Seleccao das Quinas, Portugal, managed to win dramatically 2-1 over the Czech Republic with a comeback goal in the final minutes. The EURO 2024 Group F match held at the Red Bull Arena, Wednesday (19/6/2024), showed Portugal’s persistence in breaking through their opponent’s net. Finally, the shot from the son of a Portuguese legend was the result of their patience.
The EURO 2016 champions fell behind first through Lukas Provod’s curved kick in the 62nd minute. Robin Hranac’s own goal in the 69th minute equalized, before Fransisco Conceicao, son of Sergio Conceicao ended the match in the 90+2 minute.
Sergio Conceicao is part of Portugal’s golden generation filled with Nuno Gomes, Rui Costa, Luis Figo, Vitor Baia and Abel Xavier. Playing on the wing, Sergio Conceicao passed on his talent to his son whom he had trained until last season with FC Porto.
Portugal superstar and captain Cristiano Ronaldo performed quite well in this match even though he did not score a goal. His movement was so mobile in the front line, he even almost scored an assist for Diogo Jota’s goal which was disallowed by VAR.
Portugal’s preparation before this match was quite positive, seen from the flexible interaction of the players with the fans in several training sessions. For CR7, this might be his last European Cup tournament. So far, Al Nassr players have participated in 6 episodes, starting from EURO 2004 when Portugal lost in the Final to Greece.
Having a fairly flashy squad with famous names such as Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias, many people think that Seleccao deserves to be the favorite to win along with France, England and the host Germany.
Moreover, since being coached by Spanish coach Roberto Martinez, Portugal has recorded a series of brilliant results. Ten wins in the EURO 2024 Qualifiers, followed by three wins and two losses in trial matches. The former Everton coach brings freshness after the poor results of the 2022 Qatar World Cup when led by Fernando Santos.
Coach Roberto Martinez chose to play a 3-4-3 formation from the start of the match. Diogo Costa stood in front of the goal, accompanied by Ruben Dias, Pepe and Nuno Mendes. A surprise placed Nuno Mendes in the left position in the back trio, indicating that Seleccao has a tendency to attack more.
Both flanks are filled by Diogo Dalot on the right side and Joao Cancelo on the opposite side. Bruno Fernandes and Vitinha are tasked with being central midfielders, supporting the trio of Bernardo Silva, Rafael Leao and Cristiano Ronaldo in the attack line.
Meanwhile, Ivan Hasek returned to implementing his mainstay 3-1-4-2 scheme. Goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek is protected by the trio of Tomas Holes, Ladislav Krejci plus Robin Hranac. West Ham player, Tomas Soucek became a defensive midfielder filling the position of Michal Sadilek who suffered an injury while cycling earlier this June.
Pavel Sulc, Lukas Provod, David Doudera and Vladimir Coufal maintained the stability of the midfield, while supporting the movement of the mainstay striker duo, Jan Kuchta and Patrik Schick.
The match, held at the headquarters of German club RB Leipzig, was led by Italian referee Marco Guida, as the closing match of the first matchday of EURO 2024.
In the previous match in Group F, Turkey was able to win 3-1 over Georgia. Goals from Mert Muldur, Arda Guler and Kerem Akturkoglu could only be replied to by Georger Mikautadze in the first half.
Although Portugal often controlled the ball from the start of the match, the physical play of the Schick-Kuchta duo was quite troublesome for Ruben Dias et al. The Lokomotiva squad, the nickname for the Czech Republic, appeared very solid at the start of the match because they were aware that their opponents were superior in technical ability.
Cristiano Ronaldo got his first chance in the 8th minute. Rafael Leao, who combed the left side, was able to provide a crossing which was headed by the 39-year-old striker. Unfortunately, the ball was still far from the right side of the goal.
Having difficulty penetrating the Czech defense, PSG defender Nuno Mendes released a speculative kick in the 16th minute which was still far from the target. Ruben Dias also tried in the 21st minute which was still blocked by Pavel Sulc. Three minutes later Bruno Fernandes also tried it but it was still above Stanek’s goal.
Portugal still couldn’t penetrate Lokomotiva’s defense, because on the field, Ivan Hasek’s formation changed to 5-3-2. Compact and disciplined in defense, the Czechs aimed for a counterattack towards Patrik Schick’s area.
In the 26th minute, Bruno Fernandes’ through ball almost met Rafael Leao, but the AC Milan striker’s sliding in front of the goal still had difficulty reaching the ball.
