Portugal 6-1 Switzerland: No Ronaldo, no problem for Portugal
A superb hattrick by 21 year-old Benfica striker Gonçalo Ramos saw Portugal cruise into the World Cup Quarter Finals, easily despatching a limp Swiss side 6-1.
All of the pre-match talk had been centred on Cristiano Ronaldo’s omission from the starting lineup, but Ramos’s goals along with one from each of Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro and Rafael Leao saw them comfortably overcome their opponents.
Manuel Akanji did get one back for Switzerland, but this humbling result will make what had otherwise been a reasonable tournament, feel like a major disappointment.
A relatively cagey opening few minutes were flipped upside down when Ramos turned his man and blasted the ball into the roof of Yann Sommer’s goal, the Swiss number one as surprised as anyone else at the Lusail Stadium to see the net bulge.
The opener came from an abysmal piece of defending from a throw-in where Joao Felix was left unmarked, allowed to turn and then feed the ball into the young striker. Needless to say, the amount of space he was afforded was to become something of a theme in this match.
Just 15 minutes later and they were two up, Pepe strolling away from Edemilson Fernandes, leaping high between Akanji and Fabian Schar and diverting Bruno Fernandes’s corner home.
Despite the scoreline at this stage, Clive Tyldesley’s wild declaration that the Seleçao were “too dynamic for Switzerland” on ITV was more a reflection of how utterly insipid their opponents had been, than a crowning of a rip-roaring opening half hour.
After half time though, Portugal did become vastly more threatening, presumably because Fernando Santos had said something along the lines of “they’re really, really bad at defending lads.”
Such motivational speaking clearly worked wonders as they had a third by the 51st minute; Diogo Dalot bamboozled the hapless Ruben Vargas by, incredibly, shifting the ball onto his stronger, right foot and used the half-yard to roll the ball into the near post for Ramos to poke the ball under Sommer.
Just three minutes later and an excellent, fluid counter attack down the left saw the lively Felix roll Guerreiro into the box for him to rifle past the Borussia Monchengladbach ‘keeper.
Akanji picked up what you might suspect to be the earliest consolation goal this World Cup from a corner in the 58th minute, before Ramos sealed his hattrick nine minutes later.
More lifeless Swiss defending allowed Felix to roam into space and roll the youngster in behind before he clipped the ball over a despairing Sommer leg and into the net for 5-1.
As the game edged towards its finale a number of changes from both sides saw the Portugal attack rotate heavily with Ronaldo and Leao both coming on, eager to join the party.
And join in the fun one of them did, but it wasn’t the seemingly Saudi-bound, sulking substitute striker CR7 as, no matter how desperately the crowd cheered whenever the ball entered his vicinity, he remained largely ineffective.
Indeed, it was the thrilling Leao who bent home an excellent goal from just inside the box in added time to cap off an eyebrow-raising result for Portugal.
