Home ›› 10 Dec 2022 ›› Sport
Portugal, in the Round of 16, showed no mercy to Switzerland as they bashed them 6-1 to move into the last eight, where they will meet Morocco in an attempt to seal their first semi-final berth in 16 years.
Morocco went into their last 16 battle as the underdogs against Spain, but a brilliant organised performance from them saw the Champions of 2010 knocked out on penalties and took them to their first-ever Quarter-final.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos took the bold decision of benching Cristiano Ronaldo against Switzerland and it paid on all ends as his replacement Goncalo Ramos scored the first hat-trick of the ongoing World Cup.
Ramos’ performances mean Ronaldo will once again have to sit on the bench against Morocco, but this time around the Portuguese side will face a much more difficult task as the African side are yet to concede a goal from an opposition player in this tournament.
After their match against Switzerland, Portugal coach Santos said they wanted to play with more fluidity, which they achieved by benching their captain.
“That is what was intended, what we wanted. We wanted a team that played with a lot of fluidity, we played very well,” he said.
For Morocco, the tie will be one to achieve something even bigger as no African country has ever played in the semis of a World Cup. Their fans created a brilliant atmosphere against Spain, and their coach Walid Regragui for a similar crowd against Portugal.
“I think it’s impossible for us to do this without the fans. They love their country and what I can tell them is this -- we can do nothing without them, I need them for the quarters and, hopefully, we’ll make history,” he said.
Santos has the whole squad at his disposal ahead of the game, and he is likely to repeat the XI from the Switzerland game with Ramos starting alongside Joao Felix and Otavio as the front trio. Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, and William Carvalho will make up the midfield.
