Portugal vs Slovenia The first round of the European Championship knockout round 16-8 contest is bound to be touching, on the one hand, this is a knockout competition, and the teams will not ignore the opportunity to advance; On the other hand, this is a contest in which President Ronaldo participates, and there will inevitably be countless fans who will come to cheer and add a lot of other attributes to the game. Portugal have a good chance of winning on paper, after all, Slovenia is not a match, but is this really the case?
Comparison of the two teams in qualifying
Portugal are the first in Group F and the frontrunners in this group. They played well in the first two games, but in the third game they lost to Georgia, but they were criticized by many people and played really poorly. Portugal scored five goals and conceded three in the group stage, which also highlighted the problems with their performances.
Slovenia are third in Group C and can be said to have been relatively lucky to qualify because the road to qualification was full of difficulties and dangers. In the group stage, they did not win or lose all three games, and the results of scoring 2 goals and conceding 2 goals were too balanced.
At present, Portugal is ranked 6th in the world with a total value of 1.05 billion euros, while Slovenia is only 57 and has a total value of only 142 million euros, which is really a big difference in comparison.
Historical head-to-head and team personnel
The two sides have only met once in 2024, and there is still reference value, and there is no record for the remaining two decades. In that match, Slovenia actually got the advantage, beating Portugal 2-0, which was an upset. You know, Ronaldo played in that friendly match, Felix, Cancelo, Ruben Neves, Vitinha, Conceição, etc. are also the main players and substitutes this time. In addition, the veteran Pepe also played in the game to support the team's stability.
Therefore, Portugal should not relax too much, this game should be a crisis for them.
Highlights of the game
1 - How exactly did Ronaldo arrange it
The question of whether the president should play, whether he should start or substitute, whether he should shoot more or respond has been a big question for the Portuguese national team in recent years. It also bothered the previous coaches, and there was no answer to this tournament for the time being. Obviously, the manager should have the right to deploy and he should figure out what is the best way to deploy the team. If you are still troubled by these problems, then Portugal's results will not be too good.
Whether you use Ronaldo or not, you should be firm. If the president is arranged to take the start, then he should be given a chance to shoot, and rely on his finishing strength to complete the goal; If Cristiano Ronaldo is not used, then whoever plays the center forward must be encouraged and take the lead in team consideration.
2 - Martínez's choice of deployment
The Slovenian defence is really solid and they have a lot of muscles, which will put pressure on Portugal. After all, they are a team that mainly breaks through the wings, and most of the chances created come from this idea, and if the enemy is deprived of vitality by enough defense, then it may be difficult for them to find the back of the net. The match against Georgia was a good proof of this, and Slovenia also fought back.
In addition, Bernardo's form has fluctuated greatly this year, Leao has been criticized for being lazy in his performance, and Conceição seems to have insufficient experience to adapt to the competition for the time being, so how to arrange it appropriately? It's really hard to talk about.
3 - Sesko's proof
For Slovenia, the number one star has to be Sesko. The young centre-forward, who is known as Haaland's younger brother (the two debuted in almost the same mode, team, and platform), is expected to be high by Slovenia. In this game against Portugal, he played a particularly key role in the opponent's penalty area. If he can learn from the performances of Kvaratskhelia and Mikautadze, then Slovenia will have a chance to break out in a big upset.
Forecast:
Considering the difference in strength on paper, Portugal won first, and the score of 2-0 and 3-0 was normal. However, with reference to the loss to Georgia, you can prevent a 0-1 upset.