The Portuguese team lost 0-2, in Ljubljana, in the last preparatory game before the announcement of the final squad list for Euro 2024. It was the first defeat under the command of Roberto Martínez.
Cristiano Ronaldo created little danger against the Slovenian defense. Photo: FPF/Facebook
This Tuesday (26), Roberto Martínez’s winning streak in charge of Portugal ended. In the 12th game the first defeat came, in a match with several changes that resulted in a very poor performance from the corner team. The Spanish coach thus, he was unable to equal his record in charge of Belgiumwhere he won a dozen games in a row.
As expected, several changes were made regarding the victory against Sweden. The forty-year-old Pepe was the only player to start in both Euro preparation matches. But these experiences didn’t just happen in the choice of players. The national coach once again opted for the three-central scheme, with Danilo Pereira falling in between Inácio and Pepe in the first phase of construction. Diogo Costa recovered from the injury that kept him out of the first game and took over in the Portuguese goal. The three “Saudis”, Cristiano Ronaldo, Otávio and Rúben Neves, also joined the eleven, along with the two “Catalans” on the left wing, Cancelo and Félix and the two ex-FC Porto players, Dalot and Vitinha.
From the beginning of the game, the Portuguese team showed intentions of maintaining control of ball possession and that’s exactly what he did throughout practically the entire match. Still, this dominance did not turn into scoring opportunities. Without Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes and Palhinha, who returned to their respective clubs after the first game, Portugal’s midfield was very inefficient and only Vitinha was trying to fight the monotony.
Danilo Pereira, who rose to three in the defensive phase, had a lot of difficulties in both attack and defense. The PSG player took little or no risk with the ball at his feet and without it he was unable to cover the space left behind Vitinha and Rúben Neves. Slovenia, almost without the ball, took advantage of this void and managed to counterattack a few times, although without creating much danger. At 31′, the first shot of the game came, with João Cancelo appearing at the far post, but shooting far above the goal defended by Jan Oblak, ex-Benfica.
The first half ended without much else to say, with a 0-0 draw on the scoreboard and several people at home struggling not to fall asleep. And the second half didn’t improve the situation.
Portugal left the dressing room with two changes: António Silva and Francisco Conceição, debutant, replaced Pepe and Otávio. The substitutions didn’t change Portugal’s form play and did not serve as an antidote to the lethargy of the performance.
At 52′, António Silva lost the ball to Šeško, who failed to score after a great save from Diogo Costa. Vitinha continued to be the maestro of the Portuguese game, but his inspiration in distribution was not enough to give the consistency that the Portuguese needed to open the scoring. At 60′, the PSG midfielder even found Cristiano Ronaldo free on the right, but number 7 opted for the shot instead of a pass to Félix, which was free. The shot was low and didn’t even go close to the Slovenian goal.
Portuguese frustration was visible; without being able to overcome the Slovenian medium-low block, Portugal started to force more plays and make more mistakes, and one of these plays culminated in a Slovenia’s lethal counterattack to the right. Celar beat a tired Inácio on the right, cut to the center and passed to Šeško at the edge of the area, who first put the ball between the Portuguese defenders to Čerin. Panathinaikos midfielder delicately placed the ball in the bottom right corner of the Portuguese goal and opened the scoring for the Slovenes.
The goal made the Portuguese team try to be more proactive. Martínez’s players started to be more objective, they stopped making so many unforced errors, but it was clear that there was still disorganization and that the clock was an obstacle to better developing the game plan. The last 15 minutes were a game of crossing the ball and praying for a goal. The prayers almost worked in the 78th minute, after Rúben Neves crossed the ball from a deeper position and John Felix heading the ball at the post after diving to reach it. It was Portugal’s best and only real chance in the game.
A minute later, all Portuguese hope vanished. Slovenia went on the attack with four players against nine Portuguese playersbut after table with Stojanović, Elšnik he was ahead of Diogo Costa as if the advantage in numbers were reversed. The midfielder, who plays in the Slovenian championship, shot the goal at the first post, with no chance of intervention by the FC Porto goalkeeper. Final result: Slovenia 2, Portugal 0.
The Portuguese team’s lethargic performance against a team with an inferior squad was certainly a learning experience for Martínez, who is preparing to make his final squad before Euro 2024 and needs to decide his players carefully. Until the big competition, Portugal will still have three preparation games. The fact is that the team showed much more determination, and against a team of more quality, when the Spaniard brought a more offensive approach with four in defense.
“The objective of the game was to gather information”
For coach Roberto Martínez, the game served to evaluate the players. “[O jogo] It helps because it gives information. We need to have options on the list and the internship was positive, with the opportunity to work with players individually. We don’t like losing, but the aim of the game was to gather information, more than to win,” he said.
The selector praised the Slovenian team, who “played very well”, and reinforced that “the objective tonight was not to win”, but to “try to win” and “experiment”. “After 90 minutes, we are even more prepared for the European Championship“, he added.
Portugal’s next match is against Finlandin a friendly match on the day June 4in Alvalade.
Edited by Filipa Silva
