Ronaldo's benching shows he needs to choose between his team and himself if he hopes to win World Cup
Chris Jones is in Qatar covering the men's World Cup for CBC Sports.
Everyone has an engine, and we all have a choice of fuels. In the waning years of Cristiano Ronaldo's career, as in his youth, as in his middle age, he's decided to be driven by rage. But for the first time in his life, it's no longer working as a propellant. It's turned to poison.
On Tuesday night at Lusail Stadium, the conversation before, during, and after Portugal's Round of 16 matchup against Switzerland revolved around a 37-year-old substitute: The great Ronaldo had been benched.
In a tournament that has not been short of narrative, Gonçalo Ramos, the 21-year-old who started in Ronaldo's place, opened Portuguese accounts with a rocket in the 17th minute. In his first try, he had done something Ronaldo never has: score in a World Cup knockout game.
The Portuguese cruised from there, winning 6-1 to earn a place in the quarter-final against Morocco, shock victors in a shootout over Spain earlier in the evening.
In the 73rd minute, Ramos, who'd scored twice more by then, came off, and Ronaldo came on. That moment felt like a thousand concessions to everyone and everything at once.
Fernando Santos, Portugal's weary-looking head coach, had told reporters — and so, too, Ronaldo — that his captain's behaviour during the team's final group-stage game last Friday had been unacceptable.
Ronaldo had been taken off 65 minutes into Portugal's 2-1 loss to South Korea. One of his anxious opponents asked him to hurry off the pitch, and Ronaldo told him to "shut up." Next, he belittled his coach.
Santos returned the favour, telling reporters, "I really didn't like it." He added that he hadn't decided whether Ronaldo would be captain for the Switzerland game or even