Obviously, this topic is mainly aimed at Portugal.
Before this European Cup, Portugal was favored by many. Although it is not the biggest favorite to win the championship, looking at Portugal's squad configuration and looking at Ronaldo's pre-match friendly status, it can be said that Portugal is at least the top three level. This was further confirmed by the trend of the first two rounds of the group stage, with Portugal beating the Czech Republic to show championship-level luck; easily defeated Turkey 3:0 in the second round, and it was the initial appearance of the champion; And Ronaldo selflessly made a wedding dress for B Fee when he could shoot on goal, which made people see the good atmosphere and unity atmosphere of this Portuguese team, even if you can say that Ronaldo is brushing up assists for himself, so that he can replace Poboski as soon as possible and become the all-time assist king of the European Cup.
On the basis of two consecutive wins, Portugal faced Georgia, the weakest team in the group and the weakest of the 24 in the round of 24 of this European Championship, in the third round, but Portugal was a big disappointment. It's no problem to be on the bench, but the substitute plays like this, and it simply loses all the aura of the previous two consecutive wins. It can be said that this situation of two consecutive wins not only locking up the promotion, but also locking the first place in the group, is completely poison for Portugal, not wanting to make progress, arrogance and slackness permeate the whole game, and the champion is completely disfigured.
Portugal has a precedent in this regard. The most recent example is the 2022 World Cup, Portugal won two consecutive games in the first two rounds to lock up the top spot in the group, and faced South Korea in the last round, Portugal sent a substitute and lost 1:2. As a result, they ended up in the quarter-finals and were eliminated by Morocco. An earlier example was Euro 2008, when Portugal were also favourites, winning comfortably in the first two rounds of the group stage before coming off the bench in the final game to early hosts Switzerland.
There is no problem at all with the early promotion of sending substitutes to let the main team get rest. But that's not a reason to lose. Let's see how Spain played Albania in the final round in the same situation. In fact, the substitution's desire to fight should be higher than that of the main force. It is said that Portugal has a soft ball style, and one of the aspects is that in this special situation, the combat effectiveness is insufficient.
So, can Portugal still win the title? It's hard to say. However, there are two teams in the history of the European Championship that can cheer Portugal up. Because they, like Portugal, lost the third round of the group stage, but in the end they won the title.
The first team was France at Euro 2000.
France were in the Group of Death, beating Denmark and the Czech Republic in the first two rounds, before facing hosts the Netherlands in the final round, where they staged a goal shootout. In fact, this game is not without gimmicks, after all, the two sides have to compete for the first place in the group. In the end, it was the Netherlands who were more obsessed with winning the group at home, a 3-2 game that allowed France to meet Spain instead of Yugoslavia in the quarter-finals.
Everyone knows the rest of the story, France beat Spain, Portugal, reversed Italy in the final, and won the championship. However, the difference between France and Portugal this time is that their opponents in the final round of the group stage are too strong, losing 2:3, and they also feel a little glorious despite defeat.
The second team was Greece at Euro 2004.
Greece had a shocking first two rounds, beating Portugal and drawing with Spain. In the final round, facing Russia, which is clearly inferior to the Iberian duo, Greece should have won. But in fact, Greece is only suitable for playing technical teams, and they can't do anything when they encounter teams that are tougher than themselves and have a stronger impact than themselves. In this game, Greece lost 1:2.
However, finishing second in the group did not affect the Greek mythology, and they later eliminated France, the Czech Republic and defeated Portugal again in the final.
It's interesting that these two examples that can cheer Portugal up, both have Portugal's involvement, and they were both losers at the time. Speaking of which, Portugal's situation is still too good and calm, and even the first place in the group has been reached, and it is indeed difficult for them to tighten the strings. Next, it's up to them to see if they can be a third example.