Why did Bernardo Silva not celebrate Portugal's opening goal?

In the 17th minute, receiving the ball from Joao Felix, Goncalo Ramos shot his left foot from a tight angle and hit the roof of the Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer, opening the scoring. The 21-year-old striker celebrated his first goal at the World Cup by running to the corner of the stands nearby, dragging his entire starting team-mate and a series of Portuguese substitutes.

At first, Bernardo also ran to join the fun, but he quickly returned to the yard, and then just stood near the flagpole and looked at his teammates.

According to British newspaper Sun Sport, Bernando rushed back into the field to avoid the risk of Switzerland serving immediately and from there taking the opportunity to score. Previously, FIFA rules stipulated that the team that conceded a goal could serve quickly when all opposing players, except the goalkeeper, were not in their own half of the field. But this rule does not make a clear distinction between "not on the side of the field the team has just conceded" and "off the field of football".

In the case of yesterday, when all 9 Portuguese players, excluding the goalkeeper, were out on the field to celebrate with Ramos, Bernardo had to immediately run back to make the team have one man in the opponent's half. Switzerland, therefore, cannot take advantage of the fact that "all the scorers are not in their own half" to take advantage of a quick serve according to the rules.

A similar situation happened in England's 2-1 match against Tunisia in the 2018 World Cup group stage. After Harry Kane scored the winning goal in injury time, all England players ran to the outside left corner. yard to celebrate. At this time, Kieran Trippier still holds his position on the right wing in the Tunisian half, and only looks at his teammates from afar.

But according to Sunsport, FIFA has updated the rules, and currently does not allow a team to serve while the opponent is off the field. Rule 8 states that for play to restart, "all players from both teams are on their own side of the field, except those who serve in the center circle".

Therefore, Bernardo could have been comfortable with his teammates in the situation when Ramos opened the scoring in the 17th minute.

On social media, many fans praised Bernardo for being so quick and sober, even though he didn't seem to know the rules well. "Bernardo is like playing 5D chess and standing on the court to prevent Switzerland from serving fast," one person wrote. "Notice that Bernardo is still awake to return to the field when the whole team is celebrating wildly. That is the highest level of sophistication and vigilance," another commented.

After Ramos' opening goal, Portugal also scored 5 more goals to beat Switzerland 6-1 - the heaviest result in the round of 1/8 World Cup 2022. In the quarterfinals, Bernardo Silva and his teammates will play Morocco. - Spain's flying team after the penalty shootout - at Al Thumama Stadium on December 10. If they reach the semi-finals, Portugal will face England or France.