The mind only thinks of the World Cup in Qatar but before that it was time for the heart to beat for the League of Nations. Before fully focusing on the World Championship, the National Team played the decisive double path to reach a the last four where she could not attend last year and where she intended to return to a competition in which she was the first winner. For this reason, and before receiving Spain in Braga, it was mandatory to score with the Czech Republic in Prague.
Still, the week was far from peaceful. Rafa, who was called up to the Seleção about a year later, resigned and showed that he was not available to represent Portugal and was eventually replaced by Gonçalo Ramos. Days later, Raphael Guerreiro and Pepe were discharged due to physical problems, Fernando Santos called Mário to replace the winger and did not call anyone to replace the central player. Nothing that, according to the national coach, would affect the preparation of the team for one of the most important games of the year.
“The Czech Republic is worth as a whole, for its quality. All coaches want to have the best and the Czech coach must be happy to have Patrik Schick, who is a quality player. But let’s not worry too much. Portugal comes to all competitions to win, we always said that the next game is the most important and now it’s against the Czech Republic. We cannot think about the game with Spain. We come to every game to win and for that we prepare the team. I don’t even know what other message it could convey. The message is clear and has always been: total focus, win and trust our abilities. The decisions you make have to do with what you think is best for the game, they don’t have to do with anything else, ”said the national coach in the pre-match.
Thus, in Prague, Fernando Santos did not bring great news to the starting eleven. The coach was unable to count on João Cancelo or João Félix, the former due to suspension and the latter due to injury, and put Danilo in a pair with Rúben Dias in the defensive axis, while Diogo Dalot was the right back. William, Rúben Neves and Bruno Fernandes occupied midfield and Bernardo and Rafael Leão accompanied Ronaldo in attack, and Mário Rui was perhaps the biggest surprise starting against Nuno Mendes on the left of defence. On the other hand, as the national coach had anticipated, Patrik Schick appeared in the Czech attack.
⌚️5′ CZE 0-0 BY
???????Mário Rui is not called up to start in Prague. I haven’t represented Team A for 2 years (W 2-3 Croatia, Nations League)
It is the 12th internationalization of the left back, the 5th in the Nations League, a competition in which he was always a starter and never lost (3W, 1D) pic.twitter.com/YgdY3IMcOV
— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) September 24, 2022
The Czech Republic started somewhat better, forcing Portugal to give in at the short start and relying on Diogo Costa’s footwork for high pressure that pushed the Portuguese defense into the final third. Jemelka made the first shot but did not hit the goal (4′), Patrik Schick also shot to the side (5′) and the National Team showed some difficulties in playing supported. Even so, Rúben Neves had the first Portuguese shot, when he shot from outside the box (9′), and it was clear that Fernando Santos’s team had the ability to easily create imbalances, simply speeding up the game and building situations to explore. depth and numerical superiority over the Czech defensive trio.
Rúben Dias was close to opening the scoring, when he finished off the side net after a rebound in the opponent’s area (11′), and Cristiano Ronaldo was in physical trouble after colliding with goalkeeper Vaclík. The game entered an uncharacteristic phase at this point, with Jaroslav Šilhavý forced to make the first substitution of the game to swap the injured Brabec for Kúdela, and neither team seemed to have the foresight or creativity to move the scoreboard or even create scoring chances. However, at half an hour, Diogo Dalot decided to deny this evidence.
⌚️45′ CZE 0-1 FOR
????????Rafael Leão made the 3rd assist for a goal in Team A:
↔️ Diogo Dalot vs ????????Czekia, Nations League
↔️ Matheus Nunes vs ?????????Turkey, Play-off WC 2022
↔️ André Silva vs ????????Qatar, FriendlyIn 2022/23, the Milan striker has 3 goals and 6 assists in 9 games pic.twitter.com/ngEgKoD41e
— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) September 24, 2022
Shortly after Barák had the first goal of the game in his head, when he shot to the side after a cross that came from the left (31 ‘), Dalot accelerated, released Bruno Fernandes from the right and saw his Manchester United teammate cross into the area. area. The ball went through the entire penalty area and found Rafael Leão on the opposite side, that he put late for Dalot to reappear and braked to open the scoring and scoring debut for the National Team (33 ‘). Král came close to equalizing shortly after, when he finished off a cross to Diogo Costa’s careful defense (35’), but the history of the first half would be written in added time.
Portugal assumed a clear superiority after taking the lead, winning most of the possession of the ball in a remarkable way and playing calmly inside the opposing midfield, thanks to the mobility motivated by Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo, who changed positions and offered new dynamics . In extra time, the Seleção managed to capitalize on this ascendancy: William released Mário Rui on the left and the Napoli winger crossed tight and low into the small area, where Bruno Fernandes escaped from the Czech central defenders to increase the Portuguese advantage (45+2′). Just before the break, Cristiano Ronaldo scored from a penalty by intercepting a cross with his hand but Patrik Schick, called to convert, shot from above and kept Portugal’s lead intact (45+6′).
????????? INTERVAL | ????????? R. Czech 0-2 Portugal ???????
???? “Mais Portugal” scored a natural goal, with the first shot squared
???? Dalot debuted in goals, with a pass from Leão, Bruno Fernandes expanded
????Ronaldo committed a penalty but Schick missed#CZEPOR #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/xeYCbHaE7C— GoalPoint (@_Goalpoint) September 24, 2022
Neither coach made any changes at half-time and Portugal maintained a clear superiority, starting to build in the midfield area and changing the ball for long seconds without being properly bothered by the Czech Republic. In this logic, without having completed the ten minutes of the second half, the National Team increased the advantage: Diogo Dalot received at the entrance of the penalty area, finished off from the right and shot hard and placed, near the post, to score twice in the match and increase the Portuguese advantage (52′).
The match started at cruising speed after the third goal, with Portugal allowing more possession to the Czech Republic and handling the advantage with ease. Jaroslav Šilhavý moved again after the hour of play, prompting a triple substitution, and Fernando Santos responded with the entries of Ricardo Horta and Diogo Jota to replace Bernardo and Rafael Leão, then exchanging Bruno Fernandes and William for Matheus Nunes and João Palhinha.
⌚️55′ CZE 0-3 BY
⚠️Defenders from ????????Portugal scoring twice in one match:
2022 Dalot vs Czechia
2020 Ruben Dias vs Croatia
1999 Paulo Madeira vs. Liechtenstein
1989 Federico vs. Angola
1980 Humberto Coelho against Israel
1968 Jacinto vs. Romania pic.twitter.com/gojp6yaT2A— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) September 24, 2022
Jota still stamped the win in the last ten minutes, when he appeared at the far post with a header after a corner from the left (84 ‘), and little happened until the final whistle. Portugal thrashed the Czech Republic in Prague and took advantage of Spain’s defeat against Switzerland to jump to the isolated leadership of Group 3 of League A — that is to say, he only needs to draw with the Spanish in Braga, next Tuesday, to guarantee his presence in the the last four of the League of Nations. On a day in which the National Team was clearly superior, Diogo Dalot started and stood out with an above-average performance in which he scored the first two goals for the Portuguese national team. And if it was already born in 1978, when Géminis won the Festival da Canção, surely the lyrics of the song would be “Dai Li Dalot, Diogo fly”.
????????? END | ????????? A. Czech???? Portugal????????
???? The selection made easy what promised to be difficult
???? Dalot and Bruno Fernandes headlined the show
???? Spain is still in Braga, for the decision
???? Ratings, stats and xG at https://t.co/QZuwKyufuG #CZEPOR #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/oPsI5LqLwQ— GoalPoint (@_Goalpoint) September 24, 2022
Source: Observadora
