Just Four Things: Portugal Vs. Morocco

Ronaldo Bails Portugal Out Again

Four minutes. That’s how long it took for perhaps one of the greatest of all time to score and put Portugal in the lead. Who else but Cristiano Ronaldo that buried his diving header in from Joao Moutinho’s cross? This man is showing no signs of regression and his brilliance was all the more evident.

Since Ronaldo’s goal though, Portugal were consistently on the backfoot. Allowing Morocco to launch attack after attack and yet they stood firm to defy their opponents. It’s sad to say that Portugal were awful throughout the whole match. They never looked to reestablish control on the pitch. But, they were lucky they held on for the victory. But the European champions can’t rely on Ronaldo and luck forever. Someone in that attack has to step up. Despite having the likes of William Carvalho, Bernardo Silva and Joao Mario, they failed to do anything noticeable.

Morocco’s Despair

Despite that setback trailing behind, Morocco fared well to fight back. They had a grip on the match and did great to carve up a few decent chances and promising attacks. Hakim Ziyech was mostly on the end of these attacks and was immense. But his efforts failed to get past Rui Patricio and saw a late shot destined to be on-target blocked by Jose Fonte.

Nordin Amrabat was tricky for Portugal to handle and lead the bulk of Morocco’s attack, delivering the many crosses into the box, but no one can bury them. Then from all of their attacks, Mehdi Benatia was perhaps the most guiltiest of missing the mother of all chances deep into injury time when the ball fell nicely for him from a set-piece, but put too much height on his shot.

For all their opportunities, they failed to make any count. Morocco is sent packing after the defeat given Spain and Iran are facing each other by this time of writing, no matter the result of that match.

Wolves’ Got Themselves A Bargain

Newly-promoted Premier League side, Wolverhampton Wanderers opened eyes in the football world when they announced the signing of Portugal no. 1, Rui Patricio as a free agency signing. He along with a few others canceled their contracts with Sporting Lisbon due to a heated row with the club president.

Wolves’ pounced to sign Patricio and he showed why they sign him in this match. He was commanding in his own box, ready to jump into action when any Morocco player stepped. Patricio made a tremendous save when he got across to get a hand on Ziyech’s header. Wolves’ fans have reason to be optimistic about this man. But after the signing, this has to be asked: What are Liverpool doing not getting a goalkeeper themselves?

Guedes’ Confidence Shot?

Other than Ronaldo, there were also some eyes on a rising star in the Portugal team: Gonacalo Guedes. Guedes was called-up having performed exceptionally well on loan at Valencia last season, providing five goals and nine assists. He partnered alongside Ronaldo, but his presence was almost non-existent.

He had the chance to finally make a name for himself when he latched on to Ronaldo’s through pass having gone past the defensive line, but his shot was stopped by the hand of Munir Mohamedi. Other than that, he didn’t do anything notable and may most likely be dropped for Adrien Silva in their crucial final group match Vs. Iran.

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