Gonçalo Ramos’s first world cup hattrick was more than enough as Portugal secured a huge 6-1 win over Switzerland to secure their place in the quarterfinal of the work advantage
Portugal’s head coach, Fernando Santos, took a significant risk of dropping Ronaldo to the bench and playing Benfica’s 21-year-old striker Gonçalo Ramos instead.
The forward had only played 33 minutes of international football before Tuesday, but Ramos never showed nervousness as he opened the scoring 17 minutes into the game.
Defender Pepe scored in the 35th minute to double the team’s advantage, while Ramos beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s record as he scored Portugal’s third in the 51st minute before Raphael Guerreiro made it 3-0 four minutes later.
Manchester City Defender Manuel Akanji scored a consolation goal for Switzerland in the 58 minutes, but there was still time enough for Ramos to get his hattrick and AC Milan four words Rafael Leao to get on the scoresheet as well.
The 2016 euro winners will now face Morocco in the quarterfinals after the North Africans dispatched Spain 3-0 on penalties earlier on Tuesday. Both teams played out a goalless draw in 120 minutes.
Goalkeeper Bono was the hero for the North Africans saving twice while Achraf Hakimi scored the penalty to seal the victory. Morocco are the fourth African team to make it to the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup after Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002, and Ghana in 2010.
In the quarterfinals that will start on Friday, December 9, Croatia will face Brazil, the Netherlands will play against Argentina, Morocco and Portugal will face each other, and England and France will play on Saturday.
Full 2022 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal fixtures.
Friday, December 9:
Croatia v Brazil (15:00 GMT)
Netherlands v Argentina (19:00 GMT)
Saturday, December 10:
Morocco v Portugal (15:00 GMT)
England v France (19:00 GMT).
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
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