Portugal can call on Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes (Sebastian Frej/Getty Images)Weaknesses
Working out how best to use Ronaldo, Fernandes, Bernardo, Leao, Jota, Joao Felix, Ramos and the rest is a problem any manager would want, so it’s hardly a weakness, but also not an easy puzzle to solve, as Santos found out when Portugal wilted in losing 2-0 to a stubborn, organised low block from Morocco in the quarter-finals in Qatar.
In the defence, there is a big question mark over who will partner Ruben Dias, with youngsters Antonio Silva, 20, from Benfica and Inacio rotated during qualifying with a man two decades their senior in Pepe who, yes, is still in the Portuguese ranks at 41. Goalkeeper Diogo Costa boobed at the World Cup but is usually a solid presence.
There is also the fact that Martinez will go into the tournament having not been presented with a difficult competitive match yet.
Winning all 10 qualifiers was an impressive feat but, to be fair, the group was so easy Portugal’s under-21s could have won it given the standard of opposition in Slovakia (48th in FIFA’s rankings), Iceland (72nd), Bosnia & Herzegovina (74th), Luxembourg (87th) and Liechtenstein (202nd).
Thing you didn’t know
If Pepe plays in Germany, he’ll become the oldest player to play in a European Championship, taking the record from Hungary goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly, whose body, mind and tracksuit bottoms were 40 years and 86 days old when he played against Belgium in 2016.
Expectations back home
In the group stage, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Georgia probably won’t provide much resistance, but Portugal are looking far beyond that. They are good enough to win it and expectations are duly very high.
Portugal’s squad for Euro 2024
Goalkeepers: Diogo Costa (Porto), Jose Sa (Wolves), Rui Patricio (Roma)
Defenders: Antonio Silva (Benfica), Danilo Pereira (Paris St-Germain), Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Goncalo Inacio (Sporting Lisbon), Joao Cancelo (Barcelona), Nelson Semedo (Wolves), Nuno Mendes (Paris St-Germain), Pepe (Porto), Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
Midfielders: Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Joao Neves (Benfica), Joao Palhinha (Fulham), Matheus Nunes (Manchester City), Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal), Vitinha (Paris St-Germain)
Forwards: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr), Diogo Jota (Liverpool), Francisco Conceicao (Porto), Goncalo Ramos (PSG), Joao Felix (Barcelona), Pedro Neto (Wolves), Rafael Leao (AC Milan).
Source link : https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5526774/2024/06/08/portugal-euro-2024-squad-guide/
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Publish date : 2024-06-08 04:16:02
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