No, BigMac, I'm sorry, but saying that "we had more shots than anybody else" only tells part of the story. Where those shots were from is key, and also there's a great deal more to creating chances than just taking shots. A lot of the time a cross that narrowly misses the head or outstretched leg of the attacking player, or the break on goal stopped just before the shot by a crucial tackle is a better chance than a hopeful long distance shot. For example, England had 18 recorded shots by UEFA's statistics against Iceland. But how many of them were actually threats to the goal? Portugal have got a lot of great players, but they don't play up to the quality that they have. That's far from unique in the tournament, of course, England, Spain and Belgium all have done similar. But they've all gone home whereas Portugal have fumbled their way through to the final. Because England and Spain blew their lines in the group stages, we were left with the situation where almost all the top teams were on one side of the draw. Croatia and Belgium were perhaps the sternest tests left on the side of the draw Portugal were on. And yes, they beat Croatia, and fair play to them, but as you seem to agree, that was one godawful game of football where, for the most part, neither team came to play, and those few players who did come to play couldn't get it to work on the night. It made Wales-Northern Ireland before it look like the Portugal-Hungary game, the one really entertaining Portuguese match this time around. The first half of the Poland game was decent, but after that it all went to pot. The second half, yes Portugal were the better team and took several shots as the Poles were clearly more tired than them, but they still didn't create many real opportunities and the game went to penalties. And then, of course, Belgium fluffed their lines too, against Wales, leaving Portugal playing a fairytale team who had one of their star playmakers suspended for a place in the final. Yes, Portugal are starting to find some form, and yes João Mário and Renato Sanches are the real deal, but in most tournaments playing the way they have done they'd have gone home by now. And while you may be right that antipathy towards him means that Ronaldo gets over-criticized, there can be no doubt that his reactions around the field affect the way the team plays. People like Nani and Quaresma have been around long enough to just ignore it and get on with their job, but when they're taking different options and getting stared down or shouted at for not passing the ball to him, it does have an effect on the less experienced or younger players. We are seeing the team passing to Ronaldo when there are better options in the hope that he can produce a get out of jail card. Which oftentimes he can, because for all we may think of him he's a great footballer. But when it's not working for him, passing the ball to him so he can take a snap shot or try a pass that's not quite on isn't the best option. And also, Portugal get more criticism for not creating chances or not seeming threatening than a team like Austria do because you look at the Austria team on paper and say, apart from Alaba where is the flair going to come from? They're not a team which has a great number of players who, with sufficient freedom, could unlock a defence and turn a game, so playing organized, limited football is their best choice. That's not the case for Portugal. I do accept that you need to have some rigidity, because too much freedom in the system and it becomes disorganized when things are going wrong - and you get something like happened to Belgium, lots of great creative players but hardly anybody tracking back to help that injury-decimated defence. But that's what people like Ricardo Carvalho and Pepe are there for; Pepe, for all the hate he attracts, is a great defender when he keeps his head in order, it's just that he has a history of the red mist rising. He can marshal the troops effectively. Rapha Guerreiro has been really good as well. I'm just not convinced that with that much experience at the back and William Carvalho protecting them that they need as much rigidity as they've shown in earlier matches.
Throughout the tournament, Portugal have struggled to break down teams with well organized defences. Yes, some of those teams played defensively or stifling football, but that's because that was their only chance of progressing. That is always going to happen when you have teams that don't have any stars vs. a team which has a great number of flair players. On too many occasions when it has got to the final third Portugal haven't looked incisive, they've looked hesitant, like a team that isn't quite gelling. They've got too many good players for it to stay that way, but as I said, normally a team plays this disappointingly and they'd already have gone home; they've got the star power and the players with the skill level to turn a game that nobody should be surprised that if it finally clicks and they turn on the style they win this one, but let's not pretend that they haven't made it this far without being fortunate.
Besides, they still owe France a hiding for the BS penalty when Abel Xavier handled the ball after it had already gone off the pitch in the Euro 2000 semi.
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