Ronaldo's sideshow finally eclipsed by brilliant Ramos as Portugal embrace a Man Utd truth
Fernando Santos made a monumental call, but it paid off for Portugal as Goncalo Ramos helped them embrace a truth about Cristiano Ronaldo that Man Utd recently realized.
"More and more people are asking a striker to be more complete. People used to think that a striker is only there to score goals and the rest doesn't matter, but I think that in recent years that image has faded a bit."
That was an understatement for Goncalo Ramos, speaking in September; the interpretation of the role of the modern striker has almost entirely changed. The focus is on those who can squeeze rather than those who are prolific. The demand is for fluidity, not finish. They create, they dive deep, they drift wide, they defend. They are the first line of defense, able to move seamlessly and consistently on the attack.
What was before seems fossilized rather than "disappeared".
In the interests of fairness, no country will have suffered as much from this change in perspective as Portugal. Having a national team built specifically around a painstakingly engineered striker in a goal lab will do that. A two-decade-long regime of Cristiano Kool-Aid nationwide was never going to be easy to reverse. But it was a good start.
"It's more and more important for a striker to be more in the game and contribute more to the team, to connect the game, to put the pressure on," Ramos added in that interview a while ago. two months. After speaking, he certainly made the rounds of the World Cup Round of 16 for The Navigators.
Piers Morgan will no doubt have enjoyed the publicity; that his name was trending on social media following Ronaldo's omission from the Portuguese outfit is a damning accusation for both the star and the star-f**ker. Both appear to be suffering from a case of difficult second album syndrome after massaging their egos with The Single Biggest Interview Ever: one left for Al-Nassr club, certainly not the Champions League one, while the other had his next conversation with Richard Keys and Andy Gray.
Speculation was rife as to whether Fernando Santos made the call following another petulance from Ronaldo during the 37-year-old's substitution against South Korea, or simply as a general reaction to recent adverse player performance.
As in the case of Erik ten Hag and Man Utd, perhaps it was just a case of six of one and half a dozen of the other.
>For this decision to work, Ramos had to step in. It was a considerable weight to place on the shoulders of a 21-year-old who was making his first international start, and whose entire Portuguese career before kick-off included 33 minutes wasted over the past three weeks. p>
And for a risk-averse coach, Santos was rolling the dice blindfolded: Portugal have lost just two of Ronaldo's 20 missed games since Euro 2016, but both of those defeats have come against Portugal. Switzerland, the most recent being in June.
The last time Portugal started a tournament game without Ronaldo was also against Switzerland - a group dead rubber at Euro 2008. The last time Portugal started a knockout game without Ronaldo was the Euro 2000 semi-final loss to France, a game that took place 11 months before Ramos was born and three years before Ronaldo was selected.
As the spearhead of a generation stepping into the unknown without their talisman, Ramos was sensational. A stunning finish was beaten by a stunned Yann Sommer at the goalkeeper's near post after 17 minutes; Diogo Dalot's deflected cross was placed in the legs of the Swiss No.1 shortly after half-time; a brazen dink on his hurried victim for the evening completed the first hat-trick in the World Cup knockout stage since Tomas Skuhravy in Italia '90.
What happened in between relegitimized Portugal as a force to be reckoned with. Pepe proved that age alone is no obstacle for this side, making it 2-0 with a powerful header from a corner. Raphael Guerreiro produced a glorious move with excellent finishing, assisted by Ramos. Rafael Leao added a layer of sparkle and got in on the act - the choice of the official 6-1 snap is yours - with a pretty splendid curling effort in stoppage time.
Joao Felix's masterful performance only added to the feeling that the next era of Portugal is coming.
Ronaldo - or, to give...
Fernando Santos made a monumental call, but it paid off for Portugal as Goncalo Ramos helped them embrace a truth about Cristiano Ronaldo that Man Utd recently realized.
"More and more people are asking a striker to be more complete. People used to think that a striker is only there to score goals and the rest doesn't matter, but I think that in recent years that image has faded a bit."
That was an understatement for Goncalo Ramos, speaking in September; the interpretation of the role of the modern striker has almost entirely changed. The focus is on those who can squeeze rather than those who are prolific. The demand is for fluidity, not finish. They create, they dive deep, they drift wide, they defend. They are the first line of defense, able to move seamlessly and consistently on the attack.
What was before seems fossilized rather than "disappeared".
In the interests of fairness, no country will have suffered as much from this change in perspective as Portugal. Having a national team built specifically around a painstakingly engineered striker in a goal lab will do that. A two-decade-long regime of Cristiano Kool-Aid nationwide was never going to be easy to reverse. But it was a good start.
"It's more and more important for a striker to be more in the game and contribute more to the team, to connect the game, to put the pressure on," Ramos added in that interview a while ago. two months. After speaking, he certainly made the rounds of the World Cup Round of 16 for The Navigators.
Piers Morgan will no doubt have enjoyed the publicity; that his name was trending on social media following Ronaldo's omission from the Portuguese outfit is a damning accusation for both the star and the star-f**ker. Both appear to be suffering from a case of difficult second album syndrome after massaging their egos with The Single Biggest Interview Ever: one left for Al-Nassr club, certainly not the Champions League one, while the other had his next conversation with Richard Keys and Andy Gray.
Speculation was rife as to whether Fernando Santos made the call following another petulance from Ronaldo during the 37-year-old's substitution against South Korea, or simply as a general reaction to recent adverse player performance.
As in the case of Erik ten Hag and Man Utd, perhaps it was just a case of six of one and half a dozen of the other.
>For this decision to work, Ramos had to step in. It was a considerable weight to place on the shoulders of a 21-year-old who was making his first international start, and whose entire Portuguese career before kick-off included 33 minutes wasted over the past three weeks. p>
And for a risk-averse coach, Santos was rolling the dice blindfolded: Portugal have lost just two of Ronaldo's 20 missed games since Euro 2016, but both of those defeats have come against Portugal. Switzerland, the most recent being in June.
The last time Portugal started a tournament game without Ronaldo was also against Switzerland - a group dead rubber at Euro 2008. The last time Portugal started a knockout game without Ronaldo was the Euro 2000 semi-final loss to France, a game that took place 11 months before Ramos was born and three years before Ronaldo was selected.
As the spearhead of a generation stepping into the unknown without their talisman, Ramos was sensational. A stunning finish was beaten by a stunned Yann Sommer at the goalkeeper's near post after 17 minutes; Diogo Dalot's deflected cross was placed in the legs of the Swiss No.1 shortly after half-time; a brazen dink on his hurried victim for the evening completed the first hat-trick in the World Cup knockout stage since Tomas Skuhravy in Italia '90.
What happened in between relegitimized Portugal as a force to be reckoned with. Pepe proved that age alone is no obstacle for this side, making it 2-0 with a powerful header from a corner. Raphael Guerreiro produced a glorious move with excellent finishing, assisted by Ramos. Rafael Leao added a layer of sparkle and got in on the act - the choice of the official 6-1 snap is yours - with a pretty splendid curling effort in stoppage time.
Joao Felix's masterful performance only added to the feeling that the next era of Portugal is coming.
Ronaldo - or, to give...
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