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| Tuesday, 19 June 2012 14:39 |
Tactical preview: Portugal v Czech RepHow the Selecção can overcome their quarter-final opponents The knockout stages of Euro 2012 get underway on Thursday, with Portugal and the Czech Republic the two teams to be given the first chance to book a place in the semi-finals. Paulo Bento’s team are strong favourites to progress, but having won their group against all odds the Czech Republic should not be underestimated. Here, PortuGOAL takes a look at their strengths and weaknesses ahead of the big game.
The first quarter-final is sure to provide an interesting spectacle, with both teams revelling in a mini-renaissance after losing their opening games of the tournament. While Portugal were unfortunate to lose to Germany the Czech Republic were hapless in their 4-1 hammering by Russia, and coach Michal Bilek has shown some savvy in turning their campaign around with some shrewd adjustments. The Czech Republic tend to set up in a very similar way to Portugal, with a lone striker flanked by two advanced wingers. The only difference is that they like to play with an attacking midfielder sitting just behind this front line, occupying a more advanced position that any of Portugal’s midfield three. Shackling the playmaker Ordinarily this playmaker would be their captain Tomas Rosicky, but the Arsenal midfielder was this week forced to return to Prague for treatment on an Achilles tendon injury that he picked up against Greece. He is due to rejoin the squad today, but having not trained in a week team manager Vladimir Smicer has admitted that the chances of him featuring on Thursday are “low”, something that would be a considerable blow to a Czech team that has few alternative sources of creativity to call upon. Should Rosicky not recover in time, the Czech Republic are likely to line-up like they did against Poland in the last group game, with Daniel Kolar coming in to occupy a central midfield role, allowing Jaroslav Plasil to try and pull the strings further upfield. Whoever occupies the position of playmaker, it is vital that Miguel Veloso sticks to them like a limpet. The defensive midfielder has been one of Portugal’s most consistent performers so far this tournament, helping Portugal to qualify by snuffing out talents such as Mesut Özil, Christian Eriksen and Robin van Persie. If he can do the same sort of spoiling job against the Czech Republic, he will go a long way to ensuring that there are no nasty surprises for Portugal. This would have the added bonus of isolating the Czech Republic’s lone striker Milan Baros. The Galatasaray forward may not be the most physically imposing of players, but he has adapted his game well to protect the ball and link up with his teammates in the Czech system. If Veloso can stifle his main source of ball, and Pepe can hassle and harry him when he does get it, then he will be forced to drop deeper and deeper in search of possession, leaving the Czechs without their focal point. Watching the wings All four of the Czech Republic’s goals so far have come from their wingers, with Petr Jirasek and Vaclav Pilar grabbing two each. Both players have pace and look to cut inside towards goal, so it will be vital that the likes of Raul Meireles and João Moutinho double up and do not leave Fábio Coentrão and João Pereira too isolated, especially with both full-backs having to get through another ninenty minutes before their yellow cards from the group stage are wiped off. Defensive discipline will also need to come from Portugal’s own wingers, since both Czech full-backs David Limbersky and Theodor Gebre Selassie like to get forward and attack. Gebre Selassie in particular has been very impressive for the Czechs down the right, and Cristiano Ronaldo will have to remember to track back in order to keep him quiet. Keep on countering The Czech Republic may have become more defensively solid as the tournament has gone on, particularly with the recall of Tomas Hubschman into the holding role after the debacle of their first game, but they can still be vulnerable to rapid counter-attacks.If Portugal’s midfield can repeat the trick from Sunday and ship the ball out to Ronaldo and Nani as quickly as possible then the two wingers could well wreak havoc, especially if they can hit the same heights as they did at the weekend. Finally, Portugal should not be scared of shooting from range when the opportunity presents itself, since Petr Cech can be susceptible to the sort of swerving shots that Ronaldo and Nani have turned into an art form. Cech is still a superb goalkeeper, proven by his performance in the Champions League final, but his confidence has never seemed to be the same since his awful error against Turkey four years ago. A similar blunder against Greece last week showed that if you pepper his goal, he can be prone to the odd flap and fumble. The Selecção are clear favourites to progress, but after finishing as runners-up in Euro 1996 and claiming third place in Portugal eight years later, the Czech Republic are no strangers to upsetting the odds. It certainly promises to be an intriguing tie. by Tom Clee Related: Euro 1996 - Portugal's sexy football undone by Poborsky |
FORCA PORTUGAL!
FORCA CR7!
Forca Portugal!
My biggest concerns are that we are still struggling to find the back of the net and set pieces/crosses.
Yes we've scored five goals in three matches, but we missed on countless opportunities. You're always going to miss some, but we've made it a habit. Should we have to chase the match we've shown to leave our flanks open with Coentrao and Pereira pushing forward.
Which brings me to the second concern in our defending set pieces/crosses from out wide. We've had a hard time dealing with the high crosses into the box.
Patricio also hasn't really been tested yet.
