With Ronaldo not coming onto the pitch until the 73rd minute, an unlikely hero, Portuguese striker Gonçalo Ramos, produced a hat-trick and an assist in their 6-1 win against the Swiss in the 2022 World Cup today at the Lusail stadium in Lusail, Qatar.
Portugal went into the break with a 2-0 lead, thanks to a great left-footed shot by Ramos in the 17th minute and a nice header by Pepe in the 33rd minute.
In the second half, Portugal would switch into fifth gear and score four more goals. Ramos scored another two goals to get his hat-trick and was also the assist man for Raphaël Guerreiro’s goal in the 55th minute.
The Swiss got their goal in the 58th minute thanks to Manuel Akanji, but it was only a consolation.
Rafael Leão scored the last goal and put an end to the Swiss’ misery in the 92nd minute when he curled the ball up and across the goal, then back down where it nestled into the lower right-hand corner.
Portugal is picking up pace and seemed inspired today. This is exactly the time in the tournament that you want to start increasing the tempo. Based on their performance today, they are going to be hard for Morocco to stop.
Portuguese coach Fernando Santos made a good decision to keep Ronaldo as a sub so that he will now be fresh for their next match. I would not have put him in toward the end as there is always a risk he could have gotten injured in the remaining minutes, but aside from that, it was a good display.
As a result, Portugal will now face Morocco in the quarterfinals on Saturday, December 10th at 10 am EST.
Photo: Gonçalo Ramos – Shutterstock – user: Maciej Rogowski Photo – ID: 2186457769
