World Cup games

“If we take two people that were the most upset about the game, perhaps it was Cristiano Ronaldo and myself,” Portugal Coach Fernando Santos said through an ...

But that goal was Ronaldo’s only one in this tournament and perhaps the final one of his World Cup career. Santos later said that Ronaldo was not happy when told of his benching but that he had never threatened to leave the team. Cristiano is a great player and he came in when we thought it was necessary.” Against Morocco’s defense, Ramos didn’t wow again and was replaced by Rafael Leão in the 69th minute. But during a 2-1 loss to South Korea in Portugal’s third and final group-stage game, Santos replaced Ronaldo much sooner, in the 65th minute. In the tunnel, television cameras showed Ronaldo — one of the most decorated players to never have won a World Cup and who had been reduced to a substitute player of late — wiping tears from his eyes. So against Morocco, Santos stuck with what worked and had Ronaldo on the bench again while Ramos started. During the first two games of the World Cup group stage, Ronaldo started and was removed late for a substitute. Benched in back to back knockout stage games by Santos, Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, performed little like the dazzling player who had scored 118 times in 196 career appearances for his national team. Here’s a primer to the [final hurrah on this stage for veteran stars](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/sports/world-cup/messi-ronaldo-soccer.html) like Ronaldo, Lionel Messi of Argentina and Luka Modric of Croatia. As Morocco and its fans celebrated with glee and Portugal’s players stood around in shock, Ronaldo, 37, exited what he has said could well be his final World Cup.

Morocco fans have lit up the World Cup and have now given a thunderclap, made famous by Icelandic fans, their own twist.

“I think it is brilliant that the world has finally seen it because it has been there for a very long time.” Many live in Qatar while others flew in from Morocco and across the world. Videos have emerged of fans of the French club side Lens performing the clap while shouting their team’s name a few years before Euro 2016. They have come in thousands to the stadiums. Iceland fans were seen carrying out the Viking clap at Euro 2016 which took place in France. The whistling, clapping and jeering gave way to complete silence.

Argentina vs Croatia, Morocco vs France. The World Cup 2022 semi-finals have been decided, here's when the games are.

ET. The two semi-finals are on Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 of December, with both games being at 2:00 p.m. The 2022 World Cup is in to its final week and we’re at the semi-final stage.

The tournament is the first to be held in the Arab world and only the second to take place in Asia, after Japan and South Korea joint-hosted the event in 2002.

Hosts Qatar started their tournament against Ecuador, before taking on Senegal and Netherlands – the latter duo were set to be the first match of the 2022 World Cup before organisers moved Qatar’s match to be a day earlier. Brazil and Argentina feature in the knockout stages, while Senegal could represent Africa’s biggest hopes of winning for the first time. This edition will be the last to feature just 32 teams, with the tournament being expanded from 2026 onwards in order to feature 48 nations.

With the 2022 World Cup semifinals set, we bring you why each team will progress, plus one player to know ahead of the matchups and predictions.

[Marcus Thuram](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/217331/marcus-thuram), [Kolo Muani](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/252971/randal-kolo-muani)) and midfielders ( [Youssouf Fofana](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/277307/youssouf-fofana)) but no one who can realistically change the game. [Nayef Aguerd](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/245243/Nayef-Aguerd), the other outstanding centre-back missed the Portugal game, as did [Noussair Mazraoui](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/239350/Noussair-Mazraoui), the other fullback. [Dayot Upamecano](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/222793/dayot-upamecano) to make some mistakes that could have proven costly. In a match where Les Bleus will have a lot of the ball against a really low and compact block, his movement and impact with the ball will be important. [Juventus](/soccer/team/_/id/111) midfielder has been outstanding so far, and we don't say it enough. [Kylian Mbappe](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/231388/Kylian-Mbappé) to run into. Look at the penalties Les Bleus conceded in the quarterfinal (especially the [Theo Hernandez](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/233621/Theo-Hernández) one), look at the way they were outplayed for much of the game and ask yourself: who is more focused right now? [Achraf Hakimi](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/240233/Achraf-Hakimi) is battle-scarred and hurting. [Romain Saiss](https://www.espn.com/soccer/player/_/id/167686/Romain-Saïss) played carrying an injury against [Portugal](/soccer/team?id=482) and had to come off. [Bracket](https://www.espn.com/soccer/bracket) [Morocco](/soccer/team?id=2869) vs. [Croatia](/soccer/team?id=477) vs.

He was also in the spotlight post-match, with a tirade against Argentinian referee Facundo Tello that is sure to make headlines. "It is unacceptable to have an ...

"In the second half, there should have been 15 or 20 minutes of added time, at least. "Today's referees are not experienced in the Champions League. "In the second half we just wanted to play. The Argentina goalkeeper added: ""We had by far the worst referee of the World Cup. "In the second half they didn't play at all and he only added eight minutes. You say something to him and he is rude back....