Francisco Conceiçao pushed a rebounded ball into the six-yard box when the Leipzig stadium was a roar of screams of despair. Portugal, a giant with as much talent as any in this Euro Cup, tied against the Czech Republic, a team from the confines of continental football, marked by glaring shortcomings, largely made up of players from the local league. The 1-1 score was on the scoreboard like a joke and the Czechs were celebrating the feat when a cross from Neto led to the agonizing comeback. The victory will help Portugal gain time and reconsider after an afternoon full of dangers. The kind of upsets that happen when teams fall into their own traps.
2
Diogo Costa, Rúben Dias, Nuno Mendes, Pepe, João Cancelo, Diogo Dalot, Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Rafael Leão, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Jota (Rafael Leão, min. 62), Gonçalo Inácio (Diogo Dalot, min. 62), Pedro Neto (Nuno Mendes, min. 89), Nélson Semedo (João Cancelo, min. 89) and Francisco Conceição (Vitinha, min. 89)
1
Jindrich Stanek, Robin Hranác, Ladislav Krejcí, Tomás Holes, David Doudera, Vladimír Coufal, Pavel Sulc, Lukás Provod, Tomás Soucek, Jan Kuchta, Patrik Schick, Ondrej Lingr (Jan Kuchta, min. 59), Mojmír Chytil (Patrik Schick, min. 60), Petr Sevcík (Pavel Sulc, min. 78), Antonín Barák (Lukás Provod, min. 78) and Tomás Chory (Tomás Holes, min. 92)
Goals
0-1 min. 61: Lukás Provod. 1-1 min. 68: Robin Hranác. 2-1 min. 91: Francisco Conceição
Referee Marco Guida
Rafael Leao (min. 38), Schick (min. 56), Francisco Conceição (min. 92)
Playing games to sleep with footballers who need the adrenaline of quick combinations is the most deceptive of conservative bets. Portugal tried to add sleeping pills to the process and the victims ended up being its most alert footballers. Bernardo Silva, Vitinha and Bruno Fernandes became dull little by little, and Cristiano lived on the edge of disconnection from waiting so much for the ball without a measly pass reaching him, just crosses hanging in the thick of the Czech defense.
Portugal played it safe. To not lose the ball, to never risk it, to protect yourself with five defenders, two of which, Pepe and Rúben Días, are practically insurmountable. Roberto Martínez’s greatest tactical boast consisted of lining up two left backs, alternating them on the rise and from time to time putting them inside. Mendes and Cancelo acted on the left in the path of the duo that Alexander-Arnold and Walker formed on the right on Sunday with England. It is not known, at the moment, if we are facing the trend of the championship, a fashion destined to transform football, or a specific attempt to surprise the opponent with unimaginable or extravagant things. In Leipzig, Cancelo seemed the most surprised. The Barça winger spent half the game trying to determine what his role was while Mendes, overflowing with energy, became the Czech Republic’s biggest threat.
Mendes dribbled, reached the baseline, made passes to the penalty spot, hung balls to the far post, shot from outside the area… It was suspicious that until the first half was over, a winger, no matter how good he was, was the protagonist of a team that includes Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and Vitinha, three of the most intelligent midfielders in Europe, players gifted like few others to participate continuously in the development of the game in all its facets.
Portugal’s plan had the appearance of solidity to the extent that the Czechs were limited in everything except moving at the command of Soucek, their midfielder, a skillful administrator of two disciplined lines that almost always advanced and retreated in time to block. the slow evolutions of its rivals. The ball only spun quickly when Portugal counterattacked, or when Vitinha took the initiative to pass through the middle and partner with his clever midfielder. In this minimal risk concert, Cristiano lived waiting for the plays to reach his distant lone outpost of nine in the Krejcí, Hranác and Holes preserve. The striker did what he could. A header to the center from Leao and a shot on the turn that Stanek saved.
The sky turned black. It was pouring rain on Leipzig when Lucas Provod, Slavia’s dark midfielder, received on the edge of the Portugal area and sent the ball wide of Costa’s gloves. With the first shot of the game, in an advance that their rivals allowed as if they did not perceive the danger of so much drowsiness, after the hour mark, the Czechs made it 0-1.
Roberto Martínez did not change the structure. He barely moved the bench to replace pieces. Ivan Hasek refreshed half the team with changes to shore up the defense, so that it would not collapse exhausted from so much swinging. A goal against Haranác, after another cross that – of course – was headed by the omnipresent Mendes, tied the game. What until then had been a tactical and calculated duel of positions, got out of control. In the kingdom of the street runner, the most talented prevailed. Pepe and Dias responded with more agility than their namesakes, and around Soucek Bruno Fernandes and his partners advanced with more precision, more animated by urgency than by precise and clear actions. Portugal reacted to its misfortune with character and fortitude. Therein lay his great merit. In the absence of football, when clarity was completely lost in a trap match, his players insisted on getting up and moving forward.
They achieved it in an advance as rushed as almost all those they produced under the Saxon rain. Neto put the center in and Francisco Conceiçao pushed him in the middle of the general confusion to save the debut of a team that does not give up the illusion of being a great favorite.
You can follow The USA Print in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
