The detail hidden in the celebration of Portugal’s goal against Switzerland: coldness and extreme concentration in one of the sensations of the World Cup

Matches are defined by the details, the technical directors tend to say. Many more, at the World Cup. And those details can come from a rival distraction. So, as the popular saying goes, “a sleeping crocodile is a wallet.” And the one who didn’t sleep was Bernard Silva. It is that, to the hierarchy that the Portuguese national team has shown, it adds concentration and planning that come from the bench commanded by DT Santos. And their players obey to the letter.

On Tuesday, the selected Portuguese gave a sample of character and went down in history. They beat Switzerland 6-1 in the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar and marked the most cumbersome victory in this event that the competition records.

Portugal won from start to finish. And, in practice, it hasn’t given Switzerland room to recover or find any bumps to come close to the result. It is there that Bernardo Silva’s attitude becomes more relevant.

The sequence went something like this. They had already run 17 minutes when Goncalo Ramosthe substitute of Cristiano Ronaldo, received in the area. Until then he had barely touched the ball and doubts were already beginning about the decision of the Portuguese technical director who had seated the top scorer in the history of his selection on the bench. But the Benfica youngster was about to open the account with a tank goal. He made it easy or difficult: as soon as he turned around he fired a left foot that slipped next to the crossbar of the Swiss goalkeeper who was unable to do anything.

Ramos’ goal unleashed the delirium of the Portuguese who ran to celebrate the goal in the corner. Even Ronaldo joined in the cheer from the bench! But there was one that was cerebral. and that was Bernardo Silva, who decided not to celebrate the goal that opened a series or the next with his teammates.

Why didn’t Bernardo Silva celebrate the goal with his teammates?

The situation is as old as football, but it can fail. And getting carried away by emotion sometimes means an unforgivable mistake. Just the mistake (forgive the dismissal) that the Portuguese led by Pep Guardiola did not make at Manchester City.

Let’s cut to the bone: when Ramos made it 1-0, all the Portuguese players on the pitch ran off the pitch to celebrate the goal near the corner flag. But from the outside. for a few seconds, no one stepped on the side of the ground defended by the Swiss, which allowed them to serve quickly to score an equalizer. But Bernardo Silva immediately noticed the situation and entered the court (he invaded the court) which automatically prevented the Swiss from serving.

A panning shot shows Silva attending the party of the rest of the team who, unknowingly, were paying tribute to Carlos Salvador Bilardo. Anyone could have thought he was angry, but he was doing it for the good of the group.

That was one of the obsessions of the doctor who was in all the details. Even in the exultation of a goal in a World Cup, perhaps an unrepeatable emotion, impossible to match.

In a conversation with Alejandro Fantino, the doctor said he recommended players “celebrate for jokes”. In Doc’s manual, 4 celebrates with 2 and 6 with 3. And you always need to invade the opposite field, to neutralize any attempt to get out quickly.

Bilardo drew an imaginary courtyard above the table and explained it like this. “This is the bow; the boy scores here and comes here,” he says, pointing to the other end. “The whole team follows him and goes to celebrate with him, but the other is already ready to move the ball. We made him train on this, the one who did the best was Cholo Simeone. When everyone went to celebrate, he brought them.”

Although there is nothing like seeing and hearing it, so here is the video.

Bilardo explains how to celebrate goals