Just Four Things: Uruguay Vs. Portugal

Cavani’s Amazing Night Ends Worringly

There is always bound to be someone that will step up and bring his A-game. Cristiano Ronaldo did it against Spain, Kylian Mbappe earlier bought it and took it to that poor Argentina backline and this time in this match, the night definitely belonged to Edinson Cavani. ‘El Matador’ didn’t need to wait long to open the scoring.

Only seven minutes in, Cavani crossed the ball to Luis Suarez from one wing to another. Cavani continued his run into the box. Despite Raphael Guerreiro peering over his back twice when Cavani was still running, Suarez beautifully crossed the ball in and Cavani headed in the ball unmarked with Guerreiro nowhere near him.

Cavani’s opener set Uruguay on their way to a good night as they successfully frustrate their opponents almost the entirety of the match. Cavani even dropped deep to help out the defense. His work-rate was brilliant at both ends of the pitch. It got even better when he curled the ball brilliantly out of Rui Patricio’s reach just by the edge of the box immediately after Portugal equalized. The technique behind that shot was a sight to behold like a beautiful painting. Sadly for Cavani, he ended the night limping off with what looked like a calf injury that had Uruguay sweating nervously.

Rock-Solid Foundation

Uruguay not only had not conceded during the group stages, but they kept the door shut to their goal since November 2017. Portugal surely has seen what this Uruguay defense can do. But watching and experiencing are two different things. Portugal learned the harsh reality of dealing with them. The shape of Uruguay’s defense made life harder for Portugal to create any decisive chances.

Uruguay kept a tight shape to surround any attacker in the box in anticipation of cutting any delivery out in the box. In fact, Uruguay’s full-backs also were closing the gap down on the wingers to not only prevent them from crossing, but also didn’t allow them to run down the wings so that they would try and get in a better position to cross it in. The focus the defense had in fulfilling their task was impressive.

It needed the whole team to pull this hard-working performance off and you see the results if a whole team did their job. Although a lapse in concentration lead to Pepe heading in Guerreiro’s cross saw their impressive run of not conceding to an end. Thankfully Cavani got the lead back. Despite that setback, Uruguay never looked like conceding again in this match.

Terminator-reirra

In front of Uruguay’s sturdy defense was a solid midfield that protected their defense very well. Lucas Torreira though was perhaps the standout midfielder out of the four that performed his duty with excellence by getting in there to win the ball back from Portugal’s possession. He was another hardworker that deserves plaudits for protecting the backline (As if Uruguay’s defense couldn’t get any harder to penetrate into).

He didn’t look like losing his composure and he even frustrated Ronaldo by either muscling the ball off him or clear the ball. Squawka Football said that Torreira blocked four shots, which is the second highest in this tournament behind Carlos Salcedo Vs. South Korea. That shows the bravery he has to prevent danger. The energy he had was tremendous. Although his passing needs a little more work, the 22-year old is showing signs of bright promise. Arsenal, the team that Torreira is heavily linked to, should be optimistic about this player.

Dangers Of Relying On One Man

This situation that Portugal had experienced looked mightily similar to Argentina. If your star player is not having a good night, the whole team will likely falter unless another player stepped up. Sadly for Portugal, no one shined in this match, not even Ronaldo. Portugal has a good amount of talent, but they didn’t show exactly what they got to trouble Uruguay.

Other than Ronaldo being frustrated, William Carvalho the engine room was kept quiet, Joao Mario & Bernardo Silva couldn’t get in position to provide service and why Goncalo Guedes continue to play as a second forward is beyond anyone’s guess when it was obvious in his two opening matches his presence was almost non-existent. Portugal bids farewell after a below-average performance.

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