TobyWrites@tobyasky
It is fear.
Players like Ronaldo are bigger than any dressing room, he's got millions of fans across the world, he's a walking god.
For a coach to bench him, you're going against millions of people. The last Portugal coach who did that got sacked. A coach that won them the Euros, when he noticed Ronaldo was not the same, he benched him. The media ate him up, fans ate him up.
The only news that came out of Portugal's camp was Ronaldo on the bench, even when Ramos bagged a hat trick in a game at that world cup, nobody cared, it was all about Ronaldo...the distraction was crazy, the team could not focus.
When they eventually got eliminated by a fantastic Morocco side who also eliminated Spain, beat Belgium and were beaten by France, they said it was because Ronaldo did not start, that's why Portugal got eliminated...so I tell you, it is easier to play Ronaldo, than not play him, just to reduce the noise.
When Ten Hag benched Ronaldo, Ronaldo was so angry, he walked off the pitch in a game, same way Salah struggles when he's benched. These big players are not used to it.
...but here is another perspective, Ronaldo can actually approach the manager to take him off at 65mins if all is not going well, like today, like against DRC, like against Colombia. They could have it as a plan before the game.
We know the manager is scared, big players carry weight, but I wish Ronaldo maybe could have done that. For instance, Scaloni said Messi asked not to start against Jordan so others can play. Scaloni dare not bench Messi without letting him know or without him requesting, not because anything will happen, but the scrutiny will be massive. These players are very very big.
Anyways, it is what it is, I blame Roberto Martinez, he wasted Belgium, and has successfully wasted Portugal.
