Portugal faces Slovenia with a rehearsal here and a few tests there | International football

This Tuesday, the friendly game between Slovenia and Portugal (7:45 pm, RTP1) is not the same for everyone. For some, it is the last opportunity to grab a place at Euro 2024 – even if at the bottom of the bench. For others, it is the possibility of showing that they are fighting for the eleven and that they have mastered the perfect tactical precepts for what Roberto Martínez wants to do.

The Portuguese team will, in theory, play at two speeds, at least with regard to the personal objectives of those who take the field and, by extension, the team’s global goal – in a “real” game it is about winning, but, in a game of this type, the objectives are more varied.

You can already see that the national coach sees these March specials as final tests for elements “outside” the usual group. This is equivalent to saying that, in the June games, there will probably be a more “professional” nature in the private games, in the sense that it will be more about fine-tuning the team for Euro 2024 than about testing last-minute new developments on the lot. of summoned.

To that extent, the duel against Slovenia will be another possible stage for Jota Silva, Bruma, Dany Mota, Gonçalo Inácio or Francisco Conceição to add arguments – even if not all of them are at the same stages of their journey in the national team.

But this game will not just be an individual test for newcomers. There are established players whose trip to the Euros will be guaranteed, but their presence in the “eleven” is still to be assured.

Lion different from Felix

The dynamic that Martínez created to exploit Rafael Leão foresees a full-back on the inside on the left, as a midfielder, and two wide wingers in the front quintet: Leão on the left and a full-back projected on the right.

This design allows you to better explore the AC Milan winger and take advantage of the interior dynamics of Cancelo, Guerreiro or Dalot at their clubs, but it creates, in theory, a problem for João Félix – whose position on the left midfield no longer exists.

Can he act as a second striker, replacing Martínez as one of the midfielders? He can. But Félix and Leão seem, on a theoretical level, difficult to reconcile as long as both are seen as players to exploit from the left flank – even if one inside and the other wider.

To this extent, Martínez’s changing list, which exchanged eight players between Sweden and Slovenia, foresees, for example, the departure of Leão and the entry of Félix, which further increases the expectation of a different solution being tested, with Félix , from the one tested with Leão. Vitinha and Otávio are also other renowned players who can make a living in Slovenia, as they will have the Euro guaranteed, but the title is far from that.

At a tactical level, it is difficult to look at Slovenia as a test, since Portugal’s system is, at this stage, consolidated by diversity: it is a 4x3x3, but it is simultaneously a 3x4x3, a 4x4x2 or a 3x2x5, depending on the position of the midfielders. , of the full-backs and wingers in releasing the ball and in positional attack.

In short, the Portuguese game is, at this stage, more dictated by dynamism than by system rigidity and the plan should be to continue working on this logic – even if players like Cancelo, Dalot, Félix, Vitinha or Otávio can bring, to this game, ideas different from those of Semedo, Mendes, Leão, Matheus or Bernardo.

When previewing the match, Martínez pointed out precisely these two sides: that of individual observation and that of collective consolidation. “Before the final list is known, anything can happen”, he began by saying. And he detailed: “This is the last game before the list and it is important to collect individual information from players who are here and work on concepts and synchronizations”.