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The victory at Euro 2016 and the draw achieved with an authoritative exhibition a month ago at the Stade de France seemed to have exorcised a ghost of many decades, but, again, France was the “black beast” of Portugal: As in the 1984 and 2000 European semi-finals and the 2006 World Cup, a French victory, this time 1-0, took the national team out of an important competition.
In a game in which France was clearly superior to the advantage, Portugal never found solutions to curb the strategy developed by Didier Deschamps.
The goal, at Estádio da Luz, by N´Golo Kanté, at 53 ‘, dictated Portugal’s first defeat in the Nations League and prevents Fernando Santos from defending the title he won last year. Regardless of the results of the last day of Group 3, the place in the semifinals will be France.
In the equation that the coaches would have to solve before Luz’s “final” to form their “eleven”, there was little doubt that for Fernando Santos the formula to be used had few secrets.
Without Pepe, the only casualty among the regulars, a “Frenchman” advanced: José Fonte with Rúben Dias reissued the central duo that played an impeccable match in the Nations League final against the Netherlands in June last year. On the right of the defense, Nélson Semedo’s title against Andorra foreshadowed that Cancelo would be chosen to face the French.
These were the news in the “eleven” of Santos about the game between the two teams last month, in Saint-Denis. With the good response of Portugal when returning to the stage of the final of Euro 2016, the coach tried not to invent.
With the “muscle” in midfield handed over to Danilo and William Carvalho, Lloris’ attack on goal was left to a talented quartet: Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, João Félix and Cristiano Ronaldo. However, this time, there was no servile France like last month.
Rare target
Predicting Deschamps’ options was tricky. With three of the “pillars” of the “blues(Varane, Pogba and Griezmann) in recent weeks convulsive moments in their clubs and without his main offensive asset (Mbappé), the coach reformulated the attack.
Without the PSG star and with Giroud little used at Chelsea, Deschamps opted to change strategy, giving the team more range in attack with Rabiot on the left, Coman on the right and Martial in the center. But nevertheless, the piece that gave him back Santos’ strategy was Antoine Griezmann.
With complete freedom of movement, the Barcelona player managed the feat of completely unbalancing the usual Portuguese tactical solidity and, contrary to what had happened at the Stade de France, this time France immediately put Portugal on the ropes.
Without the excessive respect shown by Ronaldo and company in Saint-Denis, France took control from the start, making it clear that they did not want to wait long to score the goal they needed to gain an advantage in the fight for the semi-final place.
Although the first opportunity came from Ronaldo’s feet (difficult defense by Lloris at 6 ‘), The first 45 minutes were an ordeal for Fernando Santos. Without being able to stop Griezmann and without the ball to attack (Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes were always out of the game), Portugal was left in the hands of Rui Patrício.
Balls in irons
With a sublime display, the goalkeeper prevented Coman (10 ‘) and Martial (12’ and 41 ‘) from putting justice on the scoreboard. When he could not defend with his hands, Patrício seemed to deflect the ball with his eyes: at 30 ‘, in a French laboratory free kick scored by Griezmann, the ball passed through Varane, Rabiot and Martial until it hit with a blow on the crossbar.
With Santos clearly unhappy on the bench, the interval seemed to be the oxygen balloon that Portugal needed. However, whatever strategy the coach put in place in the dressing room, he collapsed in the first French onslaught in the second half.
After stopping the possible and the impossible, Patrício saved a forward shot, allowing Kanté to celebrate a rare goal in his career.
Portugal needed to score twice to guarantee qualification – a draw with goals left France ahead for the last day – and Fernando Santos risked: Jota for William.
Almost immediately, in the best Portuguese opportunity in the entire game, Fonte hit Lloris’ goal post, but the game was already tied by the French.
With more heart than head, Portugal resolved situations of bad attack and only with a distant shot from Moutinho (Lloris’s great defense) threatened the (deserved) victory of France.
