UEFA Euro 2012 Preview: Portugal

Portugal has unquestionably the best European player today, but at the same time they have probably the most unbalanced roster of the tournament. The pressure for Cristiano Ronaldo to shine is huge and the expectations are enormous, but the supporting cast around him isn’t the best. Portugal has the best European player in the tournament, they have in my opinion the best center defender as well in Pepe (if he controls his temper), they have a good left back (Coentrao) , a good center midfield (Moutinho) and a good winger (Nani). But after that, Portugal has a collection of …average players. I won’t be surprised if Portugal knocks around Germany or Netherlands in the group stage and goes further in the competition, but I wouldn’t be surprised either if they are sent home without winning a single game.

National Head Coach Paulo Bento is using a typical 4-3-3 formation with three midfielders that works well with and without the ball, but they really don’t have any skill of dribbling or to create opportunities of goal by themselves. Then Ronaldo and Nani are initially positioned on the wings but their tendency is to move inside and looking to score in diagonal moves. The drop off of quality between the starting unit and the bench is quite evident and if Portugal wants to go further in the competition they hope to not have any injury or suspension in their best core of players


Strenght(s):

• Portugal is a good offensive team that can pass the ball and create a good volume of chances to score in every game. They have two offensive minded left and right backs that will attack and create some mismatches and Portugal is a dangerous team in counter attack chances; 
• Having the best European player of today certainly helps because Ronaldo can solve a tight game by himself even though that sometimes he’ll try to do too much;

Weakness(es):

• Striker: Portugal will create chances to score but capitalizing them will be another story. Hugo Almeida is physically strong, but he lacks some technique and his efficiency isn’t the best at all. Postiga is quite the opposite but with the similar problems of efficiency while Oliveira is just too inexperienced for this kind of stage; 
• Defensive midfielders: Moutinho and Meireles are two good “hybrid” players that can defend and attack, but they aren’t by any means dominant physically players while Miguel Veloso has some good passing skills, but he is “too passive” for the position that he plays and like Meireles and Moutinho, speed isn’t a personal attribute. Portugal is prone to allow some space on their defensive transitions and this kind of problem can be especially problematic against fastest teams like… Germany and Netherlands.