Portugal again used Cristiano Ronaldo in a way that made no sense, but late offside call saved them

Cristiano Ronaldo could only watch as Portugal took a stoppage time lead against Croatia, then nearly gave it up only to be saved by a controversial offside decision. 

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Portugal and Ronaldo are moving on to the World Cup Round of 16 to face Spain, but Ronaldo was on the bench for those pivotal moments.

Given how Portugal had used Ronaldo in the group stage, this was pretty nonsensical, just in the opposite direction of his prior usage.

Ronaldo, who is 41, had played every second of the group stage. Entering knockout play, he had played more minutes than any other outfield player in the tournament.

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So you would think, probably, that Portugal wouldn’t dare sub him off in an elimination game.

He wasn’t in great form in the group stage, and that hadn’t stop his constant presence, so why now?

Ronaldo also netted a penalty midway through the second half to tie Thursday’s match at 1-1. So he, for the first time, had scored a World Cup knockout goal.

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With the match still tied at the time Ronaldo was subbed out, it was curious — wouldn’t you want him in if this made it all the way to penalties?

And, if he was so fit to play every minute of the group stage, why was he being subbed off now?

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As it turns out, Portugal’s substitutes made all the difference on their go-ahead goal, and that held up.

Ronaldo will surely start against Spain, but he’ll have to be better for Portugal to stand a chance against their Iberian Peninsula rival.

Portugal might also want to optimize their Ronaldo plan, because right now, it hasn’t made much sense this tournament so far.

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