Goncalo Ramos strikes late to send Portugal past Croatia and end Modric’s World Cup

For 89 minutes it looked as though Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup and Luka Modric’s were going to end on the same night, in the same round, undone by the same team. Then Goncalo Ramos climbed above the Croatia defence in the fourth minute of stoppage time and headed Portugal into the last 16, settling a Round of 32 tie in Toronto that had swung one way and then the other. Portugal won it 2-1. Modric, at 40, walked off with his tournament over. Ronaldo, at 41, gets at least one more match.

Portugal had been second best for long stretches. Croatia, older and calmer, controlled the middle of the pitch through Modric and edged ahead in the 53rd minute when Ivan Perisic arrived to finish off a move that had pulled Portugal apart down the left. For a side that has made a career out of grinding through knockout football, a one-goal lead with half an hour to play looked like enough.

Ronaldo levels from the spot

The equaliser came in the 68th minute and it came, inevitably, from Ronaldo. Awarded a penalty after a tangle in the box, he stuttered through his run-up and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way. At 41, it made him the oldest player to score in a World Cup knockout match. It was his only real moment of the night, and he was withdrawn in the 81st minute to a mix of applause and disbelief, the game still level and Portugal still chasing it.

What followed was chaos. Portugal pushed, Croatia dug in, and the fourth official signalled more than ten minutes of added time. Croatia had already picked up a booking for Modric in the 59th minute, and the longer the game went the more it felt like a night for a single moment rather than a settled plan. That moment fell to Ramos, on as a substitute, who met a cross with a downward header in the 94th minute to make it 2-1.

A late twist ruled out

Croatia were not done. Deep into the added time they thought they had forced extra time when Josko Gvardiol turned the ball home, only for the goal to be chalked off after a VAR review flagged Mario Pasalic offside in the build-up. That was the last act. A tie that had produced two lead changes and a disallowed third goal finished with Portugal through and Croatia, the 2018 finalists and 2022 semi-finalists, on their way home.

The subplot everyone had come for was the meeting of two players who have defined a generation. Ronaldo and Modric have been circling each other in club and international football for the better part of twenty years, and there was a strong chance this was the last time they would share a World Cup pitch. It played out that way. Ronaldo’s Portugal advance, Modric’s Croatia do not, and the Croatian midfielder’s fifth World Cup ends in the Round of 32.

Spain await in the last 16

Portugal’s reward is a heavyweight tie. They move on to meet Spain in the Round of 16 on July 6 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, an all-Iberian knockout between two of the sides most people had marked down as contenders before the tournament began. Spain reached that stage by beating Austria 3-0, and on the evidence of this campaign they look the more assured of the two.

Portugal will not care much about the manner of it. They were outplayed for an hour, saved by a penalty and won it with almost the last header of the night, and in knockout football that is often all that matters. Ronaldo’s search for the one prize that has eluded him goes on for at least four more days.

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