Every Team Left in Qatar Is a Contender

For the better part of a decade, Portugal has been something of a contradiction. The country has for years boasted enough individual talent to match any team on the planet and yet, under the aegis of Fernando Santos, it has been assiduously, unapologetically, and in many ways successfully dour, as if a group of the finest artists in the world had been gathered together and asked to wallpaper a bedroom.

That all changed on Tuesday evening, thanks (seemingly) to the biggest call of the tournament: Santos relegated Cristiano Ronaldo, a national icon and one of the two best players of his generation, to the bench, and cut Portugal loose. Gonçalo Ramos, his direct replacement, scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 rout of the Swiss, and Otávio and João Félix thrived in a more dynamic system.

Morocco, then, presents a test both of Santos’s resolve — does Ronaldo remain in reserve? — and Portugal’s newfound sense of adventure. The first North African or Arab country to make it this far in a World Cup has played four games in Qatar. In front of its raucous, fervid support, swollen by the backing of much of the rest of the region, it has yet to concede a single goal off an opponent’s foot, even in a penalty shootout. Its approach to Portugal will be the same as in its victory against the Spanish: sit tight, stay back, and pounce on the break.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/sports/world-cup/quarterfinal-preview.html