Portugal knocked Croatia out of the World Cup in Toronto with a comeback
Portugal secured a place in the round of 16 of the World Cup on July 2, 2026, in Toronto with a 2:1 victory against Croatia, in a round-of-32 match that took on an almost dramatic ending in its final stages. The match was played at BMO Field, a stadium that, in FIFA's official terminology during the tournament, is listed as Toronto Stadium, with kick-off at 19:00 local EDT time. Croatia took the lead through Ivan Perišić's goal in the 53rd minute, but Portugal equalized after Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty in the 68th minute, and Gonçalo Ramos gave them victory with a headed goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time. According to reports from ESPN and NBC Sports, Croatia thought in the final moments that they had forced extra time, but Joško Gvardiol's goal was disallowed after an offside review. That ended Croatia's appearance at the first World Cup with 48 national teams, and the match gained additional emotional weight because of Luka Modrić, the captain who may have played his final minutes on the world stage in Toronto.
Croatia led after the break, Portugal responded from the penalty spot
The first half did not bring a goal, but it set the framework for a duel in which every mistake could change the course of the tournament. According to NBC Sports' report, Portugal had more initiative at the start and several dangerous advances down the flanks, while Croatia tried to slow the tempo and keep possession long enough to pull Portugal's back line out of balance. Such an approach particularly suited Modrić, who, even in his fortieth year, remained the key figure in Croatia's play between the lines. Although Portuguese pressure was not harmless, Croatia entered the second half more decisively and already in the 53rd minute took the lead. According to ESPN's description of the match, Perišić made use of Josip Stanišić's cross to the far post and, with a precise finish, brought Croatia to the brink of an upset.
Croatia's lead changed the dynamics of the match because Portugal had to take risks earlier than planned. During that period, Croatia tried to maintain compactness, close the space around the penalty area and force the opponent into crosses from less favorable zones. Portugal, however, gradually increased the number of players in the final phase of attack, and the match took a crucial turn in the 68th minute. According to Khel Now's report, Nikola Vlašić's foul on Renato Veiga in the penalty area led to a penalty for Portugal after the situation was reviewed. Ronaldo took responsibility and calmly scored for 1:1, bringing Portugal back into the match and opening a finale in which the psychological advantage increasingly shifted to the Portuguese side.
Ramos decided the match in stoppage time
After the equalizer, the match did not calm down. Croatia looked for a way to again exploit the space behind the Portuguese full-backs, while Portugal attacked more and more openly, aware that extra time would bring an additional physical burden in an already compressed knockout schedule. In the closing stages, the coaches turned to substitutions meant to bring freshness, and the Portuguese bench proved decisive. Ramos, who came on as an attacking option for the final minutes, found space in the penalty area and made use of one of Portugal's last attacks. According to NBC Sports, he scored with a header in the 90+4th minute, after Rafael Leão's cross, and sent Portugal into the round of 16.
That goal did not immediately close the match because stoppage time brought another major twist. Croatia went in search of an equalizer, and Gvardiol shook the net deep into stoppage time for what initially looked like 2:2. However, after a lengthy VAR review, the goal was disallowed for offside. The New York Post reported that the decision was related to Igor Matanović's touch and Mario Pašalić's position before the final shot, while NBC Sports stated that the disallowance was confirmed after a review of the situation. Croatian players were left in disbelief, and the Portuguese bench celebrated after several minutes of waiting that further emphasized how thin the line in the knockout phase can be between centimeters, seconds and technology decisions.
VAR and a finale that will be retold for a long time
The match in Toronto quickly became one of the most discussed matches of the tournament so far precisely because of the number of contentious or at least marginal situations in the second half. ESPN noted in its report that the second half brought three goals, several more disallowed goals, a penalty and a series of controversies, which says enough about the intensity of the final 45 minutes. In such a context, Croatia will particularly remember the final VAR intervention, because an allowed goal would have sent the match into extra time and completely changed the psychological picture of the duel. Portugal, on the other hand, will emphasize that it survived periods of Croatian pressure and seized the moment when space opened for the decisive attack. That is the difference that, in the knockout phase of major competitions, often separates the teams that continue the tournament from those that return home.
Technology was once again at the center of the debate about modern football. FIFA has for years used video review systems and semi-automated offside technology to increase the accuracy of decisions, but matches like this show that precision does not always remove the feeling of controversy. For Croatia, the disallowed goal was a sporting and emotional blow because it happened after the team had already survived Portugal's comeback and found the final energy to attack. For Portugal, the same decision represented confirmation of victory and continuation in a tournament in which Ronaldo is still chasing the title missing from his international career. In journalistic reports after the match, it was particularly emphasized that the encounter ended in an atmosphere of great tension, but also under the sign of respect between two captains who have marked almost two decades of European and world football.
Modrić's moment and the end of Croatia's path
Croatia's elimination carries sporting weight, but also a strong symbolic layer. Modrić arrived at the 2026 World Cup as captain and one of the oldest players in the tournament, after having already gone through the most successful period in the history of Croatian football with the national team. Ahead of the knockout phase, UEFA recalled that Croatia had been a World Cup finalist in 2018 and bronze medalist in 2022, a standard that gave this generation the status of one of the most stable national teams at major competitions. In Toronto, however, there was no new extension of that story. Modrić has not officially confirmed the end of his appearances at World Cups, but his age, the context of the defeat and the reactions after the final whistle made the match against Portugal a possible final chapter of his World Cup journey.
