Cristiano Ronaldo Has a Golden Chance to End Portugal Trophy Drought

The concept of a one-man team has been a dominant theme of Euro 2016. Gareth Bale and Wales. Marek Hamsik and Slovakia. Not forgetting, of course, the old faithful, the original: Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal. So what if we’ve reached a point where Portugal have at last found a way to be more than that?

While there was much to forget about the last-16 tie against Croatia (and from an aesthetic point of view, it was as bad as it’s got in this tournament), one statistic stood out as one picked over the bones afterwards. Having taken 30 efforts at goal in the first three games, Ronaldo attempted just one against Croatia on Sunday, three minutes before the end of extra time. It was on target, though, forcing Danjiel Subasic into the sprawling save that teed up Ricardo Quaresma to nod in the winner, of course.

This is hugely significant. For Ronaldo personally, the sense of a measured one chance, one decisive contribution efficiency is in its way a step up, especially in the context of his profligacy of the first two games of the tournament, against Iceland and Austria. Yet it is also a suggestion that Portugal are a functioning entity without the captain necessarily having to pull the strings.

It’s not always pretty, that’s for sure. While Nani said in his Tuesday press conference that Portugal have nothing in common with the Greece side that won Euro 2004 in Portugal (as reported here by Mais Futebol, in Portuguese), he did admit that if it was necessary to put attractive football aside in order to win, then they’d do it in a heartbeat.

Some of those around the winger have been even more blunt. In an interview with O Jogo in the aftermath of the Croatia game (h/t Futebol365, in Portuguese), Pepe was unambiguous about the tactics his side used to contain Ivan Rakitic, Luka Modric and Co. “We knew how we were going to kill the game,” he told the newspaper. As the lynchpin of a sterling defensive effort, the Real Madrid centre-back was a huge part of that.

Coach Fernando Santos, having served Greek football at club and international level for a decade, is at the root of the parallels. In the days since the Croatia game, he has been unapologetic to those who have lamented that such a potentially exciting game was instead a damp squib. If you got the impression that he’d fielded these types of questions before, you’d be right.

“I always say to the players,” he told a press conference on Sunday (as per A Bola, in Portuguese), “for me there’s not beautiful or ugly, but good or bad. I’m not here to be beautiful, but to find a way for the team to win.”

None of this stodge/brilliantly functional organisation (delete as applicable) will be news to anybody familiar with Portugal’s qualifying campaign for the tournament. The football was often tedious but it was highly effective. The away wins in Denmark and Albania, at crucial points points in the campaign, both spring to mind. Ninety minutes of attrition followed by a snatched winner from a set-piece situation right at the end.

Jens Dresling/Associated Press

Whatever your view of this from the point of view of spectacle is, it is clear that Portugal (give or take the extraordinary draw with Hungary) have an identity, which is more than some of the biggest names to have already fallen by the wayside in France, such as Spain or England, have been able to claim. With seven wins in seven qualifiers in a tricky group, and this after losing the opener to Albania under Paulo Bento, one can only marvel at Santos’ work.

Moreover, he is not cut from the same cloth as Carlos Queiroz. The former Manchester United assistant’s version of a cautious Portugal ruined the team, and Ronaldo. The star was isolated from the rest of the side, waiting for service that never came from a five-man defence. Rarely has Ronaldo looked as unhappy than at the 2010 World Cup, which he arrived at having scored two goals in two years for his country.

If Paulo Bento re-energised Ronaldo—and Portugal to an extent, getting them to the semis of Euro 2012 before it all fell apart—then Santos has made sure he has continued to thrive. It hasn’t been easy, with Ronaldo going through a profound change, evolving into a pure penalty-box player, as we’ve discussed before in this column.

This system has dealt with that, and has been set up to coax the best out of Ronaldo, with an extra forward to support him—in this case, Nani, who has flourished to quite spectacular effect so far. Even when Ronaldo was firing blanks, the chances were there, as the numbers above show, and this was without him dropping to retrieve the ball like in the old days.

It may well be more of the same fare at the Velodrome on Thursday night, as Portugal face a Poland side who have conceded just once, and that was an absolute wonder goal by Xherdan Shaqiri. Ronaldo may need to chip away again and wait for his moment.

ARMANDO FRANCA/Associated Press

He won’t mind. He’s waited for 12 years, after all, since he cried on the Estadio da Luz pitch as a teenager after Otto Rehhagel’s side ended Portugal’s Euro 2004 dream. He’s been close again, four years ago, when he was a whisker away from scoring the goal that beat holders Spain in the semi-final, before his side toppled on penalties.

Yet now, improbably, Ronaldo has another chance—and a good one, when you look at the half of the draw that Portugal occupy. England may have celebrated when Iceland’s late winner against Austria helped them avoid Portugal in the last 16; Portugal, in retrospect, had cause to do the same, and not because they were diverted away from Roy Hodgson’s team.

There will be interesting matchups to come for Ronaldo, starting with Robert Lewandowski and maybe even incorporating a semi-final against his club team-mate Gareth Bale. What is certain is that Cristiano Ronaldo could not have asked for any more. The man who loves the idea of seizing destiny has a great opportunity to do just that.