Portugal 3-0 Hungary
Opening play in Group F of UEFA’s Euro 2020 took place today and three of the tourney favorites debuted. In the first match, Portugal defeated Hungary 3-0 at Ferenc Puskas Arena in Budapest.
Raphael Guerreiro opened the scoring at the 84th in what was an uninspired Portuguese performance coupled with a capacity-crowd-inspired Hungary. But the match seemed to be building to a crescendo as the second half neared its end and in what turned out to be the last ten minutes played everything changed.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace, a penalty (87th), and off of a beautiful give and go with Rafa Silva in the Hungarian box (90th+2). The quick passes of that second goal were followed by a deft, close-range Ronaldo fake and dribble around the keeper for the score.
Playing in his fifth Euro, Portugal’s Ronaldo netted his eleventh goal, making him the top scorer in the championship’s history. At 106 total goals, he is also just three away from drawing even with Iranian Ali Daei’s international goal-scoring record.
The match’s opening goal, all Portugal needed to win, came off two lucky ricochets one that allowed the ball to reach Guerreiro in the Hungarian box, and the second off of his shot which redirected the ball from what would probably have been an easy save to the opposite corner of the goal where the goalkeeper had no chance.
Throughout their 70% possession, the Portuguese created several good chances but Peter Gulacsi had several excellent interventions to keep the ball out of his goal, and the Hungarian defense was up to the task of denying Ronaldo and company any repeat chances. The bottom line though was that Portugal were fortunate to win their opening match, that Fernando Santos was late in his decision making, bringing in subs much too late, and that a win with a plus-3 goal differential was a fortunate if hard-earned result.
France 1-0 Germany
Playing at a high tempo for the entire match, two of the world’s powerhouse teams treated spectators at the Allianz Arena to a just-missed-this, just-blocked-that, type of game wherein the only difference between the teams ended up being Mats Hummels’ own goal at the 20th minute.
The French looked strong in midfield and very dangerous on offense, but shaky on defense. The Germans were solid on defense and attacked almost the entire second half but still managed to find France finding a way to get in that last-gasp defensive slide or block to prevent the German’s path forward.
Between these two, France looked the better team but still remained in the defensive shell their coach, Didier Deschamps, prefers. Kilyan Mbappe, Karim Benzema, and Antoine Griezmann proved a potent trio on counter-attacks, but once settled in their opponent’s half they seemed unable to create as the German defense was up to the task of keeping them at bay. Though the French scored a couple of goals that were called back, the fact that they were clear offsides did not detract from the obvious, it pointed out that in the German’s case even those did not materialize. Germany and France should have no problem with Hungary in this group, but the group will be determined when each meets willy Portugal.
Pogba stiff-arm watch
It will be fun to keep track of the number of times Paul Pogba uses his massive wingspan to stiff-arm opponents while attempting to dribble. Much like Brazilian Fernandinho seemed to get a pass whenever he kicked opponents during the 2012-2015 span in the Premier League and then during his World Cup 2014 appearances, Pogba pushed and shoved opponents out of his way, or straight down into the ground all game long without being called for the obvious fouls. By Papa’s count, he got away with the infringement 14 times in the match against Germany.
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Previous match roundup
Czech Republic 2-0 Scotland
In Group D play, Patrik Schick scored a brace, including a ridiculously long-range blooper of a goal to give the Czechs a well-earned win over a lackluster Scotland.
Slovakia 2-1 Poland
In the first of two Group E matches, Poland again began another tournament in a disappointing fashion. Robert Lewandowski’s Poland lost to Slovakia in their opening match courtesy of a ricochet off Polish keeper Tomasz Szczesny at the 18th minute and a Milan Skriniar goal at the 69th which offset Karol Linetty’s 46th-minute goal for the final result.
Spain 0-0 Sweden
La Roja, using a plethora of young, inexperienced, and athletic talent, dominated their match against a more ponderous but experienced Sweden but walked away with a draw. Luis Enrique’s gamble on a team with few established stars, none from Real Madrid, and but a few selected veterans seemed to go off the rails almost from the beginning as the chances his team created never found a finisher.
Though Sweden defended most of the match one of their attacks almost turned the game on its head. The play had a Swedish shot ricochet off Marcos Llorente, then off the post before finding the outstretched hands of keeper Unai Simon. He had missed the ball originally, had landed prone in the box, and was on his knees attempting to get up but unable to affect the play’s outcome when the ball reached his outstretched hands.
Photo: Cristiano Ronaldo–119432040 © Andre DurÃo | Dreamstime.com
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