Portugal plays Saturday against Turkey
Coach Roberto Martinez surprised everyone with his starting 11 in this match played on Tuesday at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany, as Nuno Mendes started in a three-man back line and João Cancelo, who was tasked with playing on the wing, often ended up in midfield and in the build-up phase.
In addition, João Palhinha, who has been a cornerstone of the team as a defensive midfielder, stayed on the bench to give way to Vitinha.
The game plan was actually well thought out, as the idea was to create a 3 vs. 2 moving from the back and Nuno Mendes did find a lot of space, Cancelo moved inside to create a 4 vs. 3 in the central area, and Rafael Leão was tasked with the responsibility of speeding the game up on the left side.
In comparison to the most recent games, Roberto Martinez handed over the keys to the game to Vitinha, who was not a starter in the qualifying phase. In fact, the PSG midfielder only started three times in his first 14 caps.
The Czech Republic had some daring moments in the opening minutes, but then started to drop back, at times playing with all 11 players behind the ball, deliberately giving control of the match to the Portuguese side.
But, despite the dominance in terms of possession, as Portugal had never completed as many passes, 408, in a game as they did in the first half, the game plan did not work as Roberto Martinez had envisioned. Diogo Dalot and Bernardo Silva, for example, were unable to control the right flank.
As a result, in the first 25 minutes the game was played more on the left side, with Nuno Mendes, Bruno Fernandes and Rafael Leão linking up.
After that, for about 10 minutes, Portugal exploited the middle of the pitch, achieving the previously mentioned numerical superiority in that area of the field, due to Cancelo’s movement. But the team found no solutions and had no dangerous approaches to the Czech net.
A different approach was expected from Portugal’s coach for the second half because the team had become somewhat predictable and had played at a slow tempo. After a while Portugal had started to rely on crosses and shots from distance because they could not find spaces to penetrate, as the Czechs were able to absorb Portugal’s pressure.
In short, Portugal had more of the ball, but had no solutions. Martinez waited and waited but did not change the team and against the so-called run of play he found himself behind on the scoreboard, in the 62nd minute, when Provod, left unmarked outside the area, fired a missile that gave goalkeeper Diogo Costa no chance.
The goal finally woke up Martínez and he made a couple of changes. Rafael Leão gave way to Diogo Jota, and right after that Gonçalo Inácio replaced Dalot, moves that finally placed Nuno Mendes and João Cancelo on the wings.
The equalizer came just seven minutes later, with Nuno Mendes higher up the field, inside the area, heading a ball that was misplayed by goalkeeper Stanek. On the ground, he deflected the ball against the legs of Hranác and it wound up inside his own net.
As time went on, Portugal intensified the pressure. Bernardo Silva and Vitinha had long range efforts that Stanek denied with two good saves.
Right after that, Diogo Jota scored when he pushed home the rebound of a Cristiano Ronaldo header that had crashed against the post, but VAR disallowed the goal because the captain had been in a very slight off-side position.
In the 90th minute, because Italian referee Marco Guida had granted 4 minutes of added time, Martinez changed the wings, bringing on Pedro Neto, Francisco Conceição and Nelson Semedo.
As it turned out, Portugal would score the winning goal on a play in which Semedo fouled a Czech player, but the referee turned a blind eye, signaling for play to continue and Portugal took advantage. Pedro Neto recovered the ball up field, cut to the small area and tried a cross that Hranác managed to deflect, but the ball fell to Francisco Conceição, and the youngster’s blast from point blank range gave Portugal the victory, at 90+2 minutes.
What followed was an explosion of joy and celebration, both in the stands and on the pitch, with the young Futebol Clube do Porto player taking off his shirt and running wild, with his teammates in chase to join those coming off the bench.
In short, Portugal got a scare but earned the 3 points, something extremely important in tournaments of this nature.
Note also for records from the two oldest players on the team. Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player in history to play in six UEFA European Championship finals.
The captain also improved a record that was already his, as he remains the player with the most appearances in the final tournaments of the European Championship, with his 26th appearance, and the most appearances as captain, with the 17th, and increased the record number of victories to 13.
And Pepe became the oldest player to play at the European Championships, at the age of 41 years and 113 days.
In the other game, Turkey defeated Georgia 3-1. The Turks are Portugal’s opponents in the second game of group F, scheduled for tomorrow, at 1 pm, at Signal Iduna Park Stadium. Turkey will be a tough opponent. Although they have defensive deficiencies, they are a team with a lot of offensive resources, create pressure and have good individual talent.
As a result, everything suggests that Roberto Martinez will change his starting 11, as the team will need to be more compact. Palhinha will most likely start, and Portugal will almost assuredly play with a back four. And logic suggests that Pepe, due to his age, will have a day off, while there are doubts regarding Cristiano Ronaldo, whether he starts again or comes in off the bench.
What is certain is that whoever wins this game has one foot in the next round.