Portugal – Slovenia: 3-0 on penalties (0-0)
Goalscorers in the penalty shootout: Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva
Who decided the game?
The goalkeepers. Diogo Costa, the Portuguese, simply took all of Slovenia’s penalties in the penalty shootout and simply switched off the tension that is inherent in a penalty shootout. His counterpart, Jan Oblak, made sure that it even got that far: in the 105th minute of extra time, he saved a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo. The confidence he gained from his strong save ultimately did him no good: Ronaldo was facing him again at the first penalty, Oblak again had the corner, but this time the Portuguese shot more accurately. Just like his teammates Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, whose penalties were simply too good for the Slovenian.
Diogo Costa, on the other hand, had clearly noted exactly which corners the Slovenian shooters would shoot at during the video analysis. Josip Iličić aimed to the right, Balkovec and Verbič each aimed halfway to the left – Diogo Costa saved well, but the Slovenians didn’t shoot particularly well either.
In the 120 minutes before the penalty shootout, the goalkeepers didn’t have much to do. But when they did, they were awake. Diogo Costa only really had to intervene once: when Benjamin Šeško ran towards him alone in the 115th minute of extra time after a mistake by Pepe. Costa blocked the shot with his leg, a strong save. Jan Oblak, on the other hand, kept his team in the game in the 89th minute when Cristiano Ronaldo appeared free in front of his goal from close range, but shot too centrally.
“You don’t win a game like this if your goalkeeper isn’t having a great day,” Bastian Schweinsteiger said on ARD ahead of the game – with reference to Jan Oblak. The Atlético Madrid goalkeeper, the only truly world-class player in the Slovenian team and their captain, lived up to expectations. However, because Diogo Costa had an even better day in goal for the Portuguese, it was still not enough for the Slovenian surprise.
Why did the game go into extra time?
Because Slovenia defended compactly and Portugal tried hard but didn’t create any really good scoring opportunities. In the first half, Rafael Leão and Nuno Mendes applied pressure on the left, and later João Cancelo tried a few tricky situations on the right. But they didn’t create any really good chances – also because they kept looking for Cristiano Ronaldo, who was mostly successful at swearing and staring theatrically into the sky.
From the 65th minute, when Diogo Jota came on for Vitinha, the Portuguese team’s game was rather aimless. Pepe and João Palhinha, who were then responsible for building up the play, tried in the best English style not to get any speed into their passing game. The only good opportunity in this phase, a shot from Cristiano Ronaldo into the arms of Jan Oblak, came from a mistake by the Slovenians in building up the play.
Did a Slovenian sensation seem possible at any point?
Not really. In the opening minutes, the Slovenians were visibly nervous, after all, it was the first knockout match in the history of the Slovenian association. After a quarter of an hour, however, they got their game going: standing firm and letting the strikers Benjamin Šeško and Andraž Šporar scurry around up front. The Slovenians had used this strategy to beat Portugal 2-0 in a friendly match in March. “It’s crazy how they make so much out of so little. Such troublemakers, those two up front,” said ARD commentator Thomas Broich, and that was pretty accurate.
However, it only became really dangerous once during regular playing time: when Benjamin Šeško simply thundered past Pepe, who was 20 years older, on the counterattack, but then missed the goal.
Did Portugal’s “old men”, Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe, almost ruin their team?
In typical Ronaldo style, the Portuguese captain scored again at the end. But in a penalty shootout and after he had already missed a penalty and a great chance. Cristiano Ronaldo did Portugal’s game against Slovenia no good in many respects. His teammates repeatedly tried to cross the ball high in his direction, but the ball usually flew a few centimeters over his head. Because there were certainly no header monsters around him in the form of Bernardo Silva, Vitinha or Bruno Fernandes, it seemed as if Portugal was limiting its options to serve Ronaldo.
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This was also evident in the free kicks, and there were some in good positions. Again and again Ronaldo grabbed the ball, sent away equally talented set-piece takers like Bruno Fernandes or Bernardo Silva – only to then fire a powerful shot into the Frankfurt sky. A powerful free kick went on goal, but straight at Jan Oblak, whose hands – as the rest of the game showed – did not hurt for long. At the end of the evening Ronaldo was still waiting for his first goal of the tournament.
The 41-year-old defender Pepe did not miss a penalty, but would have been the culprit had Benjamin Šeško taken advantage of his big chance in the 115th minute – this was preceded by a serious stumble by Pepe on the halfway line. Pepe was already quite busy with Šeško, who is 20 years younger than him. Shortly after his serious blunder, Portugal coach Roberto Martínez finally substituted his oldest player. Sometimes you have to protect the old from themselves – maybe the US Democrats are watching.
What’s next for Portugal?
In the quarter-finals, Portugal will face France on Friday in Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion. It will be a repeat of the 2016 European Championship final, which Portugal won 1-0 in extra time. Cristiano Ronaldo was substituted due to injury, and his team won without him. It’s unlikely, but perhaps it would be a strategy to leave Ronaldo on the bench this time too.
In contrast to Slovenia, the French will play more offensively and not just wait for quick counterattacks. So far, the Portuguese defense has not been challenged by a potent offense; the B team played in the 0:2 defeat against Georgia. What could give Portugal courage is that when Pepe plays against Kylian Mbappé, the latter is only 16 years younger than him.
Goalscorers in the penalty shootout: Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva
The goalkeepers. Diogo Costa, the Portuguese, simply took all of Slovenia’s penalties in the penalty shootout and simply switched off the tension that is inherent in a penalty shootout. His counterpart, Jan Oblak, made sure that it even got that far: in the 105th minute of extra time, he saved a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo. The confidence he gained from his strong save ultimately did him no good: Ronaldo was facing him again at the first penalty, Oblak again had the corner, but this time the Portuguese shot more accurately. Just like his teammates Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, whose penalties were simply too good for the Slovenian.
