Ronaldo’s Replacement Scores a Hat Trick in Portugal’s Romp Over Switzerland

Ronaldo was dropped from Portugal’s lineup for its game against Switzerland. Gonçalo Ramos, a 21-year-old striker from the Portuguese team Benfica, got the nod instead, earning his first start for Portugal and the unenviable job of replacing the most prolific scorer in his country’s history. In a little more than an hour, Ramos achieved an even more remarkable feat: He had an entire nation, and an entire World Cup, wondering why he hadn’t been starting all along.

Imposing himself on the moment with a veteran’s cool and a gunslinger’s goal celebration, Ramos scored a 67-minute hat trick to power Portugal to a 6-1 victory over Switzerland, and to a date with Morocco in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

The first goal was probably the best of the bunch: a quick turn in the penalty area and a shot fired so hard into the roof of the net that it was past goalkeeper Yann Sommer before he could get his hands in its way. Or maybe he didn’t want to.

Ronaldo was off like a shot when the ball hit the back of the net, sprinting toward the corner flag, smiling wide, disappearing into a pile of teammates and substitutes. He had strolled through the pregame warm-up, doing little to disguise his disappointment in his benching, but the goal seemed to change something, and he seemed to know it.

Ronaldo celebrated when Pepe doubled the lead later in the first half, and he stood and clapped politely when Ramos’s second came six minutes after halftime, a one-time finish that turned in a low centering pass from Rúben Dias. His third arrived about 15 minutes later, placed on a tee for him on a dead run by João Felix.

Raphaël Guerreiro and Rafael Leão later added to Portugal’s goal haul, as Switzerland’s defense and its World Cup campaign were torn apart. But there will be little talk beyond what Ramos did, and what Ronaldo did not.

A large portion of the crowd had turned up expecting to see him, after all. So as the clock ticked past the hour mark and Switzerland valiantly scrambled in a goal to cut the deficit to 4-1, the fans called for Portugal’s victory cigar. “Ro-nall-do! Ro-nall-do!” they chanted over and over.

Santos, annoyed at the lost shutout and the lax defending that had allowed it, tuned it out as he prowled the grass in front of the dugout. He shouted. He pointed. He scowled. He did not, however, summon Ronaldo.

When Ramos got his third goal, though — Portugal’s fifth — the old coach gave in to the crowd and the sentiment and the story line. Ronaldo was told to get his jersey on, to get ready. With a thin smile, he strode forward, accepted the captain’s armband from Pepe, stepped across the touch line and bathed in the belated adoration.

He then nearly gave the fans what they wanted, finding the net on a breakaway 10 minutes after coming on. But he had been yards offside at the start of his run, and the goal was correctly scrubbed away to groans. A second chance three minutes later momentarily lifted the fans off their seats again, but Ronaldo failed to put it away, and he was offside again anyway.

It hardly mattered at that point. When the whistle blew he shook some hands and offered a few waves and made a beeline for the tunnel, not even breaking stride when he past Santos, his coach. There was nothing to say anyway, really.

The job, by then, was done. Portugal had won. It now has at least one more game to play. Portugal may do so with its most famous striker on the bench, and its most productive one on the field.

And for now, no one, not even Ronaldo, can complain.