Ronaldo’s ‘total genius’ won World Cup penalty
Cristiano Ronaldo showed “total genius” by winning a controversial penalty in Portugal’s World Cup win over Ghana, FIFA technical study group member Sunday Oliseh said on Saturday.
The veteran striker went down after a tackle by Mohammed Salisu on Thursday before scoring the resulting spot-kick to become the first man to net at five World Cups.
Ghana coach Otto Addo described the penalty decision as a “gift” to Ronaldo and said it was a “really wrong decision.”
“Maybe the strikers are getting smarter,” former Nigeria international Oliseh told a press conference when asked why more penalties were being awarded at the tournament so far than in previous years.
“If you look at the penalty Ronaldo got, let’s face it, people can say what they want about this man, but the genius thought to just be patient and put my foot to touch the ball first before you, continue my leg so that you make contact with my leg — that is total genius.
“Let’s give the strikers the compliment for getting smarter.”
Nine penalties were awarded in the first round of groupstage matches.
“VAR is also a major reason why this (more penalties being awarded) is happening because the referees can now look at it three or four times and decide,” added Oliseh.
Portugal take on Uruguay in their second match on Monday before finishing their Group H campaign against South Korea four days later.
Meanwhile, the high number of goalless draws at the World Cup has been due to teams’ fear of suffering an early setback, FIFA’s technical study group said on Saturday.
There were five goalless matches in the first 20 matches in Qatar, already just two short of matching the record amount in a World Cup.
There was only one 0-0 stalemate at the 2018 tournament — between eventual winners France and Denmark.
It’s because teams don’t want to take too much risk at the beginning,” said former Nigeria international Sunday Oliseh.
“Past data shows about 70 percent of teams who lose their first game go out in the group stage and they’re all aware of that.”
Uruguay’s match with South Korea on Thursday was the first World Cup game to not even see a shot on target in the 21st century.
“Many teams are relying on a cautious approach,” said veteran Italian coach Alberto Zaccheroni.
“Lots of teams fielded five defenders and played very tight and compact. They wanted to assure at least a point from their first game and if a chance came along, try and grab it to win the game.”
Despite England’s 6-2 rout of Iran and Spain’s 7-0 thrashing of Costa Rica, there have been fewer goals per game so far in Qatar than in Russia or in Brazil in 2014.