FIFA World Cup Round of 16 : Portugal vs Switzerland

 In the last of the round of 16 clashes, Portugal decimated Switzerland to reach the quarterfinals. Even before the game had begun, Portugal Coach, Fernando Santos dropped a bombshell by removing Captain & mercurial forward Cristiano Ronaldo from the playing eleven. This move, which had raised quite a few eyebrows, turned out to be a masterstroke, as the Goncalo Ramos, who replaced Ronaldo, went on to score a hat trick on his debut to secure a rather comfortable 6-1 win over Switzerland & set up a quarterfinal face off with Morocco. 

The game stayed even at both ends till about 15 minutes, when Felix received the ball from a throw in & passed to the eager & hungry Goncalo Ramos in inside the box, who took a touch & hammered the ball past Sommer into the near post from a very tight angle, as Portugal went up 1-0. Ramos had already vindicated the Coach's faith for bringing him him in place of Ronaldo. At 21 yrs, he became the youngest Portugal player to score a World Cup goal in a knock out match. While Switzerland were still trying to regroup, Portugal went up 2-0, as Bruno Fernandes swung the ball into the box from a corner & veteran Pepe, belying his 39 yrs, rose high to thump in a header past Sommer. He became the oldest player to score in a World Cup knock out stage. Portugal were running away with this game, as Sommer made an important save from the ever surging Ramos, moments before the half time. Switzerland were rather sluggish & slow in approach, as the half time whistle blew. 

After the lemon break, Portugal came back with more intent, & Ramos as a classic center forward, converted a low cross into the near post from Dalot to make it 3-0. It was 4-0 minutes later, as Ramos slipped the ball to Guerreiro inside the box & the overlapping left back belted a left footer into the top corner of the net. Dazed into submission, Switzerland managed to pull back one, when Akanji tapped the ball in from a corner to reduce the margin to 4-1. For the next few minutes, the Swiss formation did control the proceedings, trying to come back into an almost lost cause. However, Ramos earned his well deserved hattrick, as Felix gave him a delightful through pass inside the box & Ramos coolly slotted past Sommer to make it 5-1. The first hattrick of the tournament had been carved by a 21 year old on his debut game - fantastic prospect for the future indeed. This was the first hattrick on debut, since Miroslav Klose of Germany in 2002. Coach Santos, took out Ramos now, & brought in Ronaldo - finally, as the crowd cheered the superstar onto the pitch. Meanwhile, Ronaldo, darted behind the already tiring Swiss defense t& drove a strong left footer into the net, but the linesman pulled up offside. With the game into the injury time, winger Leao received the ball from Guerreiro, cut inside from left & nonchalantly curled the ball past Sommer into the net to make it 6-1, in a game where Portugal overwhelmed Switzerland in all departments. Ramos would certainly be the cherry in the middle with his hattrick, but it was a true team effort, combining beautifully across the park & everything working to the T for the European Selecao. 

Switzerland had played decent football till now, but were sledgehammered today, & would be disappointed on how they lost. Portugal, in quarterfinals for the first time since 2006, will now meet Morocco for a place in the semis, which looks to be an interesting & entertaining contest for sure.