At 3 o'clock in the morning on July 2, Beijing time, the 1/8 finals of Euro 2024 continued, with Portugal, ranked 6th in the world, facing Slovenia, ranked 57th in the world. In the group stage, Portugal won 2 wins and 1 loss and accumulated 6 points to advance to the top of the group, but Ronaldo only scored 1 assist and did not score, so there is a strong desire to score in this game.
Slovenia are the 'masters of draws', drawing all three of their group stage matches, including a 0-0 draw with a star-studded England side. Interestingly, Portugal have only played Slovenia once before, that is, on March 26 this year, Slovenia defeated Portugal 2-0 at home with goals from Cherin and El Shnik, occupying a "psychological advantage".
After the start of the game, the Slovenian team mainly played defensive counterattacks, with only 28% possession in regular time, 5 shots on goal and 1 shot on target.
After the start of the game, Ronaldo very much wanted to score, but it was obvious that he was "quite old". In the 35th minute, Ronaldo's free kick was extremely powerful, but unfortunately it grazed the crossbar and went out of the bottom line. In the 40th minute, Ronaldo took another free kick and went wide. In the 56th minute, Ronaldo's free kick was powerful, but unfortunately the angle was too positive and was defused by Oblak. In the 89th minute, Jota sent a through ball, and Ronaldo's left-footed shot was too clear by Oblak.
The two sides exchanged a goalless score within 90 minutes, and the game went to extra time. In the 104th minute, Jota used his personal ability to burst into the penalty area to create a penalty, but unfortunately Ronaldo's penalty was bravely defused by Oblak, and the Portuguese team missed a great opportunity to lead, and Ronaldo, who missed the penalty, was also very annoyed and burst into tears. Portugal's morale was noticeably affected after the penalty was missed, and Pepe also made a mistake that almost allowed Slovenia to score a solo goal. In the end, Slovenia drew 0-0 with Portugal in 120 minutes, and the two teams went to penalties.
In the penalty shootout, Portugal goalkeeper Costa saved 3 penalties from Slovenia in a row, and the Portuguese team was hit by Ronaldo, B Fei and B seats. In the end, Portugal eliminated Slovenia 3-0 on penalties to advance to the last 8. It took less than half an hour for Ronaldo to go from tears to smiles, which may be the charm of football.
The other 1/8 final was played first, with France ranked No. 2 in the world playing against Belgium ranked No. 3. In the group stage, France defeated Austria 1-0, drew 0-0 with the Netherlands, and drew 1-1 with Poland, accumulating 5 points to advance to the round of 16 with the second place in the group.
The Belgian team won 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss in 3 games in the group stage, accumulating 4 points, and the second place in the group advanced. The two teams have played a total of 75 matches in their history, with France winning 26, drawing 19 and losing 30, but they have won all four international competitions, most recently in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals, where France beat Belgium 1-0 to reach the final.
In this campaign, the French team played with the main force, and the injured Mba wore a mask on the field. After the opening, the two sides attacked and defended each other, but there were not many chances to score. Post-match stats showed that both sides had two shots on target at full-time compared to five for Belgium. Just as the game entered the final minute of normal time, Muani turned and volleyed in the box for Vertonghen's own goal. In the end, with this goal, the French team eliminated the Belgian team 1-0 to advance to the quarterfinals, and won five consecutive victories against Belgium in the tournament.
Interestingly, there have only been five 1-0 wins in the history of the European Championship, with France accounting for three of them. It was also the first time since France won the European Championship in 2000 that they had won the knockout stage outside of their home soil. France coach Didier Deschamps focused on defence, allowing Belgium to only one shot on goal in the first half, the lowest since 2006, and since he took charge, France have only failed to advance to the last eight in the competition, that is, they were eliminated by Switzerland on penalties in the quarter-finals of the last European Championship.
So far, there have been three matches in the quarterfinals of this European Cup, namely Spain vs. Germany, Portugal vs. France, and England vs. Switzerland. (Xiong Yixuan)