The national soccer teams of Portugal and Sweden faced off in a do-or-die World Cup qualifying match on Tuesday night. The match pitted two of the biggest stars in soccer — Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimović — against one another with stakes of the highest magnitude. The winning squad's prize: a ticket to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which the losing side would have to watch from home.
Ronaldo scored three goals to push Portugal through to a win and a berth in Brazil. The goals themselves were incredible, but Portuguese TV announcer Nuno Matos' calls of them may have been even better. The pure, unadulterated, frenzied, hysterical joy in Matos' calls shows why the World Cup is the most magical event in sports.
See also: Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Creepy Twitter Gaffe
The YouTube video above has become a hit online since Tuesday, racking up more than 300,000 views in less than 24 hours online.
Getting to watch Ronaldo in the World Cup next summer will be a treat for soccer fans the world over. But it's a shame that it has to come at the expense of being able to also follow Ibrahimović, who had one of the most amazing goals ever seen last year.
Just don't expect Ibrahimović to be closely following the progress of Ronaldo — or anyone else, for that matter — next summer.
"A World Cup without me is nothing to watch," he told the BBC after Tuesday's loss.
Pontus Lundahl/AFP/Getty Images