They paid a ticket to see Ronaldo, they saw the best Portugal
Criticized so many times, Fernando Santos won a victory through his own choices and today through his own risks.
Fernando Santos didn’t have the pressure to take Cristiano Ronaldo out against South Korea, but he also didn’t have the pressure to put him on the field today. After the words that everyone saw on television in the last match, the national coach practically had no chance: if the team is above all, even the captain had to go to the bench after that.
Without Ronaldo, Portugal not only beat Switzerland by a clear 6-1, but also appeared looser than ever: João Félix looked different, Bernardo Silva was more daring, even William Carvalho was faster (no jokes and memes, come on ). And, of course, as Fernando Santos has already accustomed us to at other times, there was that bit of luck in choosing the replacement for the great star of the national team.
Upon seeing the starting eleven, many would have thought why it was not yet Rafael Leão’s moment (by the way, pause to appreciate the great goal by the Portuguese striker). Fernando Santos chose Gonçalo Ramos and the youngster, who was making his debut as a starter in a World Cup, responded with three goals. It’s obviously not just luck, but everything counts.
Now, we’ve gone from the usual depression to too much euphoria. The main problem that the national coach will have in the next few days will answer about a million times what everyone wants to know: will Cristiano Ronaldo remain on the bench? The answer seems to have been given on the field, but the stands of this World Cup disagree.
During several minutes of this game, many requests of “Ronaldo! Ronaldo!” were heard. Buyers who paid for tickets to a round of 16 at a World Cup in Qatar wanted to see more of the captain’s time. I get it, we all want to see the best, if only for 20 minutes. For now, what I have to tell you is that, after all, 20 minutes is fine.
Focus on what matters now: Saturday there’s a game against Morocco. Do you remember that European in which the legs seemed to be favored and gradually fell away and the national team always faced the underdogs🇧🇷 Then.