Two Manchester City players were in action with their national teams on Sunday’s World Cup Qualifying matches, and it was a successful day for Kevin De Bruyne’s Belgium and Bernardo Silva’s Portugal.
For Belgium, the job was simple: win and qualify for the World Cup. It was far from simple, though. The Belgians had a very physical affair with Greece and needed to show some fighting spirit and patience to survive Greece’s tough defense. But the goals eventually came: first it was Tottenham Hotspur’s Jan Vertonghen who scored the opener, and two minutes after a Greece equalizer it was Romelu Lukaku who got the goal that sent Belgium to the World Cup.
QUALIFIED !!!! 2018 @FIFAWorldCup here we come ! #GREBEL #RoadtoRussia #WCQ #WORLDCUP pic.twitter.com/PbM0vudsfM
— BelgianRedDevils (@BelRedDevils) September 3, 2017
It wasn’t easy for Portugal either. Bernardo Silva started on the bench as his team had a very tough match away to Hungary, who needed to avoid defeat in order to stay in contention for a Playoff place. But Portugal stayed strong defensively and were able to find a goal through AC Milan striker André Silva when Bernardo was already on the pitch. In the end it was a narrow victory for Portugal, but they’ve now guaranteed a top-two finish and can still take first place from Switzerland next month.
Já está! Portugal vence frente à Hungria com um golo de André Silva! Mais uma final ultrapassada! #TeamPortugal️ pic.twitter.com/9lQqSsSm5F
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) September 3, 2017
Congrats, Kev and Bernardo! Your international duty is now over with positive results, you’re not injured, so it’s all good.