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A night of chaos and confusion, of future and past pulling each other in different directions, and culminating in a goal of pure catharsis. Portugalone of the tournament favourites, are far behind: a poached goal from 21-year-old Francisco Conceição sealed victory in the first minute of added time and highlighted the strength of the bench at Roberto Martinez’s disposal.
And it was redemption of sorts for Martinez too, a coach who knows he will have to shake off Portugal’s past if he is to shake off his own. Perhaps unfairly maligned as the man who inherited Belgium’s golden generation and won nothing, Martinez is now bequeathed a new galaxy of bright and brilliant things. In the end, however, Portugal’s embarrassment of riches turned out to be more of the latter than the former.
Conceicao and Pedro Neto came on in the 90th minute and combined for a goal in the 91st. Along with Paris duo Nuno Mendes and Vitinha – both excellent – these players represent the future of Portugal. But moving on is easier said than done, and if it was a night that smoothed Portugal’s path to the knockout stages, it also added a layer of complexity to the eternal enigma of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Five strikes and no goals was the Portugal captain’s return here. And indeed, this is the essence, the whole point, the alpha and omega of continuing to select one of the most controversial footballers in the world. He scores or he doesn’t. And indeed in the utmost respect for the Saudi Professional League, he found the energetic and tough Czechs a step up in quality here. He no longer dominates physically. The amazing jump is no longer there. The finish lacks the previous venom. Even a direct free kick in the second half went into the hands of Jindrich Stanek.
The problem with doing everything Ronaldo shows is that his team-mates – sensing their own peripherality – begin to delay and relax a bit. And these are players who really need to be allowed to shine on their own, players like Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes, Rafael Leao and Diogo Hota, who need the freedom to take the game by the lapels. At one point in the second half, Bernardo had an excellent opportunity to shoot but instead chose to pass it to Ronaldo, who couldn’t get to the ball.
And in the end, Portugal needed a bit of fortune and a bit of character to gild their dominance in possession and shots: falling behind to Lucas Provod’s goal and having to fight back.
Martinez spoke afterwards of their “incredible personality” and they will be stronger for this experience, for this epic Test in epic rain, the kind that puts a little more juice in the ball and gives the whole event a nice cinematic quality.
It was hard for Czech Republic, so close to what would have been a heroic point until the stout defense gave way in the end. Robin Hranak’s own goal gave Portugal a way back into the game and now as Neto crossed, his feet got stuck, the loose ball rebounded perfectly for Conceicao to finish. Resilient and well organised, they had coped superbly with Portugal’s pressure, their neat shifts, Ronaldo’s countless crosses in attack. In the end, they were undone by two rebounds per ball.
But for seven precious minutes they were leading. Portugal reacted slowly to a loose ball from their own corner flag; David Dudera’s cross found Vladimir Kufal, who released it to Provod, whose curling shot from 22 yards was the latest in a string of brilliant long-range efforts this tournament. Portugal briefly tasted their own mortality, silently wondering if this was going to be one of those tournaments. But most importantly, they refused to panic.
And Martinez played a good hand. Leao, missing from the game and booked for a woeful dive in the first half, was withdrawn for Jota, which in turn allowed Mendes to run more freely down the left. It was Mendes’ header that created the confusion from which Stanek parried the ball past Hranac for the equalizing own goal. With minutes remaining, Jota put the ball into the net after Ronaldo hit the post with a header.
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A line item, a melee with the goal as Jota tried to grab the ball to celebrate the pregnancy, the goal was eventually disallowed due to an ambush by Ronaldo, the internet was breaking.
But with time running out, Hranak’s error released Conceicao, confirming Martinez’s claim that “the important thing is not the starting XI, but the finishing XI”.
They were mesmerizing at times, a bit befuddled at others, something of an anti-England in their starkly different view of how to field a squad of flamboyant attacking talent.
You don’t fit them into a system, you make them the system, allowing them to intuit and react and use their innate football intelligence to chart their way through the game. In a sense, Martinez has staked his entire legacy on these players. There, they just passed for him.
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