Roy Hodgson’s England raised a few eyebrows in Group D, Holland took the poison pill in the Group of Death, and Russia’s unexpected capitulation more than ignited what many thought would be the Group of Sleep. Yet, the pre-tournament favorites are still well in the running as Euro 2012 enters the quarter final phase this evening.
That’s not to say though, that Germany and Spain will have a free-pass to the final in Kiev come July1st. Indeed, such has been the nature of these finals that banana skins lie at every turn. Take for instance, Russia; who would have thought that a team that so easily brushed aside the Czechs 4-1 in their opening game, would be heading home after losing to Greece? Or Sweden, who after sloppily giving away leads against Ukraine and England, then turned on a superb performance to deny France top spot in Group D.
Given all that, today’s clash between the surprising Czechs and Ronaldo’s Portugal could provide yet another shock outcome – if the Czechs win. If any team looks likely to upset the odds and get the big prize ahead of the big two it’s got to be Portugal. Much has been made of Ronaldo’s lacklustre showing against Germany and Denmark – as well as his star turn in the Holland game – but, for all he brings, Portugal have a bit more going for them than the Real Madrid superstar. They look solid all over the pitch; Fabio Coentrao has been the stand out left back here and Bruno Alvez and Pepe form quite an intimidating partnership in central defence, if they can keep their physicality in check. The midfield may lack an obvious creative genius, but the trio of Miguel Veloso, Raul Meireles and Joao Moutinho provide tons of neat passing and box-to-box endeavour, leaving the inspiration to Ronaldo and Nani on the flanks.
They’ll be expected to see off a Czech Republic side shorn of their midfield star Tomas Rosicky, and Petr Cech will have to be at his best – something we haven’t seen at this finals – to keep out the Portuguese. He’ll hardly be encouraged by the fact that Ronaldo has smacked a tournament-high 13 shots on target so far. That will also have consequences for the Czech’s most potent attacking outlet, overlapping right back Theodor Gebre Selassie, who’ll have his hands full tracking the Portuguese captain. On the other flank, David Limbersky offers overlapping drive as well, and Michal Kadlec, from Bayer Leverkusen, is competent in central defence. Jaroslav Plasil and Tomas Hubschman will have to fill in the void left by Rosicky’s absence and the pair of Petr Jiracek and Vaclav Pilar, each with two goals so far, will need to be at their sharpest to make up for Milan Baros’ continued failings. Then again the former Liverpool striker could finally wake from his slumber.
This should be an easy win for Portugal.
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