Portugal and Uruguay were scoreless after a first half that mostly saw a muted Cristiano Ronaldo do little for Portugal while Uruguay seemed content to sit back on defense, a stance potentially impacted by two of Uruguay’s players, Rodrigo Bentancur and Mathías Olivera, picking up yellow cards. (Outstanding yellow cards are wiped after the quarterfinals.)
The only real chance of the half came when Bentancur picked up the ball in the middle of the field and took off running toward goal. He dribbled all the way into the box and, with a quick cut to the right, broke through Portugal’s back line.