Cristiano Ronaldo Has a Golden Chance to End Portugal Trophy Drought

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 28, 2016

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The concept of a one-man team has been a dominant theme of Euro 2016. Gareth Bale and Wales. Marek Hamsik and Slovakia. Not forgetting, of course, the old faithful, the original: Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal. So what if we’ve reached a point where Portugal have at last found a way to be more than that?

While there was much to forget about the last-16 tie against Croatia (and from an aesthetic point of view, it was as bad as it’s got in this tournament), one statistic stood out as one picked over the bones afterwards. Having taken 30 efforts at goal in the first three games, Ronaldo attempted just one against Croatia on Sunday, three minutes before the end of extra time. It was on target, though, forcing Danjiel Subasic into the sprawling save that teed up Ricardo Quaresma to nod in the winner, of course.

This is hugely significant. For Ronaldo personally, the sense of a measured one chance, one decisive contribution efficiency is in its way a step up, especially in the context of his profligacy of the first two games of the tournament, against Iceland and Austria. Yet it is also a suggestion that Portugal are a functioning entity without the captain necessarily having to pull the strings.

It’s not always pretty, that’s for sure. While Nani said in his Tuesday press conference that Portugal have nothing in common with the Greece side that won Euro 2004 in Portugal (as reported here by Mais Futebol, in Portuguese), he did admit that if it was necessary to put attractive football aside in order to win, then they’d do it in a heartbeat.

Some of those around the winger have been even more blunt. In an interview with O Jogo in the aftermath of the Croatia game (h/t Futebol365, in Portuguese), Pepe was unambiguous about the tactics his side used to contain Ivan Rakitic, Luka Modric and Co. “We knew how we were going to kill the game,” he told the newspaper. As the lynchpin...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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