When Cristiano Ronaldo scored his opening goal of this World Cup – the early penalty in Portugal’s 3-3 draw with Spain – he added a twist to his usual celebration. Standing by the corner flag, he jutted out his chin and stroked his newly sprouted goatee beard.
Naturally, the internet thought it knew why he had done so. It was a riposte to his great rival, Lionel Messi, who had posed in a photoshoot with a goat before the tournament to proclaim his greatest of all- time status. Ronaldo believes he is the greatest. Hence the message via the goatee.
The truth is a little less sensational. “It’s a joke with [Portugal teammate Ricardo] Quaresma‚” Ronaldo said. “We were in the sauna on the eve of the Spain match and I started shaving. I told the others that I would leave the goatee until the end of the tournament if I scored the next day. And it brought me luck.”
It is early days but already men’s grooming is a theme of the World Cup. According to reports in Brazil, Neymar has brought two hair stylists with him to Russia – one to cut, one to colour – and there are countless other players who appear to have spent a good deal of time in the salon before games.
We are into lucky beard territory with the Portuguese. “Maybe Cristiano wanted to have it like mine, as I have one as well, and maybe it is bringing him some luck,” the Southampton right-back Cédric Soares said with a smile. “I hope he keeps it. It has nothing to do with Messi.
“Should we all grow them? Why not? If you look at our squad, a lot of us have beards. I started mine in England and now I do not want to take it off because it is bringing me and the team some luck.”
Portugal have ridden theirs to varying degrees so far. Against Spain they were second best but Ronaldo bailed them out with that last-gasp free-kick to complete his hat-trick – the moment of the tournament so far – while against Morocco on Wednesday they were once again given the run-around but came away with a 1-0 win.
Fernando Santos, the old-school manager, whose press-conference performances are framed by an expression that mixes weariness with incredulity, is worried. His team started brightly against Spain before the pattern of the match became set, with Spain working their triangles and hogging the ball. The statistics showed that Portugal saw only 33% of it, which can happen against opposition such as Spain.
But it was a similar story against Morocco. Portugal started positively, with Ronaldo scoring another early goal, before Morocco came to call the tune. Portugal had 45% of the possession and they lost control in the middle of the pitch – so much so that Santos switched from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1. He was not happy.
Portugal were on the back foot; they lacked intensity and were forced to do a lot of chasing. “We were running out of lungs,” Santos said. Ronaldo became isolated up front. Something needs to change.
Yet Portugal held on and it was difficult to ignore the parallels with Euro 2016, where they had started slowly before peaking in the latter stages to win their first major trophy. It was questionable whether they reached their top level until the semi-finals, when they beat Wales, and for much of the tournament it was about finding a way to get through rather than to thrill.
Santos and his team are survivors. Their mentality is hardened, which makes them a threat and, despite the frustration of a sub-standard performance against Morocco, they know it is a positive sign when they can win without playing well. The hope is they have scope to grow.
“You have to give credit to Morocco,” said the centre-half José Fonte, formerly of Southampton and West Ham, now playing for Dalian Yifang in China. “So for us to show the resilience and togetherness to keep dealing with the crosses, to keep making the clearances and headers, is a good thing. We got the win. We should be happy with that.”
Cédric said: “We didn’t play a fantastic game but sometimes you have to be able to suffer to get the three points and we did it. We showed the mentality we need to win matches.
“This group stage is very difficult. There’s a lot of pressure on the big teams and less pressure on the smaller teams. Everyone expected a lot of big teams to win and they didn’t. It’s a fact that football is changing. The big teams, the small teams – it’s just a name. On the pitch, it’s totally different. It’s getting more competitive but we are prepared for it.”
Portugal need a draw against Iran in Saransk next Monday to make sure of their place in the last 16 and it promises to be a different challenge, with Fonte saying he expects Iran to keep men behind the ball and counterattack. The onus could be on Portugal. “With the quality in our squad, we have to do better,” Fonte said. Portugal want to make sure there are no more close shaves.
