Cristiano Ronaldo set for record 6th World Cup as Portugal routs Armenia to qualify
Lisbon (Portugal)AP): Cristiano Ronaldo is heading to another World Cup.
Portugal sealed its place at next year's tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico with a 9-1 rout of Armenia on Sunday.
Ronaldo missed the match in Porto because of suspension — but in his absence, Portugal ensured he would have the chance to appear at a record sixth World Cup.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner will be 41 by the time the tournament kicks off next June and Ronaldo recently said it would be his last shot at winning the one major title to elude him. Assuming he retains his fitness, he is expected to be part of coach Roberto Martinez's squad, though he may yet be suspended for as many as two matches after being sent off in Portugal's 2-0 loss to Ireland on Thursday.
That surprise defeat meant Portugal had to beat Armenia to be certain of top place in Group F and hat tricks from Bruno Fernandes and Joao Neves ensured there would be no slipup.
Hungary had the chance to overtake Portugal at the top of the group, but fell to a stunning late comeback from Ireland - losing 3-2 in Budapest.
Troy Parrott scored a hat trick - with an equalizer in the 80th minute and the winner coming in the sixth minute of time added on. Victory meant Ireland finished in second place and will advance to the playoffs.
History makers
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Ronaldo and his great rival Lionel Messi will both appear at their sixth World Cup if they take part in next year's tournament.
Defending champion Argentina has already secured its place.
Messi fulfilled his career-long ambition by leading Argentina to the title in Qatar in the 2022.
Ronaldo, who has won the European Championship and two Nations League titles with Portugal, is still to add a World Cup to a trophy haul that includes five Champions Leagues and league titles in England, Spain and Italy.
Though he is nearing the end of his career and has left top-flight European soccer behind to play in Saudi Arabia, he has continued to further embellish his remarkable career.
He led Portugal to the Nations League earlier this year and last month became the leading scorer in World Cup qualifying games with 41 goals.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
