Ramos, Ronaldo and a very public and brutal World Cup humiliation
WITH OR WITHOUT HIM?
Yes, yes … we’ll get to Him. Of course we will because even when his involvement is increasingly, almost comically peripheral, everything ultimately ends up being about Him. But first a nod to the players and supporters of Morocco, to whom Tuesday really belonged. Following the north African side’s win against the throwback tikitaka scamperers of Spain (possession: 77%, passes: 1,019, goals: 0), scarcely a U2 pun went unpunished as shootout hero Bono and chums celebrated a dogged, obdurate and thoroughly deserved victory.
On a truly Beautiful Day for Moroccan football, it was One in which their fans in Qatar, at home and elsewhere took understandably immense Pride. Scarcely a car horn went unparped on the streets of Casablanca by fans who will be hoping their team, who have conceded just one goal – an own goal – in their past eight matches can play it again in such fine style against Portugal, whose impressive demolition job on the Switzerland has been predictably overshadowed by the most conspicuous absence of the name “Ronaldo” from an official team sheet since the temporary omission of a certain Brazilian prior to the final in 1998.
While it has since emerged that the Brazilian Ronaldo was ill and almost certainly should have sat that game out, his Portuguese namesake has been suffering from nothing more serious than an inflated sense of self-regard, a form of pyromania that has led him to incinerate a couple of big bridges in under a month. No longer the footballing force he once was, Cristiano Ronaldo remains an intimidating presence on the pitch but for some time now it has looked like it is only his own teammates, rather than opponents, who are cowed by him. “I’m quite surprised but not overly shocked,” said the great Ally McCoist on ITV. “Having said that, I must say I am slightly shocked, of that there is no doubt.” Not for the first time in this tournament, Coisty succinctly captured the global mood in a nutshell.
While Fernando Santos’s decision to bench his show pony in favour of starting the young Benfica striker Gonçalo Ramos was a Big Call, it quickly proved the right one. Within 17 minutes the fresh-faced 21-year-old had passed Ronaldo’s career tally of zero World Cup knockout stage goals and missed a couple of presentable chances but finished the game with this tournament’s first hat-trick. And while the man he replaced joined in the goal celebrations before helping to close out the game ahead of an abrupt postmatch scuttle down the tunnel, we can but guess what he made of what was ultimately a very public and brutal humiliation.
“We wanted a team that played with a lot of fluidity,” said Santos, when asked about his decision to drop Ronaldo, among other big but not quite so stellar names. “Cristiano is more fixed, he stays in a more determined role towards the box. Gonçalo has different characteristics: he is very dynamic and that’s what he ended up showing us.” With Morocco to come, Ramos seems to have made himself undroppable, while on the other hand his forlorn and beleaguered captain increasingly seems unpickable.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE!
Join Will Unwin from 8pm GMT for minute-by-minute updates of Arsenal 3-1 Juventus in Women’s Big Cup.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“A page turns today... Thank you for your love. Thank you for your unparalleled support. Thank you for all this happiness shared since 2008... I will miss you” – Eden Hazard channels his inner William Blake as he calls time on his international career to jump on the love boat.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Theo B-P.
This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To subscribe for the full version,just visit this page and follow the instructions.
It’s our cool and informed sister email, Moving The Goalposts, on the rise and rise of Roma Women.