Portugal victory is a triumph of resilience and a well-
drilled defensive unit
Michael Cox
Fernando
Santos coached his side superbly but their win in the Euro 2016 final
came from a piece of magic from an unexpected source in Éder
Monday 11 July 2016
10.00 BST
The defining feature
of this tournament has been the number of teams lacking a discernible
attacking plan and it seemed somehow appropriate that Portugal won
the game in this manner. Before the tournament their coach, Fernando
Santos, eschewed a traditional centre-forward in favour of playing
two wingers, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani, up front – yet Portugal
played their best football here after introducing Éder, an
old-school No9. Few would have predicted, however, that the striker
would settle the game in such spectacular fashion.
This was a
defensive, cagey match between two teams attempting to regain
possession in deep positions and lacking the tools to create regular
chances. It started at a good tempo, with Moussa Sissoko moving
inside from the right flank to charge forward from central positions.
Portugal looked to play on the counterattack, although through long
passes rather than quick combinations and rapid transitions. Their
first chance came when Nani sprinted on to a 60-yard ball from the
right-back Cédric Soares before firing over. The approach was
obvious: get the ball towards the front two immediately.
The tactical battle
was essentially 4-4-2 versus 4-4-2. There were nuances to the
systems: Portugal’s shape was arguably more of a diamond midfield,
with Adrien Silva given licence to drift forward, leaving William
Carvalho protecting the defence, but without the ball the diamond
became a flat four. France had Antoine Griezmann dropping off into
deeper roles behind Olivier Giroud, while Dimitri Payet drifted
inside and Sissoko, the first half’s best player, was arguably an
extra midfielder. For long spells, however, this match was about two
sides failing to penetrate the opposition’s two banks of four.
Ronaldo’s injury
significantly altered the plan: France, who had started brightly,
lost momentum while Portugal lost their key man and were forced to
change shape. Ricardo Quaresma was summoned but played wide on the
right, with Nani becoming a lone striker and Portugal switching to a
4-3-3 system. Nani struggled to receive service but Santos’s side
now looked more threatening down the flanks, particularly the left –
where João Mário positioned himself intelligently to draw Bacary
Sagna inside, opening up space for Raphaël Guerreiro to fly forward
on the overlap.
There were few
genuine scoring opportunities, although France were threatening down
the left flank. This was partly because Soares stuck tight to his
direct opponent, first Payet and then the substitute Kingsley Coman,
which created space in the channel on the outside of Pepe, inviting
Giroud and Griezmann to run on to good passes in that zone before
forcing Rui Patrício into action. Portugal have looked poor in the
right-back zone throughout this tournament, with notable mistakes in
that position for their concessions against Iceland and Poland.
Coman’s
introduction, meanwhile, provided the match with the attacking spark
which had been desperately lacking, and his cross created a fine
headed chance for Griezmann. Of the 15 passes France played which
resulted in a shot, 11 were played from the left of the pitch, four
were hit from deeper, central zones and none came down the right. It
was a lopsided approach but France appeared the more likely to break
the deadlock.
The introduction of
a striker for either side, André-Pierre Gignac and Éder, would
prove crucial. Gignac replaced Giroud and brought freshness and more
dangerous runs into the channels while Éder proved efficient at
holding up the ball and allowing Portugal to gain ground,
particularly by winning free-kicks. Gignac came closest to opening
the scoring in normal time with a quick spin and a scuffed shot which
hit the post; Éder settled the contest with an extraordinary,
out-of-character long-range drive.
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