World Cup 2022 – Three things that shone in Portugal against Switzerland in the round of 16: Ramos pushes Ronaldo off the world stage

While the red-and-greens celebrated their round of 16 win at Lusail Stadium, coach Fernando Santos put a damper on the fun. “It wasn’t perfect,” the 68-year-old mumbled. “They played quite well,” he admitted grumpily. And then, at least: “The concentration was there. We controlled the game quite well.” But it was “only” the round of 16, calm down, clearly he resonated as subtext.

Portugal’s 6-1 victory over Switzerland is the second highest World Cup win in a knockout match since 1938, following Germany’s 7-1 victory over Brazil in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup.

Manuel Akanji had scored for the Confederates for 1: 4 (58th).

Ronaldo was only in a secondary role. Three things we noticed in the final stage.

1.) Ramos pushes Ronaldo off the world stage

Just two hours before kick-off, a small fire swept through Qatar: Should Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese superstar, only sit on the bench in the round of 16 against Switzerland? Well, coach Fernando Santos dares to do something! This is the opinion of many.

After the game, the 68-year-old can give himself a pat on the back for his decision. Ronaldo’s Gonçalo Ramos scored three goals and one more: a generous thank you for the trust of his coach.

What surprised many in the end was an understandable step by the old fox coach. The only 21-year-old Ramos is having an excellent season at Benfica as the successor to Uruguayan Darwin Núñez, who emigrated to Liverpool: in 23 (unbeaten!) competitive matches for Roger Schmidt’s team, he scored 14 goals and provided six assists .

On his international debut in the 4-0 win against Nigeria shortly before the World Cup, he made an exemplary appearance with a wildcard goal. Carried only as a wildcard against Ghana and Uruguay and rested against South Korea, Ramos had apparently saved a lot for Switzerland.

Already in the 17th minute he opened the Schützenfest with a 106 km/h left-footed shot into the short corner, which the “ARD” expert Bastian Schweinsteiger immediately reminded of the power of the youngster Lukas Podolski.

At 3-0 in the 51st minute, Ramos made Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer look no less old with his shot between the legs, at 5-1 he simply chipped the ball elegantly over the Swiss (67). Meanwhile, he had also given the 4-0 no-look pass to Raphaël Guerreiro (55th). “I didn’t think he would Like this is good”, not only Schweinsteiger was amazed.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, had to wait until the 72nd minute before he could prepare to come on as a substitute, to applause from the stands. The superstar had already celebrated all the goals together and even stormed the corner flag with his colleagues after the 1-0 draw. However, he was not awarded a regular goal, only one from an offside position (84th).

So he said and snatched the ball, to which he was undoubtedly entitled, as the youngest three-point shooter in a World Cup knockout match since Pelé in 1958 (in the 5-2 semi-final against France).

2.) The Wildmoser rule applies to Pepe

Former TSV 1860 Munich president Karl-Heinz Wildmoser senior once said: “There are no old and young players, only good and bad.” According to this questionable rule, Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira, nicknamed Pepe, is still a very good footballer.

As if to prove it, the Portuguese centre-back scored 2-0 against Switzerland at the age of 39 years and 283 days (33rd), becoming the oldest player to ever score in a World Cup knockout match. The trick at the gate was as old as Pepe himself: a simple corner from Bruno Fernandes on the veteran’s skull – the Swiss could not defend it.

Overall, the former Real Madrid star is having something like his third, oh, fourth spring in Qatar: he injured his knee just before the World Cup and missed six games for his club FC Porto . He was then only intended as a substitute for Portugal, until Danilo Pereira suffered a rib injury in training after the first match.

Since then, Pepe has been defending and anything but mean. In his three appearances he won 64 per cent of his duels. The centre-back also had 27 passes into the attacking third, the most for Portugal. He collects at least two balls per game, his tackles are still extremely spot on and opposing forwards are still very reluctant to feel his breath down his neck.

Pepe was therefore satisfied after 6:1. “It was the collective. We did everything the coach wanted from us,” said the 39-year-old, enumerating: “We didn’t concede much in defense and we scored in attack. We had a good transition game, we were but also good on the ball, we are really good on the point”.

And by the way: contrary to his bad reputation, Pepe has not yet received a warning at the World Cup.

3.) Switzerland is disappointing across the board

Anyone who saw Switzerland beat Serbia 3-2 at the end of the preliminary round believed that the Swiss were capable of surprising against Portugal.

In the round of 16, however, the Swiss national team never had the intensity of the odious duel with the Serbs on the pitch. The midfield seemed strangely passive, the defensive efforts sluggish, the overhead passes uninspired.

“The Swiss lacked everything today, today they reached their limits,” commented pundit Michael Ballack on “MagentaTV”: “They played against a fantastic Portuguese team and were superior to them in every way.”

Granit Xhaka’s weak pressure on the opponent at 0:1, resulting from a throw-in, is an example of this. Former Nati Ciriaco Sforza saw a second on “MagentaTV” at 0: 2: “There are four Swiss against Pepe – and we only defend in space. It’s not necessary.”

In retrospect, the system change by coach Murat Yakin was also unnecessary. In the preliminary round, Switzerland played a stable defensive 4-2-3-1, but against Portugal they switched to a three-man defense (3-1-4-2) and fell face down.

Initially the Swiss managed to keep the Portuguese away from their own goal with strong offensive pressure, but at the latest with 0:2 nothing worked anymore.

“We surprisingly changed the formation and tried to make trouble for the opponent. Unfortunately, our plan didn’t work,” said a disappointed Xherdan Shaqiri: “We lost the match in the first half. But this is the top level in football, you will be severely punished.”

The round of 16 nightmare went on to the next round for Switzerland: Since 1994, the Swiss have been in the round of 16 in five of the six World Cup rounds (in 2010 there was a preliminary round). Switzerland was last in the quarter-finals in 1954 against their own country. Now it will take at least 72 years for this stain to be erased. “Many things didn’t go well,” Yakin had to admit.