World Cup as it happened: Portugal beats Uruguay 2-0 as Bruno Fernandes stars; pitch invader carries rainbow flag across pitch

That’s all we have for you today but we will be back early tomorrow morning with another World Cup live blog as the tournament begins the all-important final group games round.

Please keep in mind that this will mean games are played concurrently so Iran v USA and England v Wales will both kick-off at 6am AEDT, same as the Group A games at 2am AEDT.

Thanks for all the comments and interactions throughout the morning and we will have more World Cup coverage throughout the evening and into tomorrow as we count down to the Socceroos v Denmark at 2am AEDT on Thursday.

Before I go, here are a couple of key stories:

‘Rub it in their faces’: Why Awer Mabil thinks the Socceroos will surprise Denmark

Doha, Qatar: The Netherlands is on the verge of reaching the knockout stage at the World Cup and an overwhelming favourite in its final Group A match on Tuesday against host nation Qatar.

If the Dutch advance, it will put more focus on 71-year-old coach Louis van Gaal, who stepped out of retirement just over a year ago to take over the national team while being treated for aggressive prostate cancer.

Host nation Qatar has lost its first two matches and already missed its chance to move on from the group stage. But coach Felix Sanchez says his team will be prepared to face one of soccer’s traditional powers.

“When you play against a team such as the Netherlands, you don’t need any motivation,” Sanchez said. “It’s a challenge for our players to face such a team.”

Lusail: A protestor ran onto the field on Tuesday AEDT carrying a rainbow flag and wearing a blue Superman T-shirt that said “SAVE UKRAINE” on the front and “RESPECT FOR IRANIAN WOMAN” on the back during a World Cup match between Portugal and Uruguay.

Security officials chased the protestor down and the flag was dropped on the field before the person was escorted away. The referee then picked up the flag and left it on the sideline, where it stayed for a few moments before a worker came and collected it.

The protestor was ushered away through a tunnel. It wasn’t immediately clear if the person faced any charges or had been detained by police.

FIFA had no immediate comment on the incident.

Lusail, Qatar: Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes said a goal awarded to him - the first of his two in a 2-0 win over Uruguay on Monday - might in fact have been scored by Cristiano Ronaldo, but what mattered was securing Portugal’s place in the World Cup’s next phase.

Fernandes was named as the scorer of Portugal’s opening goal in the 54th minute when his cross seemed to sail just past the head of Ronaldo and dropped into the net with Uruguayan goalkeeper Sergio Rochet confused by Ronaldo’s leap.

Portugal’s captain appeared to be claiming the goal with his celebrations and was then seen laughing when Fernandes was announced as the official scorer on the stadium’s loudspeakers.

“The feeling I had was that Cristiano touched the ball. I was passing the ball to him,” Fernandes told reporters.

Milan, Italy: The board of Juventus , chaired by Andrea Agnelli, has resigned “in the best interest of the company,” the Italian Serie A soccer team said on Monday.

The collective resignation comes after Juventus’ financial statements received scrutiny from prosecutors and Italian market regulator Consob in recent months for alleged false accounting and market manipulation. The company had denied any wrongdoing.

Juventus said its directors had discussed the issue at a meeting on Tuesday AEDT and concluded it would be best addressed by a new board, given “the relevance of the pending legal and technical/accounting matters.”

It added it would have to restate its financial statements for the fiscal year ending in June 2022.

The company, which is controlled by the Agnelli family’s holding company Exor, said it had asked CEO Maurizio Arrivabene to maintain his position and had appointed Maurizio Scanavino as general manager.

Al Rayyan, Qatar: South Korea assistant coach Sergio Costa said Tuesday morning AEDT’s 3-2 defeat by Ghana was an unfair result for the Asian side, whose World Cup campaign is stalling with the team rooted to the bottom of Group H.

Cho Gue-sung’s brace was not enough for South Korea to pull off a comeback against Ghana in a match in which the Koreans dominated the opening exchanges but paid the price for making errors.

South Korea have one point from a goalless draw with Uruguay and they need to beat Portugal in Friday’s final group game to have any hope of reaching the last 16. Portugal and Uruguay meet later on Monday.

Costa addressed the post-match news conference after head coach Paulo Bento was shown a red card for his protestations in the final minute of the game when the referee blew the whistle with South Korea about to take a corner.