Final Euro 2016 - Portugal

What a ride it has been for Ronaldo’s team, in France. As always, Portugal arrived at the competition as an outsider to get to the latter stages, mostly due to the fact that they have in their ranks one of the best players ever, but their group stage was very underwhelming, with all game ending up in draws, and a qualification as a 3^rd best placed seemed to predict hard times for Fernando Santos’ squad.
 In the knockout stages, Santos has been employing a result-minded strategy, ignoring the critics that bash this as “negative football”, stating he much rather win the games, even if it’s not in the beautiful way. And the fact is, making the best of their side of the draw, Portugal got the 2^nd final in their history, first away from home and they’ll want to do to France what Greece did to them.

Strengths

·         He is best player in the world, obsessed in the need of being the best ever, Ronaldo looked like he was feeling the pressure to perform in the group stages, making the right movements, but only making what he does best against Hungary, in the last push for a very hard-fought qualification. In the knockouts he seemed a bit looser and his form is rising, with the game against Wales being the match where Ronaldo showed more of himself. More than anyone, the Real Madrid superstar will want to get his hand on the trophy, and he’ll have to be on form to achieve an historic title that will catapult him to Best Ever status.

·         One of the reasons Portugal has been sucessuful in France is the great moment of form that Pepe presented in the competition. The Real Madrid problematic defender has been a true leader in the Portuguese team, fact much more noticeable if you think that he only arrived in the country with 17 years old. With his pace and anticipation, Pepe is also one that can bring his team forward, with long passes or carrying the ball himself, but today he’ll have to choose the moment of going forward as France will make him pay if space is left in behind.

·         In a competition where the routines are hard to come by, it took three games, but eventually Fernando Santos succumbed to the pressure of deploying the trio of William, Adrien and João Mário, players that have been playing together for 2 years, and successfully. William and Adrien will have another big mission in stopping the main dangers from opponents, as they did with Modric/Rakitic, Milik/Krychowiak, and now will try to stop Griezmann/Pogba, the two most dangerous French men.

Weaknesses

·         Renato Sanches has clearly been the biggest Breakout Star of the Euros in France. After a great starting season at Benfica, that was rewarded with a multi-millionaire transfer to Bayern Munich, everyone was very curious to see how well the 18 year old would play in a bigger stage, and the wonderkid did not disappoint. He’s composed, strong, is not afraid to charge against the defender and has a very positive energy bringing Portugal forward in a different way than they were used too, potentiating a more counter-attacking style.
 The main concern with Renato Sanches is decision making in pass, that was an issue against Wales, and that France is more suited to make pay if they repeat themselves. But if he has options, he’ll carry the ball to the feet of a teammate, minoring the risks of a break on his defense.

·         Cédric Soares and Raphael Guerreiro have been the more consistent full backs for Portugal, with the left side player in a particular good moment of form that he will want to carry to his new adventure in Dortmund. For this final, though, both will have a very demanding game, as it will be required as much presence in the defensive as the offensive process. With João Mário and Renato Sanches’ tendencies to cut inside, there will be space in behind Evra/Sagna, but the young Portuguese defenders will have to time their runs well, to maintain the back line whole.  

·         The biggest debate in the Portugal’s starting XI is Danilo vs William. Not only because they are two good players, but because they bring very different aspects to Portugal’s game, it’s a decision that will probably will hugely influence the outcome of the final. If Santos opts for Danilo he will gain a holding midfielder that is a great recover of the ball, is ready for a tackle, but has trouble of getting possession clean out of their feet. William Carvalho looks better suited to deal with Paul Pogba that with Antoine Griezmann, but it will be the Atletico Madrid player that will be in his area, and the pace of the top goalscorer of the competition might put him into trouble, but if he can impose himself he can a be a great outlet to exploit the French space in the wide areas.

How they will approach the Final

Fernando Santos has a dream, and that is to win the Euro 2016. Ronaldo wants to win so badly he was missing goals he doesn’t usually miss, but he got his confidence back against Hungary and is ready for the last hurdle.
 It’s expected that Portugal will stick with the tactic that brought them here, in a sea of critics and shouts against their merit to reach the final, as the success they had speaks for them. For the game with France Santos will bring back Pepe and, probably, William, and then he might tweak the full back position to avoid the danger of Sissoko on the right. Certain is that Portugal will gladly give control of possession to France, as they have in the whole competition, and try to break on the hosts with the pace of Ronaldo, Nani, Sanches and others, all glued together by a very tough midfield duo of William and Adrien.

 The game against Wales was not the norm of the tournament, as it was the one where Portugal went into it as the slight favorite but they never were caught off position, rather maintain the defensive line, and they will be happy to give all the favoritism to France, sit back, and try to break quickly. It has worked so far, but they haven’t face an opponent as strong as the French yet, as everyone seems to think they will finally break.