches or an appropriate period of time for assault, including elbowing\u201d, Fifa\u2019s disciplinary rules state. It is not clear whether Ronaldo\u2019s offence was deemed to be serious foul play or violent conduct.<\/p>\n

Fifa\u2019s disciplinary committee is expected to confirm the sanction in around three weeks\u2019 time. Bans only cover competitive matches, not pre-tournament friendlies. Ronaldo, who will be 41 by the time the tournament in North American comes around next summer, confirmed this week that it would be his last World Cup finals.<\/p>\n

Armenia\u2019s captain, Tigran Barseghyan, was given a three-match ban for headbutting Ireland\u2019s midfielder Finn Azaz in their World Cup qualifier in October.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo responded to O\u2019Shea by mimicking crying, and left the field at the Aviva Stadium after an exchange with Ireland\u2019s Icelandic manager, Heimir Hallgrimsson. He was ridiculed by Ireland fans as he disappeared down the tunnel. It was his first red card in 226 games for his country, although he has been sent off 12 times in club football since first joining Manchester United in 2003. <\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I think it was a bit harsh because he cares about the team, [during] his 60 minutes in the box [he was] being grabbed, being pulled, being pushed, and when he tries to get away from the defender I think the action looks worse than it actually is,\u201d Roberto Mart\u00ednez, the Portugal head coach, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s an elbow. I think it\u2019s the full body, but from where the camera is it looks like an elbow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mart\u00ednez also criticised the reaction of O\u2019Shea, saying \u201cthe big centre half falls on the floor so dramatically\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ireland won the game 2-0 thanks to two goals from former Tottenham striker Troy Parrott, who now plays in the Dutch league for AZ Alkmaar.<\/p>\n

\"World<\/p>\n

Ronaldo was jeered by the Ireland fans as he went down the tunnel<\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

Portugal dominated possession throughout the game \u2014 even after Ronaldo\u2019s 61st-minute ejection \u2014 but Ireland produced one of their best performances of recent times to hold off Mart\u00ednez\u2019s side. The win means Ireland will finish second in their group \u2014 and enter the play-offs for World Cup spots \u2014 if they can beat Hungary in Budapest on Sunday. Despite the loss in Dublin, Portugal will win the group and qualify automatically if they beat Armenia on Sunday. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Erling Haaland scored twice for Norway in a 4-1 win over Estonia to put them on the brink of qualifying for their first World Cup finals since 1998.<\/p>\n

\"Collage<\/p>\n

Haaland took his qualifying goal tally to 14 and was handed a bag of burgers by a supporter after the match<\/p>\n

The Manchester City<\/a> striker headed home in the 52nd minute before a volley ten minutes later took his goalscoring run to 30 goals in 19 appearances for club and country this season. He added to two strikes from Alexander Sorloth, the former Crystal Palace forward who plays for Atletico Madrid.<\/p>\n

Norway have all but qualified for the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as they have a vastly superior goal difference to Italy, whom they play in Milan in group I on Sunday. The Norway and Arsenal<\/a> captain, Martin Odegaard, who is recovering from a knee injury, travelled with his wife, Helene, and dog to watch the game from the stands in Oslo.<\/p>\n

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Haaland has scored 14 goals in the qualifying campaign, including five goals in an 11-1 win over Moldova and a hat-trick in a 5-0 victory over Israel. He needs two more to level with Robert Lewandowski\u2019s 16 goals for Poland in Euro 2016 qualifiers, which is the best record in a qualifying campaign since the turn of the century.<\/p>\n

Haaland\u2019s father, Alfie, was part of the Norway squad, which included Sorloth\u2019s father, Goran, that qualified for the World Cup in the United States in 1994. They beat Mexico 1-0 but exited at the group stage on goals scored after a goalless draw with Ireland. Alfie was not in the squad, which included Tore Andr\u00e9 Flo and Henning Berg, when the country reached the finals in France four years later, and progressed to the last 16 after beating Brazil in the group stage.<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s present squad also includes Sander Berge, of Fulham, Kristoffer Ajer, of Brentford, Oscar Bobb, of City, and Jorgen Strand Larsen, of Wolverhampton Wanderers. <\/p>\n

\"FIFA<\/p>\n

Haaland, left, and Sorloth\u2019s fathers were both in the Norway squad at the 1994 World Cup in the US<\/p>\n

FREDRIK VARFJELL\/EPA<\/p>\n

The opening exchanges were tense as Norway struggled to break down Estonia\u2019s disciplined defence but Sorloth broke the deadlock shortly after the restart. \u201cThe most delicious goal of my entire life,\u201d the 29-year-old said.<\/p>\n

Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 scored twice, including a Panenka penalty and there was a first international goal for Liverpool\u2019s Hugo Ekitike as France secured their place at the World Cup with a 4-0 win over Ukraine. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to be banned for the first game of the World Cup finals after being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-284226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}