Opinion: Are Portugal really as bad as they seem?

The manner of Ronaldo's side's progression to semi-finals has attracted lot of criticism

KARACHI: Portugal may have made their way into the semi-finals of the European Championships — their fourth in their last five appearances and their fifth in the last seven, but the manner of their progression has attracted a lot of criticism from media circles around the world.

Following three draws in the group stages and a torturous match against Croatia in the round of 16, spectators were once again left disappointed after Portugal failed to register a win in normal time and required penalties to get past Poland, a side which had all but switched off since Robert Lewandowski netted his first goal at the Euros in the opening two minutes of the match.

While the outstanding Renato Sanches, who has recently signed for Bayern Munich, found the equaliser, fortunately guided into the net by a deflection off Grzegorz Krychowiak, Portugal, for all their dominance, were unable to impose themselves the way they should have.

Seleccao skipper Cristiano Ronaldo, who just hasn’t been having the kind of tournament he would have wanted, failed to convert a couple of glorious goalscoring opportunities and faced the wrath of footballing circles around the world, especially from his native Portugal.



His miss when João Moutinho fed him the perfect lobbed pass with five minutes to go summarised his overall performance in France this summer where maybe the pressure of guiding his team to a major title has hampered his natural gameplay, because had it been any other day, Ronaldo would surely have found the back of the net.

But while Ronaldo is failing to live up to his usual standards, he is just one man and Portugal comprises of 10 more players on the pitch.

And because he soaks up most of the attention whenever he is on the pitch, it is causing his team to be put in a bad light with many judging Portugal just on the basis of what the Real Madrid star is doing on the pitch, which is leading to only one thing — an unfair assessment of Fernando Santos’ side.

Portugal, for all their failures in front of goal, have managed 95 attempts on goal — more than any other team in the European finals this year, with 39 of them coming from their star player Ronaldo.

Belgium, who have by far been the most prolific team with eight goals at the European Championships, have 84 attempts, albeit with a game in hand, while Wales, who have found the net seven times, have only 44 total attempts.



While Ronaldo only has two goals to show for all his efforts, his 14 blocked attempts and as many off target highlight the energy and effort other teams undertake to put his attacking threat at bay.

Nani, meanwhile, has been highly efficient for the Portuguese in France this summer, making 17 attempts and being involved in 50 per cent of the goals Portugal have scored so far.

It is true that Portugal’s midfield is almost non-existent with much of the play based on trying to get the ball to Ronaldo at the earliest with very little focus on passing interplay, but despite this direct strategy, Portugal midfielder Moutinho has completed more passes than France’s Paul Pogba, Spain’s David Silva, France’s Dimitri Payet, and Wales’ Aaron Ramsey — all widely-accepted as the masters of midfield.

Apart from this, Portugal, as a team, have registered more passes than any other team at the Euros so far; although to be fair they have played a game more than other quarter-finalists. Yet, their 2,652 total passes with an accuracy of 87 per cent is a great achievement for a team which has not managed to register a single win within 90 minutes in the European finals — their only win by far has come against Croatia in the round of 16 where they needed a late winner in extra-time to avoid progression to penalties.



Germany have 2,568, while Spain, the epitome of passing football in modern times, have 2,562 total passes — both having a passing accuracy of 91 per cent.

All this shows is that the only problem Portugal are facing at the moment is in front of goal with Ronaldo and Nani both guilty of failing on numerous occasions to convert the chances presented to them.

Portugal’s lack of goals is a concern, but as mentioned before, it could be because their talisman, their leader, their star, Ronaldo has taken too much responsibility of breaking his major-trophy duck with his country.

And while it may be difficult for us, mere mortals, to process that a player of Ronaldo’s stature, who has time and again dealt with intense-pressure situations, is wilting under the expectations of his nation, it certainly is having its effect on one of the best players of all-time.

Portugal, for all their drab displays, are not as bad as they seem. Only one moment of magic now separates them from reaching the finals of Euro 2016 and one can’t stop from wondering whether this could be Portugal and Ronaldo’s year.