Portugal and Fernando Santos Are Still Searching for a Euro 2016 Breakthrough

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 20, 2016

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As Portugal are finding out, the very nature of this extended European Championship is that it isn’t always about how you start but how you finish.

There have been a huge number of matches in which teams plugging away have finally got their rewards in the closing moments: France against Romania and Albania, Spain against the Czech Republic and England against Wales are among those that come to mind.



In those cases, pressure has built and built until goals have become almost inevitable, and the fact the four best third-placed teams qualify for the knockout rounds has given a similar feel to the group stage too.

You can afford a slip-up in at least one, probably two, of your matches. You are still more than likely to progress with just one win under your belt. Keep plugging away, and eventually you’ll get there.

Of course, you want to be playing the exciting, winning football we’ve seen from Spain and Italy—the only two teams with 100 per cent records thus far—but if you’re not just yet, then the key is to force those late winning or equalising goals. To keep getting points on the board, basically.

But a point is all Portugal have managed in each of their two matches so far, with the lack of late winners against Iceland and Austria leaving them without the comfort blanket of a victory in what was billed as a fairly winnable Group F.



Unlike those teams that have been able to hide behind late moments of drama, their flaws have been exacerbated by the lack of a soothing victory, which looks to be exactly what these somewhat edgy, unsure players need if they are to have any hope of forming a cohesive unit.

Coach Fernando Santos doesn’t give you the impression he knows his best team, chopping and changing players in the attacking positions and fielding interchangeable figures in central midfield and at full-back.

Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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