The Portuguese team will now face Morocco in the quarter-final
Doha, Qatar: Playing attacking football in their round of 16 clash, Portugal seemed to score goals at will to beat Switzerland 6-1, a special report by Rituraj Borkakoty in the Khaleej Times, says.
Significantly, Portugal’s star player Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the greatest goal-scorer in football history, did not play in this game.
He had to ‘sit out’ most of the game as a result of disciplinary action by coach and manager Fernando Santos, upset with the superstar’s behaviour following his second half substitution in the game against South Korea.
However, Ronaldo was brought on as a second half substitute in the 73rd minute to deafening cheers. He replaced Portugal’s real hero of the night, 21-year-old striker Goncalo Ramos, whose stunning hat trick had put the Swiss to the sword.
Ramos completed his hat trick in the 67th minute after scoring the first two goals in the 17th and 51st minute of the one-sided contest, and gave a glimpse into the future of Portuguese football.
Portugal started the game brightly and took the lead in the 19th minute through Ramos, whose left-footed effort from a tight angle flew into the back of the net. It was a terrific finish from the youngster, who has been in superb form for Benfica this season, netting 14 times in 21 games.
It was the slick passing game of the Portuguese and the predatory finishing skill of Ramos that stunned the Swiss team as Portugal took a 2-0 first lead in the 33rd minute.
Cristiano Ronaldo shows his true colours
While he was sitting out for the major part of the game, Ronaldo showed his sportsman spirit and expressed his delight by running to Goncalo Ramos and then Pepe after the pair both scored the opening two goals.
The 37-year-old Ronaldo didn’t sulk after Ramos scored, instead rushed onto the field to celebrate with his young teammate alongside the rest of the Portugal squad. He gave Ramos a massive hug before walking back to the bench (Rewrite David Solomon).
The other Lionel, Argentina’s Scaloni
pits his wits against Van Gaal
Doha, Qatar: While Argentina’s dreams of a third World Cup triumph lie largely Lionel Messi’s shoulders, there is another man bearing the same first name integral to the hopes of the Albiceleste: Lionel Scaloni
At 44, Scaloni is the youngest coach at the World Cup. On Friday, November 9, he will pit his wits against the oldest, 71-year-old Louis Van Gaal, when Argentina take on the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
“I’m proud to take him on, everyone knows what he’s done for football and how many people have tried to copy him,” Scaloni had said after Argentina beat Australia in the last 16.
“This is one of the pleasures that football gives you, especially as it is happening at a World Cup.”
In his four years of mentoring Argentina, Scaloni has already built up a huge reputation at home, notably for delivering the 2021 Copa America — their first major trophy since the 1986 World Cup and Messi’s first for his country.
Scaloni was born in the small interior town of Pujato in 1978, a little more than a month before Argentina beat the Dutch to win their first World Cup.
Scaloni had a successful playing career mostly for Deportivo La Coruna in Spain as a hard-running wingback. He made it to the Argentina squad for the 2006 World Cup, playing briefly with a young Messi against Mexico.
As a Deportivo player Scaloni had once pipped the Dutch Master Van Gaal’s Barcelona for the 1999-2000 La Liga title.
He cut his coaching teeth at Sevilla as an assistant to Jorge Sampaoli in 2017 and his compatriot took him along when he was awarded the Argentina job ahead of the 2018 World Cup.
Scaloni’s first major tournament was the 2019 Copa America, where Argentina finished third after losing to hosts Brazil in the semi-finals.
Scaloni tightened up the defence and his rejuvenated side — always with Messi at its beating heart, of course — finally delivered the South American title on the back of a 20-match unbeaten streak.
They followed that with an impressive 3-0 win over Euro winners Italy in the “Finalissima” at Wembley in June and by the time they arrived in Qatar, the streak had been extended to 36 games.
After the dramatic upset at the hands of Saudi Arabia, Scaloni has picked up the pieces with wins over Mexico and Poland and got them safely through to the last 16.
The team has long been dubbed La Scaloneta — a play on the coach’s name and the local word for a van inspired by a meme showing the two Lionels at the front of a team bus with the rest of the players in the back.
However, Scaloni emphasises the difficulty of the task facing Argentina, even with Messi in the side.
“All the games are hard,” he said after the Mexico victory. “If you think that just because we won today, we are going to become World Cup winners, you’re wrong.”
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