Perišić's goal in the 53rd minute briefly opened space for another Croatian story of resilience in the knockout phase. Over past tournaments, Croatia often built its identity on extra time, penalties and the ability to stay in a match even when it seems that the opponent is closer to victory. In Toronto the same possibility existed, especially after the disallowed goal in the closing stages, but this time the margins were not on Croatia's side. Head coach Zlatko Dalić and his staff will be left with an analysis of decisions in the second half, defensive reactions at the equalizer and Portugal's final attack, but also with the fact that the team was only a few moments away from extra time against one of Europe's highest-quality national teams. The 2:1 defeat is therefore both clear in terms of the result and emotionally heavy, because it happened in a match in which Croatia had the lead and later almost found a way back.
Portugal faces Spain in a great Iberian duel
With victory in Toronto, Portugal continued the tournament and, according to the published knockout-stage schedule, earned a match against Spain in the round of 16. It is a duel that carries special weight not only because of the neighboring rivalry, but also because of the stylistic contrast between two national teams that know each other well. Against Croatia, Portugal showed that it can survive a messy, nervous match and win even when it does not control every segment of the game. According to reports from the same day of the knockout phase, Spain secured its place in the round of 16 with a 3:0 victory against Austria, making the future encounter one of the most attractive ties of the next round. For Portugal head coach Roberto Martínez, the key question will be how to balance Ronaldo's experience, Leão's speed and the role of Ramos, who against Croatia once again showed that he can decide a major match from the bench.
Ronaldo remained the central figure of the Portuguese national team in Toronto as well, but the manner of victory shows that Portugal does not depend only on his finishing touch. The penalty brought the equalizer and a psychological return, while Ramos' goal confirmed the depth of Portugal's squad. According to NBC Sports, after the match Ronaldo took part in the celebration wearing a shirt with Diogo Jota's name, which gave the Portuguese evening an additional emotional frame. In sporting terms, Portugal won a match that could have slipped into extra time, exhaustion and complete uncertainty. Instead, the team entered the round of 16 with a victory that can strengthen the dressing room, but also with a warning that against Spain every phase of play will have to be more stable than in the turbulent second half against Croatia.
Toronto as the stage of the expanded World Cup
The Portugal and Croatia match was also part of the broader picture of the 2026 World Cup, the first edition with 48 national teams. FIFA had earlier announced that the new format includes 12 groups of four teams, with the two best national teams from each group and the eight best third-placed teams advancing to the round of 32. That system increased the number of knockout matches and gave a larger number of national teams the opportunity to extend their tournament, but at the same time created a longer and more complex schedule. FIFA states that the entire tournament is being played in Canada, Mexico and the United States of America and that it includes 104 matches, with the final scheduled for July 19, 2026. Within that framework, the encounter in Toronto was one of the matches that showed why the new elimination round can bring high intensity even before the traditional round of 16.
Toronto Stadium, or BMO Field outside official tournament nomenclature, is one of the two Canadian stadiums included in the championship. According to FIFA's description of the host city, Toronto is hosting six matches of the 2026 World Cup, and the stadium plays an important role in Canada's football identity as the country's first soccer-specific arena. The Portugal and Croatia encounter further emphasized the international character of the tournament because Toronto is a city with large and diverse communities, including numerous supporters of both national teams. According to reports from the match, the atmosphere was particularly intense precisely because of that local combination of a global event and two football cultures that have deep ties with immigrant communities in Canada. For a World Cup played across three countries, such matches represent one of the main arguments in favor of expanding the tournament to a larger number of cities and audiences.
What the defeat means for Croatia
Croatia returns from Toronto with a defeat that will not be easy to reduce to one decision, one missed chance or one defensive lapse. Perišić's goal, Modrić's control of the game during parts of the encounter and the final pressure show that the national team was not far from extra time. At the same time, Portugal's comeback raises questions about managing the lead, the reaction after the penalty and defending crosses in the closing stages. In the knockout phase of the World Cup, such details carry a high price, and this time Croatia paid for almost every situation in which Portugal found space for a finish. That does not erase the continuity of results the national team built at previous major competitions, but it marks the end of one campaign before the phase in which it has often found its best football in recent years.
For Portugal, victory means the continuation of ambition and another major match for a generation that combines experienced stars and players in their prime years. For Croatia, the 2:1 in Toronto will remain a match in which the path toward the round of 16 seemed open after Perišić's goal, then closed by Ronaldo's penalty, and then briefly revived again in chaotic stoppage time. The final VAR decision and Ramos' goal will mark the memory of the encounter, but the emotional image of the evening will still be most closely tied to Modrić. If that was indeed his final World Cup appearance, it ended in a match that had all the elements of his international career: control, suffering, belief until the end and a defeat that came only after a fight to the final second.
Sources:
- FIFA – official description of the 2026 World Cup format with 48 national teams and qualification for the round of 32 (link)
- FIFA – official profile of the host city Toronto and Toronto Stadium (link)
- ESPN – result, scorers and description of the key moments of the Portugal - Croatia 2:1 match (link)
- NBC Sports – live report from Toronto, goal minutes and the final VAR decision (link)
- Khel Now – review of the knockout schedule and confirmation of Portugal's qualification for the round of 16 after victory against Croatia (link)
- New York Post – description of the final VAR review and Croatia's disallowed goal in stoppage time (link)
- UEFA – overview of Croatia's performance at the 2026 World Cup and reminder of Croatia's previous results at World Cups (link)