As opening nights go, Portugal’s performance in the 1-1 draw with Iceland in their first Euro 2016 match isn’t one that has got the critics raving. In fact, they’ve seen it all before.
All credit should be given to the Nordic country with a population roughly the size of Leicester—and we all know how they like to spring a surprise around there—but for the Portuguese waking up on Wednesday morning, there must be a real sense of regret. It was supposed to be different this time.
And it looked like it was going to be different in Saint-Etienne when Nani converted one of many chances that the Portuguese had created inside—and eventually just outside—the opening half-hour, latching onto a fine Andre Gomes pass to slot home. Lift-off for Portugal, then? Well, no.
What followed was a triumph of human spirit for the Icelanders, who were able to hustle, harry and claw their way back into a game that the reputations of Portugal’s players should have ensured was beyond them.
The chief among the tormented here was Cristiano Ronaldo, his face a contorted combination of pain and disbelief as everything he tried following Birkir Bjarnason’s 50th-minute equaliser failed to come off.
In the dying embers of the game, Ronaldo’s two free-kicks which thundered into a solid Icelandic wall—a wall made of ice, if you want to be overly dramatic—summed up his night. At the end he trudged off, disappointed and more than a little bitter.
Then, as reported by the Daily Mirror’s Ed Malyon, he let rip and said:
It was a little bit frustrating, we tried hard to win the game, Iceland didn't try anything.
They scored a goal, they created two chances in the ninety minutes and otherwise they got every player behind the ball, they put the bus in the net so it's difficult when one team don't try but Portugal try and play football and try to win the game.
I thought they'd won the Euros the way they celebrated at the end, it was unbelievable.
When they don't try to play and just defend, defend, defend this in my opinion shows a small mentality and are not going to do anything in the competition.
There you have it, then. Both barrels fired from a man who presumably believes that all football should be played the same way, his way—all runs and shots and anguished stares and pleas to officials and camera clicks and the warmth of the spotlight.
Of course Ronaldo knows that football has to make room for underdog stories, and they are one of things about the game that we all love the most. One of the best things about football is that spirit can get you good results just as much as skill can.
He was simply letting off steam following a Portugal and personal performance which we were told wasn’t going to happen this time.
This was supposed to be a new team, with Fernando Santos unleashing several of his confident young talents to play off Ronaldo and complement him in a manner that previous Portuguese vintages were unable to do.
Obviously, we shouldn’t overplay this result. The difference between it and the narrow victories enjoyed by France and Spain in the tournament’s first week was simply that right-back Vieirinha was caught out of position by a ball over the top and Bjarnason pounced. A draw is not the end of Portugal’s world nor their tournament.
But they need to learn from their experience here.
Too often when chasing the game in the second half they allowed themselves to hit default mode, and to look at Ronaldo and pray for something to happen.
They were caught out in midfield once too often during this period, and it is possible to believe that the better sides in the tournament—and they are still likely to face better sides—would have punished them on the break.
Who knows, perhaps the result will eventually be viewed as the kick up the backside that the squad needed and they’ll go on to reach at least the last four for the fourth time in five European Championships.
That seemed a long way off in Saint-Etienne, though, where a patchy display isn’t worthy of generous reviews on Wednesday morning.
And Ronaldo’s post-match soliloquy even less so.
