THE DAY REPLAYED - It is said that good things come to those who wait, and that old adage was borne out on Day 2 at Russia 2017, with four of the six goals coming after the 80-minute mark. Those late strikes produced a 2-2 draw between Portugal and Mexico, keeping Russia top of Group A, and saw Chile surge to the summit of Group B with a 2-0 win over Cameroon.  **  **

Both coaches in the first of those matches expressed satisfaction with a share of the spoils, and acknowledged the result accurately reflected the balance of play. Neither side was at their sparkling best, in truth, but there was still enough firepower on display to produce genuine excitement.

Most of it came in the last few minutes, with Mexico's Hector Moreno heading home in stoppage time after Cedric Soares' deflected 86th-minute effort looked to have given Portugal victory on their Confederations Cup debut. It was the second time El Tri had fought back from a goal down, with Javier Hernandez having earlier cancelled out a Ricardo Quaresma opener laid on by Budweiser Man of the Match Cristiano Ronaldo.

Video Assistant Referees (VARs) had been utilised in Kazan and they again played a prominent role in Moscow, with their advice leading to one goal from Chile's Eduardo Vargas being ruled offside and another awarded.

In between times, Budweiser Man of the Match Arturo Vidal opened his account for the tournament, powering home an excellent header from Alexis Sanchez's measured cross.

Next matches #AUSGER blog updating now

** **

Follow  FCC in Twitter | FCC in FB | FCC in IG

** **