Santos has found the best formula for his squad, despite not playing one of the best player for 70 minutes against Switzerland and 50 minutes against Morocco. I don't think Santos underestimates the quality of the opposing team, but Santos doesn't want his game to be centered on Ronaldo, who might be more dangerous for his team.
Many people say Portugal's game is better without Ronaldo, but not a few of them are denied by fans. Small mistakes will become big when the team loses, but if Portugal win against Morocco then surely Santos will be praised. The World Cup is over, and now what else.
Seriously? If Portugal's game was so much better without Ronaldo, then they would have won against a weak team such as Morocco. Game will be centered around Ronaldo when he plays, because the opposition realizes that he is the player who is most likely to score goals. And this gives opportunities to the other Portuguese players to make attempts on their own. What next? Brazil playing without Neymar and Argentina playing without Messi, so that the game doesn't get centered around these players? In international football things doesn't work like that.
Before this world cup was held, I had said several times in my post regarding Ronaldo. I think the Ronaldo era is over. and it proved, as long as he played for his Portugal national team. he didn't contribute much, and if I'm not mistaken, the only goal he scored was from the penalty spot.
IMO, if only since the beginning of the match Fernando Santos had given more space to other players. maybe the results will be different, because we can see when Ronaldo was backed up for the first time. how Portugal's game is more collective, everyone plays freely without having the burden of targeting Ronaldo.
You have to differentiate with Neymar, Brazil's fault is Tite. Brazil has many options, even one of the players who is in good form is not included in this world cup, namely Roberto Firmino. another mistake, Tite did not give Antony playing time as the main starter. which is clear he performs better than Raphinha. Fred, who didn't contribute much, Gabriel Martinelli also wasn't given much of a chance. Naturally, Brazil fell in the world cup yesterday.
While for Argentina, there is a difference between Messi and Ronaldo. Messi is in On Fire performance, while Ronaldo is in a downward trend. in fact he always insists on his will, and all Portuguese players have to make him Target Men. at the same time, the game is not optimal. so, I guess it's obvious between these differences why Portugal and Brazil are not optimal.