Cristiano Ronaldo had 81 minutes on the pitch and had one touch of the ball in the penalty area. It was a penalty earned by somebody else and he scored it. Goncalo Ramos had nine minutes (plus added time) on the pitch without Ronaldo, had two touches of the ball in the box and scored an exquisite header to win the tie.
This may seem very churlish. In Toronto on Thursday night, Portugal and Croatia produced the best match of a World Cup that is quickly becoming an all-timer. There was almost too much to process: Luka Modric’s swansong, Croatia’s last hurrah, two fractional VAR offsides, a penalty, another late winner and a later equaliser ruled out via Snicko, taken straight from cricket. You can picture the referee telling them to “rock and roll” the replay.
GOAL DISALLOWED
Croatia thought they'd equalised against Portugal to take the match to extra time, but after VAR review, it was disallowed! pic.twitter.com/jlqNHpzp5s
But then that is what Ronaldo does. He has the gravitational pull of a small planet and into his orbit is pulled all narrative. And when he spends the vast majority of matches not doing anything close to goal and then his replacement scores a fabulous header, it does beg the question of who really is in charge here.
Ronaldo had two touches in the box in 90 minutes against Colombia, so you see the pattern. Against lower-ranking nations, just like in the lower-ranking league in which he thrives, no issue. Against capable defences, he is anonymous for long stretches.
He was awarded the official Man off the Match for this performance. Is this what we are reduced to: pretending that the superstar was the best on the pitch because he’s a superstar not the best on the pitch. Football is brilliant – we don’t need to resort to this subservient nonsense to individuals.
Instead it is Modric we are saying goodbye to (Photo: Reuters)
Perhaps this is just the classic latent threat, the coiled spring waiting for one moment. The only slight problem with that: a magnificent Portugal squad, as good as anyone in the world in depth and breadth of talent, might be out before the spring leaps.
The perfect quandary, then. The eternal fight to distinguish where the line between old guard ends and just old starts. The centre forward who is de facto player-manager for all the control he exerts. And what that says about the lack of courage of his manager.
When Ronaldo was finally substituted, he gave a rueful glance around the pitch. Probably just looking for someone to take the armband. But you wouldn’t rule out him asking somebody else to go instead. After 351 unbroken minutes of action, perhaps this is progress of sorts.
Earlier in the tournament, Roberto Martinez reasoned that Ronaldo serves a purpose by acting as a lightning rod for defenders who too are drawn into his orbit, thus creating space for others. Which…OK fine, if you squint a little.
On the Road USA
Join Daniel Storey on his 7,200-mile odyssey across the US to tell the stories of a World Cup like no other.
But that provokes two questions: 1) is this really how Ronaldo sees himself now: great facilitator, selfless conduit for other people to do good football, busying the bouncers while the diminutive midfielders creep past the queue and into the club? 2) that doesn’t really tally with Martinez’s other strategy, in which he says he leaves Ronaldo on because he is one of the great goalscorers.
The great frustration (and you feel it even as a neutral observer let alone a supporter of this team) is that Portugal have the potential to be exquisite. They have a solid defence and one supreme attacking full-back. They have a band of magic central midfielders who trick you into thinking that they are interchangeable until each of them produces their own specific party trick.
They have fine wingers. Rafael Leao was the game’s best player against Croatia. In Bruno Fernandes, they have the best player in the biggest league in the world and a creator who thrives on main character energy. And here he is stymied because someone has been playing Hamlet for 20 years and won’t let go.
Is everybody not sick of this? Have we not seen enough evidence now? At Euro 2024, Ronaldo didn’t score from open play and Portugal didn’t score a knockout goal. At the 2022 World Cup, Ronaldo failed to score from open play at the tournament, eventually got dropped and Ramos promptly scored a hat-trick. And still the dance continues and the out-of-tune music plays on.
Portugal play Spain in the last-16. They will need to be better. They will need to be a team. They cannot to allow their national team’s performance at a major tournament to become subservient to one man’s retirement lap. They need to work out what matters, not who. They need a manager, not a lapdog. Ronaldo will start, presumably. Because none of the above seems to matter. And we might as well work backwards from there.
from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/O1WyuLx
Post a Comment