Stanek made a double-save in the 31st minute. He thwarted Ronaldo’s first-time close-range shot with his body. A moment later, Slavia Praha’s goalkeeper was also able to secure a long-range shot from Vitinha.
Jindrich Stanek once again proved his ability to dampen Portugal’s attacks. In the 45th minute, Joao Cancelo’s short pass found Ronaldo who immediately shot with his left foot. Stanek was able to swiftly push it back into the playing area.
Referee Marco Guida blew the whistle to signal a break after that. The Portuguese dressing room led by Roberto Martinez certainly had to discuss how to penetrate the Czech bus parking lot. They controlled the ball up to 75%, but looked less sharp in the attacking transition.
There was no change from either team after the break. Portugal again confined the Czech defense, and threatened with a left-footed shot from Diogo Dalot a minute after the restart. Unfortunately, the ball still flew over the crossbar.
Ronaldo’s header from Ruben Dias’ crossing in the 55th minute still touched the back of Robin Hranac’s head. This opportunity only resulted in a corner kick.
Ronaldo got another chance through a free kick in the 58th minute. Performing his trademark kick, CR7’s ball that successfully passed the wall still went to the middle of the goal and was saved by Stanek.
Two player substitutions were made by Ivan Hasek by pulling the attackers Patrik Schick and Jan Kuchta. They were rotated by Mojmir Chytil and Ondrej Lingr.
A successful substitution, the goal for the Czech Republic was scored by Lukas Provod in the 62nd minute! Doudera sent a high ball from the left side which was still cleared by Pepe. The second ball was obtained by Coufal, who immediately passed it to Provod who was standing in front of the penalty box. His curved kick was able to beat Diogo Costa, who ironically got his first shot.
Substitutions were immediately made by Roberto Martinez by bringing in Diogo Jota and Goncalo Inacio to replace Rafael Leao and Diogo Dalot. Inacio filled the center back, while Nuno Mendes was shifted to the left wingback. Joao Cancelo crossed to the right side.
Portugal equalized via Robin Hranac’s own goal in the 69th minute! Bernardo Silva initiated the attack on the right side, returning the ball for Vitinha to cross straight away.
Nuno Mendes won the ball in the air at the far post, aiming it in front of the Czech goal. Goalkeeper Stanek intended to parry the low ball, but instead it hit Hranac’s leg and went into his goal.
Getting the wind, Seleccao again attacked the Czech goal. A minute after the goal, Bernardo Silva’s hard shot from inside the penalty box still hit Stanek’s body hard until the ball went out of the field.
It was Vitinha’s turn to test Stanek’s alertness again with a shot from outside the penalty box. However, the Czech goalkeeper was still able to parry it to the side resulting in a corner kick.
Goal scorers Lukas Provod and Pavel Sulc were withdrawn by Hasek in the 79th minute, to give playing time to Petr Sevcik and Antonin Barak. Another substitution that immediately resulted in an opportunity, unfortunately Tomas Soucek’s left-footed shot went wide of Diogo Costa’s net.
Diogo Jota successfully put the ball into the Czech net! In the 86th minute, Joao Cancelo’s cross was headed by Ronaldo but still hit the goalpost. The rebound was immediately chipped by Jota into Stanek’s goal. Unfortunately for Seleccao, this goal was disallowed because VAR saw that CR7 was in an offside position before heading the ball.
Pedro Neto, Nelson Semedo and Francisco Conceicao were brought in by Martinez to replace Vitinha, Joao Cancelo and Nuno Mendes
Fransisco Conceicao! The son of Portuguese legend and former Porto coach, Sergio Conceicao successfully scored Portugal’s comeback goal in the 90+2 minute! Pedro Neto combed from the left side of the field, providing a pull pass into the middle of the penalty box.
Robin Hranec became the victim again when his attempt to block the ball instead made the ball stop in Conceicao’s shooting path. Without mercy, Conceicao hit the ball with his left foot.
This result did not change until referee Marco Guida blew his long whistle. This 2-1 victory brought Portugal temporarily to the runner-up position in Group F under Turkey who won 3-1 over Georgia.
The next match that Seleccao must face is a match that will determine qualification against Turkey, Saturday (22/6/2024) evening WIB. If they win, Portugal’s chances of qualifying as group winners will be open and prevent them from early meetings against other big teams.
ASL
