Portugal 1-1 Iceland
The Seleção drew their Euro 2016 opener against Iceland in St. Etiene tonight.
Nani gave the Portuguese a half-time lead and seemed to set Fernando Santos's side up for three points, but Iceland equalized early in the second half and held on for the draw.
Portugal’s start to the Euro was a disappointment to the 11 million behind the “Seleção” who wanted nothing but a win from the men in red. With that said, there were plenty of positives in today’s match that – if a few things are corrected – will help to shape up a glorious campaign from now on. It’s the European Championship people, let’s keep up the support!
Unlike quite a few of the tournament’s matches so far, this one started out energetic and with everyone doing their best to show their will to play, the fire burning through them for playing for their country in a major stage. Swansea’s star, Sigurdsson – who was coached by Villas-Boas while at Tottenham – tested Rui Patrício early on within the Portuguese box but the Sporting keeper responded well. Afterwards the match entered its predicted state: the Nordics dropping back, with two clear lines of four ahead of their goalkeeper and both forwards often helping as well, and Portugal trying to take over possession.
Anyone could see that, despite taking over most of the ball, the Portuguese side took a while to be comfortable in the match. Cristiano desperately wanted to gain confidence with the ball at his feet: the Real Madrid star often dropped back into midfield, creating somewhat of a 4-2-3-1 structure, just to change the game’s dynamics. This structure led to Nani appearing on his own in the box very often and let me tell you: Nani is very smart playing as a lone striker (no, I never expected to write this either, so bear with me). His movements and timings were as perfect as they could be, and his header that made Halldorsson go to ground was the first great chance for the Quinas side.
As the team’s confidence rose, our full-backs overlapped more and more often with Raphael Guerreiro combining well with João Mário through the left and Vieirinha with Gomes through the right side. The side swap between Mário and Gomes early on was unexpected and provided results, with the latter being instrumental in the 1-0. Combined with Vieirinha and crossed a pin-point ball to Nani who scored our first goal of the tournament in a first time strike. Again, Nani’s movement in the box was sublime.
Portugal end first half on top
During a small period the Icelandic defensive line tried playing a bit higher on the pitch, which led to us seeing Ronaldo trying to find spaces in behind the centre-backs very often. That didn’t last, though, as when the first half came to an end, Portugal was confident, on the ball and with Iceland’s side completely behind it.
The second half of the match started out similarly to how the first one ended: Lars Lagerback’s side didn’t make any changes, as the Swedish coach believed his players could still catch Portugal off guard. That’s exactly what would happen only five minutes after the restart as Gudmundsson whipped in a beautiful left-footed cross to the right foot of Bjarnason, who made a diagonal run towards the inside of the Portuguese box where he was being left alone by Santos’s men. With time to take more than one touch, the Basel man didn’t have any issues appointing the match’s final score.
The goal affected the favorites and the 40 minutes that were left on the clock started off with senseless long-balls and a much needed warning by the captain. Both Cristiano and Santos wanted the Portuguese eleven focused and moving the ball around, doing what they were trained to do. The “Conquistadores” rose on the match yet again, André Gomes had a semi-dangerous shot from the edge of the box and Renato came into to bring a burst of energy to the middle of the pitch.
Moutinho had a poor game, wasn’t at his best in the first half and was very subpar in the second half – Adrien is and (in my opinion) should be a contender for his spot for Saturday’s crucial affair. After Quaresma’s pace and flair were introduced in St. Etienne, Portugal had the best chances of the second half in two headers from Pepe and Cristiano. The defender sent it above goal from a corner and the best on the planet couldn’t beat Halldorsson from up close.
Lights out in St. Etienne as the teams draw 1-1 and the pressure rises considerably for our side, especially since Hungary pulled a shock result beating Austria this afternoon. Truth is Quaresma wasn’t fit to start but Nani impressed, Pepe was solid offensively with his precise passes but was distracted and – at least partially at blame – for Bjarnason’s equalizer, João Mário wasn’t at his level but André Gomes had one of his best matches with the national team shirt.
What are your thoughts on the match? Was it disappointing or were we just unlucky? Would we all be talking about this in such a negative mood if Cristiano let Guerreiro score that last freekick? Let me know and keep up the support, Força Portugal!
By Tiago Estêvão
Portugal: Patrício, Vieirinha, Carvalho, Pepe, Guerreiro, João Mário, Moutinho, Danilo, Gomes, Nani, Cristiano
Iceland: Halldorsson, Saevarsson, Sigurdsson, Amason, Skulason, Gudmundsson, Gunnarsson, Sigurdsson, Bjarnasson, Sigthorsson, Bodvarsson
Goals:
[1-0] Nani, 31’
[1-1] Bjarnason, 50’
