Without a back, but with a lot of heart: Portugal beats Bosnia and advances in the playoff for access to the World Cup

Portugal is a country made up of people who live little. The habit of expressing greatness in different ways has become established among individuals. Luís Frade is an exception. A big guy weighing 121 kg to guard the area, he wasn’t worried that the central defender, Milan Vuksic, would tingle at his side. The difference between the Portuguese center and the Bosnian international is 50 kg. Everything combined – muscle mass, technical dexterity and a heart that drained the right emotions into the head –, the national team’s performance was herculean on a similar scale.

To take a ten-goal lead in the first leg of the playoff access to the World Cup, the selector, Paulo Jorge Pereira, was not shy in the rotation he imposed against Bosnia. He even had reasons to be shy. The right hand of Martim Costa, top scorer in the last European Championship, the left hand of Francisco Costa and the audacity of goalkeeper Diogo Rêma were excluded from the squad due to injury. The Costas were replaced by Gonçalo Vieira and João Gomes, who, like the brother duo, plays for Sporting. Manuel Gaspar surrendered Rêma.

The superiority that a priori existed and which Guimarães found to be not just theoretical, it helped to ensure that the adjustments did not harm performance in any way. Without the penetrating ability of Martim and Francisco, Portugal, attacking, started the game with a pair of outside-shooting full-backs. Alexandre Cavalcanti and Joaquim Nazaré, under the coordination of Miguel Martins, formed a first line that did not individualize the actions, distributing the offensive protagonism – eight players scored more than once – also between the wings and the pivots.

Benjamin Buric, the Bosnian goalkeeper, kept the result between three and four goals, an advantage that Portugal managed from the moment Pedro Portela opened the scoring. With a favorable 14-10 at half-time, Heróis do Mar changed goalkeepers in the second half. Manuel Gaspar appeared with a higher save percentage (11/21, 52%) compared to Gustavo Capdeville (3/12, 25%) and, since the offensive performance remained at acceptable levels, the national team consolidated the result . At the same time, the defense rose and guaranteed valuable counterattack situations to build the cushion (29-19) in which Portugal will rest until the second leg.

By plane, the journey to Croatia, Denmark and Norway, countries where the World Cup will be played, takes a few hours. For the Heroes of the Sea, 60 minutes in a second leg in which the level presented can be maintained, in Bosnia, guaranteeing the sixth World Cup, third in a row.