That being said, we have no business losing his match. We should have gotten a draw verse Germany and we've beaten Denmark and the Dutch. This Czech team isn't as good as previous ones or any of our previous opponents.
I'm very confident going into his one but let's hope we don't have a nail biter and win an easy one.
The Czechs are arguably the weakest of all the quarter-finalists, and I am still amazed that they won their group having seen them get absolutely thumped by Russia in their opening game. Apart from having an excellent goalkeeper, they do not look particularly strong in any other department. Judging by the performance against Russia, they don't appear to have the defence to be able to "park the bus" against us. If Rosicky misses the match it would be a huge blow for them in midfield, and Baros is not the striker he once was anymore.
This all looks good for Portugal, but is further warning to not get carried away. The Czechs are clearly under-dogs and we have to watch out we don't fall into this trap of being the huge favourites and then under-performing against them, as we've done often in the past. We must show them respect, play our natural game and if we do that we really should be too strong for them. If we repeat the level of performance against the Dutch, I doubt whether they could live with our attacking threat for the full 90 minutes.
Bento is likely to go with an unchanged line-up for the 4th successive match. I have been suppourtive of Postiga but he really needs to step it up tomorrow and play better. I actually think that our best attack could possibly be Varela alongside CR7 and Nani in a fluid and inter-changing front 3. The pace of that attack would be frightening to any defence. It's unlikely to happen in this tournament, but is food-for-thought for the future. I think we are still vulnerable from defending set-pieces and crosses and headers, and Rui Patricio looks shakey in those aspects. Hopefully Pepe and Alves remain solid in their protection of him. I'm also hoping for an improved performance from Meireles in midfield tomorrow.
All in all we should really win tomorrow people. We are better than the Czechs and just have to prove it on the pitch. We have to respect them and maintain focus and humility throughout, and if we do that....our quality should get us to the semis....FORCA SEMPRE!!!!
Portugal must go into this game as if they are playing the world number one as the Czechs did not get here by accident.
If Portugal takes them for granted and gives away to many set pieces we will lose one to nil.
If we play to a non cocky level and play to our potential we should be able to take the Czechs out.
This will be a nail bitter either a one goal win for either team.
Good luck may the best team advance but my heart lies with my country men.
Viva PORTUGAL!!!!!
Good luck my Czech friends
Second, Bento finally got it right around in the second half which he failed to do against denmark until the endof the game and that is, once you are up, teams are going to throw everyhitng forward and you already have at least on tired midfielder, he finally took one of, miereles and put Custodio on, playing a more traditional portugues formation with two holding mids and pushing moutinho up and to the right, allowing ronaldo to float for a counter-attack. This needs to happen again much sooner if we are leading against the checzh's!
If moving Nani in the middle is the answer when loooking for a goal, while bringing on a winger, i.e., varela, in order to provide more control in the middle and more attacking intent like agaisnt Ger and Den, then again I say, it needs to happen quicker rather than with only 10 mins left.
1) stick to tactics, but emply them form the whistle and dotn leave time and space to surround our 18 yard box. keep them in their half.
2)make your def. midfield change sooner in order to stop from being overrun in the midfield and gives you fresh defensive legs which allows for more counter attack potential and clogs the middle (4-2-3-1) as we did agaisnt the Dutch.
3) Moving Nani as the #10 also needs to happen sooner, if we are looking for goals and we want to control the midfield better as in#2 because our foramtion represents a 4-2-3-1.
One final point on defending, to much ball watching when the ball is played in on set-pieces and crosses AND please mark your man, all 3 headed goals are a result of poor marking in the box.
FORCA, i believe we are going to destory the checzhs!
Postiga's limited skills on the ball, dearth of foot speed and indecisiveness have cost him a number of good chances. He has had at least one golden opportunity in each match which he has totally flubbed. When he did finally get all the way into the box and create just enough space for a shot from close range against the Dutch, he passed to nobody instead.
Oliveira obviously has much better on-ball skills and is significantly more fleet afoot. I'd love to see him get the chances Postiga has had. I don't expect miracles, but I think Oliveira is way more threatening and makes the defense have to account for him more than Postiga does.
Im sure Roanldo and Nani will make minc emeat out of the Czech defense. Also Mourtinho and Veloso need to take a few risks and shoot at Peter Cech whom is prone to misjuding wide range shots. Pepe and Alves need to maintain focus and not pick up stupid yellow cards. Otherwise I think we havea grat chance to reach the semi finals, wuold you rather play against the Italians or spanish?
Forca Portugal!!...predict a 2-0 win vs Czech Rep.
I see opportunity for Miereles, Moutinho, and Postiga in this game. Also, as bad as Almeida is, I am thinking he maybe a better option than Nelson O as a replacement. Lets hope we don't need to chase this game. I still have bad memories of 1996, it takes one break and you can be out 1-0.
It should be runners-up in 2004 and 3rd place in Euro 96.
Great article, cheers mate!
VIVA PORTUGAL!!!