When Portugal were dumped out of the World Cup 2022 by Morocco, just over a week ago in the quarter-final, it left the Selecao fans scratching their heads. And head coach Fernando Santos fell on his sword.
Only four days earlier Portugal dismantled Switzerland, a team renowned for their tight defence and superb organisational skills, winning 6-1 in the best attacking display of the tournament. The World Cup 2022 betting odds sat up and took notice and Santos’ team suddenly became one of the hotter tips.
And this is a team dripping with quality, much of it from the Premier League.
With Ruben Dias in the heart of defence and his Manchester City team-mate Bernardo Silva in a creative role, the Sky Blues were joined by some of their mates from across the road. Here at SBOTOP we reviewed how Manchester United’s players had faired in the World Cup and said Bruno Fernandes had emerged as the key player in attack, responsible for creating dangerous situations as he does at Old Trafford, while his team-mate Diogo Dalot grew in stature as the tournament progressed.
Wolverhampton Wanderers were represented by midfield maestro Ruben Neves and the French, German, Spanish and Italian leagues provided more top-class talent in the forms of PSG’s Vitinha, RB Leipzig’s Andre Silva, Atletico Madrid star Joao Felix and AC Milan wonderkid Rafael Leao.
While a 1-0 defeat to Morocco made World Cup history for the African side it meant an earlier than expected exit for the Selecao. So where did it all go wrong for the 2016 European Champions?
Ronaldo Distraction
Sometimes you can have too much stardust in a team, and the circus around Cristiano Ronaldo’s acrimonious departure from Manchester United can’t have helped. CR7 is such a big character but, in contrast to Argentina’s Lionel Messi, he is anything but a unifying figure. The Portugal legend is his nation’s greatest player in modern history as the record goal scorer, with an incredible 118 strikes and he is the most capped player with 196. But, even before a ball was kicked he was writing the global football headlines with his controversial departure from Manchester after conducting a scathing interview on UK television.
His former team-mate Fernandes was at pains to claim that the problems back home would not infect the Portugal team but how could that be? And any tension there was increased tenfold when CR7 was substituted during a 2-1 defeat to South Korea. The television cameras picked up a spat between him and his head coach, which the star later claimed was aimed at a Korean player. But Santos dropped him for the Switzerland match and the team clicked; Goncalo Ramos scored a brilliant hat-trick while Leao was also on the score sheet. Ronaldo was benched again for the quarter-final and he came on as a 51st-minute substitute against the Atlas Lions, and was denied by Moroccan keeper Bono. But, at the end of the game, the cameras followed Ronaldo down the tunnel while the rest of his team shook hands with the triumphant Moroccans.
I’m not sure his mood will have improved on seeing his old nemesis Lionel Mess lift the World Cup trophy on Sunday!
A lesson in Unity from Morocco
It was one of the biggest World Cup 2022 results of the tournament, but no one in Morocco was surprised when the Atlas Lions dumped Portugal out of the tournament. And sometimes, after a defeat, you just have to hold your hands up and admit you were beaten by a better team on the day. Shocks happen in sport all the time, the important thing is how you react and that is what Portugal must do now.
Morocco are no mugs by the way. In their heroic campaign the Atlas Lions faced Belgium, Croatia, Spain and Portugal and recorded clean sheets against all four of them. And those are teams ranked second, twelfth, seventh and ninth in the world. So how does a side ranked 22nd beat them all? Head coach Walid Regragui has some serious talent at his disposal including Paris Saint-Germain star Achraf Hakimi and Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech, who had a superb tournament. Add in Fiorentina enforcer Sofyan Boufal, Sevilla keeper Bono and his striker team-mate Youssef En Nesyri who scored the winner against the Selecao, and you have a solid line-up.
En Nesyri simply wanted to make the header more than the Portugal defence or their keeper, and they just looked at each other as he wheeled away in celebration. And that moment mirrored much of the action as Morocco were often first to the lose ball, quick to regroup when they lost it and aggressive as they strived to regain possession.
And the Lions were disciplined and hard-working without the ball; while they naturally conceded the majority of possession they ended up with three shots on target, the same as the Selecao, and they defended with fight and passion…and that is sometimes what you need to do to win football matches.
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