Quaresma scores 'golden goal', Portugal enters quarter-finals to meet Poland

A successful finish in the 117th minute after Ronaldo's shot made the 32-year-old midfielder the hero, helping his team beat Croatia 1-0.

One of the dullest matches of the tournament so far ended in dramatic fashion. After Ivan Perisic headed against Rui Patricio's post, the ball fell to the Portuguese players and the trio of Nani, Ronaldo and Quaresma punished Croatia with the opening goal with just three minutes to go before penalties.

Unlike the three group stage matches when they entered the field as the favorites, Portugal chose a defensive style of play to limit the explosiveness of Croatia's midfielders. And they were successful with that tactic. During the official 90 minutes of the match, Croatia played deadlocked and hardly created any good chances.

Reasonable tactics helped Portugal neutralize the opponent's attacking ability. Photo: Reuters.

Portugal’s attacking players, notably Ronaldo, also accepted to play ambush. Coach Fernando Santos had his players practice taking 11m kicks a lot in the days preparing for the round of 16, perhaps this strategist directed his students to prolong the match when facing strong opponents.

In the second half, 18-year-old star Renato Sanches once again showed his ability, helping Portugal to have a better game. His hard-working, powerful play based on good technical foundation helped Portugal's midfield become more solid.

What Ronaldo and his teammates showed in this match is that once freed from the label of a big team, Portugal can completely perform an annoying style of play. A kind of lurking with great risk from the presence of Ronaldo up front that makes Croatia unable to boldly push the team up.

Ronaldo's shot led to Quaresma's goal. Photo: Reuters.

It was not until the final minutes of the second extra time that Croatia put the most pressure on the opponent's goal. Ironically, that was also when they were knocked down by the "counterattack". After crossing the goal of Rui Patricio without any teammates coming in, Ivan Perisic continued to make the Portuguese defense wobble with a header that hit the post. The ball came to Ronaldo's feet, he passed to Renato Sanches and made a sprint from home.

Unfortunately for Croatia, they only "accidentally" pushed their formation forward in the last few minutes but had to pay the price for the whole match. Sanches dribbled the ball from home to the Croatian penalty area and passed it to Nani. The former Man Utd midfielder skillfully flicked the ball to Ronaldo's feet. The Portuguese star's shot was blocked by Danijel Subasic but Quaresma was there in time to head it into the empty net.

In this four-on-four situation, three Croatian players were drawn towards Nani and Sanches. Center-back Domagoj Vida had to simultaneously guard Ronaldo and Quaresma. Left-back Ivan Strinic only had time to run back to... watch Quaresma score.

In the following minutes, Croatia pressed forward to find an equalizer. But all they could manage was Vida's volley that went wide of the post. Despite having a more quality and balanced squad, Croatia collapsed because they lacked the courage to play as the favorites in a knockout match at a major tournament.

Meanwhile, this year’s first victory at Euro 2016 showed a different side of Portugal. Freed from the pressure of having to win, Santos’s team showed they were more dangerous when they were playing ambush. Portugal had the stars to create moments and they realised it would be more appropriate to let Ronaldo be a “tiger skin” than to force him to be the king of the jungle.

Overcoming Croatia, Portugal's path to the final became brighter because they were in the easier bracket. Ahead of Ronaldo and his teammates is the quarter-final match against Poland.