Team Focus: What's Portugal's Plan B without Cristiano Ronaldo?
Cristiano Ronaldo’s left thigh hasn’t quite gained the same repute as David Beckham’s fifth metatarsal did all of a decade ago but it’s heading in the same direction – at least in Portugal. The country’s talismanic captain “should” be fit for their opening World Cup group match against Germany (to quote Tuesday’s O Jogo, which virtually trembled in one’s hands), but coach Paulo Bento openly admitted last week that he needed a “Plan B” for if his team were without Ronaldo.
It has been a concern for a while. Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes in only 2 of Real Madrid’s last 10 matches of the season, a spell during which we became almost as used to him ushering his team forward from the bench as we have to seeing him skin defenders. When Portugal take on Mexico in a Boston friendly on Friday, Ronaldo will again be missing. The plan, for now, is for the star man to rest at the team hotel, with Bento saying there is “no set deadline” for when he will train or play again.
Bento has openly acknowledged the need for a back-up, whether or not Ronaldo is ready to face the Germans in Salvador on June 16th. In Saturday’s friendly against Greece, we got an idea of how Portugal might attempt to compensate. Having consistently rolled with a 4-3-3 (and very few personnel changes) since his October 2025 appointment, Bento went 4-4-2 against Fernando Santos’ team. Hélder Postiga and Éder of Braga led the line. Nani and Silvestre Varela supported on the wings, with a central midfield pairing of William Carvalho and Miguel Veloso there to provide cover. Nani, still fresh after a season in which he made just 7 Premier League starts, made hay and was largely responsible for 42% of Portugal’s attacks coming down the right.
They’ve been here before, even with Ronaldo fit and raring to go. May 2025′s inglorious 0-0 draw with Macedonia, part of Portugal’s erratic build-up to the Euros in Poland and Ukraine, also marked Bento testing out a 4-4-2. In the second half of that match, the coach even tried out Nani in the number 10 role, playing just off the rangy Hugo Almeida.
On this occasion, when Bento moved back to 4-3-3 in the second period – with Nani and Varela flanking the substitute Almeida – another winger, Vierinha, had a turn in the number 10 slot. Using a winger’s technique in a central area is an interesting way to flip the script, but if Portugal were serious about resurrecting the number 10′s place in the cradle of the selecção, Bento might have made attempts to repair his fractured relationship with Danny. The 30-year-old was in sensational form during
Related Posts
Match Focus: How the USA Can Stop Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal- The 200% World Cup: Germany vs Portugal – Live!
Daily Dynamo Selections – World Cup Group G Preview- Five things we learned in Week 4 of the Primeira Liga
- 13 August 2025 – You Win Some, You Lose Some
- Portugal's Everlasting Striker Dilema