Portugal failed all calculations and is forced to save face in the playoff
How to score a goal after two minutes and lose a game where the draw was enough to qualify the selection of corners for the World Cup 2022. Here’s the summary of Portugal-Serbia this Sunday, at Estádio da Luz (2-1), which places Balkan men at the football world cup after an unprecedented triumph in eight duels. The Portuguese team thus ends a qualifying phase in second place and will have to play a Pay in March to secure a spot in Qatar.
the draw of decisive games The European qualifier for the 2022 World Cup is scheduled for November 26, with matches taking place from March 24-29 of next year. will be the third Pay access to a World Cup that Portugal will compete in, after 2010 and 2014. And there is also one for the Euro 2012. The record is favorable, it has always passed and will be head of the draw in the draw.
Eight scrambles and an early and misleading goal
More than the eight changes in the eleven promoted by Fernando Santos – some of them normal like that of Rúben Dias, after the savings made in the last game, with Rep. Ireland – it is difficult to see what is in the coach’s head. If Gonçalo Guedes went from not being called up to starting with the Irish, Matheus Nunes went straight from eleven to the bench and didn’t even go to the bench. Best of all he understood was the bet on Renato Sanches – more rebellious and stronger in transitions than Bruno Fernandes – in a midfield where Danilo entered the place that has been João Palhinha’s.
The players were still positioning themselves on the field when Bernardo Silva went against their DNA and stole the ball in Gudelj near the Serbian area… Renato Sanches was close, took a player out of the way and fired hard into goal. The move infuriated the Serbian coach who asked for a foul by the Manchester City midfielder, but the goal was validated.
Milinkovic-Savic and Tadic created a real wall in the center aisle to prevent Portugal from coming out with the ball from behind and that’s how Dusan Vlahovic came close to equalizing in the 12th minute. It hit the post and gave a start to Patrício, who saw the recharge come out of the bar. A few minutes of suffering followed, with the team from the corners watching Serbia play.
Fernando Santos asked for calm and a good head. He called João Moutinho to the bank and asked him to close on the inside when Danilo is forced to support the centrals at the time of greatest suffocation. And if the difference between controlling and dominating the game was ball possession and Moutinho, the defensive balance too and Portugal started playing in a 4x2x3x1.
The bank’s scream asking to go up fell on deaf ears when the option was the forward kick. The game was complicated for Portugal and it got worse when a chicken from Rui Patrício added to the draw. The move came from an approach of the Portuguese defense. Rúben Dias, José Fonte and Danilo were all three to score Vlahovic and forget Dusan Tadic who shot and had the Portuguese goalkeeper’s misfortune.
Patrício accused the move and had a bad approach that ended up with the ball in goal, but the move was disallowed for offside. Portugal ended the first half on top and Moutinho was asked for a penalty for hand on the ball from a Serbian defender … The same complained the Serbs about an arm in the ball by Danilo before the break.
Three after the departure of the best Bernardo
A big change was needed for the second half. Parts and attitude as a team. They asked for more Ronaldo, more Jota and more João Cancelo and Nuno Mendes in attack to force Kostic and company to drop the block. If the opponent reinforced the offensive line with Mitrovic, Santos returned from the changing rooms with them, but soon it appeared that he would change the team. Renato, when he had room to run, became the wild player that the coach praises so much, but in the 52nd minute he exaggerated the effort and didn’t have the foresight to serve Ronaldo loose in the area and tried the shot … which came to nothing.
The picker’s response to Mitrovic’s entry came in double dose. Moutinho and Bernardo (perhaps the best Portuguese on the field so far) gave way to Palhinha and Bruno Fernandes. Whistled changes in Luz. The public wanted more game forward and said this loud and clear to the selector who seemed to want to play in counterattack. Danilo backed off, Portugal started playing with three central defenders and the full-backs moved up. And so the numerical advantage was gained in the middle with the help of an all-terrain Straw.
With 15 minutes to play, the quinas team was holding up to 1-1 in the certainty that a goal would rob them of direct qualification for the World Cup. Ronaldo called the team forward, but without success. The ice bucket reached 90 “, by Mitrovic’s head. The striker will go down in history for the goal that is worth a qualification and a prize of one million euros. As for the Portuguese team, it left Luz whistled and now has to save a face not Pay.