Uruguay exploit Portugal’s offensive fragility as their striker duo wreck the Portuguese ship
Second game of the knockout stages saw Oscar Washington Tabarez’s Urguay encounter with Fernando Santos’ Portugal. Uruguay finished top of a relatively easy group, while Portugal had a roller coaster of a final match day which ended with them going through.
Uruguay continued with the 4–4–2 diamond which they utilized in their last match against Russia, as for Portugal they maintained their regular 4–4–2 set up. Despite having good ball passers and creators in Torreira and Bentancur, Tabarez chose to stick with faster ball progression up the field using his two strikers, Cavani and Suarez, who created a revolving question about how they would cope together after Forlan’s retirement. Aerial balls were played towards the two strikers to bypass any sort of pressing from the Portugal midfield, the deadly duo’s positioning was quite interesting as one player occupied the center while the other occupied the wing, this provided Muslera with two aerial positions. Also, playing aerial balls towards the Portuguese full backs was a smart decision from Tabarez considering their height, and Suarez-Cavani’s aerial ability — It’s quite interesting how Suarez’s aerial ability is rarely mentioned when pointing out his strengths, possibly due to him being 1 m 82, but similar to Tim Cahill his leap and time of jump is what makes him a fierce opposition in the air — also on offensive transitions, Cavani and Suarez occupied positions behind the Portuguese full backs who usually maintained advanced positions when Portugal where in control, this led to stretching the Portuguese defensive line and providing Cavani and Suarez with time and space on the ball. A brilliant one-two was all it took as the pair combined to open the score for Uruguay.
Defensively, Uruguay set up in a flat 4–4–1–1 with Nandez and Vecino positioning on the wings to prevent Guerreiro and Pereira’s threat, an option usually used by the Portuguese side at Euro 2016. In addition to Cavani’s pressing of Adrien Silva and Carvalho, while also fielding in for Vecino if the Inter player had to shift to maintain the defensive chain. Portugal failed to penetrate and their crosses were met by Godin and Gimenez who continued their outstanding performance this tournament, Ricardo Quaresma was introduced in the second half to provide better crosses, and despite the lack of clear cut chances for Portugal, they managed to score through a header as both Godin and Gimenez were too busy with Ronaldo’s leap that they left Pepe free.
Uruguay managed to take the lead again as a long ball towards Suarez eventually reached Cavani, who got his second of the day as the ball curled into the far post. Portugal tried to equalize, but their dependence on crosses and lack of penetration a feature during their Euro 2016 journey meant that they were unable to get back in the game. Apart from a win against Egypt in March, the last time Portugal came back from a losing position to win a game in 90 mins was against Armenia in 2015, this proves two things during Fernando Santos’ tenure; Portugal’s defensive stability and their lack of offensive options, mainly depending on crosses or counter attacks. On the night, Uruguay manged to outplay Portugal physically, tactically, and technically, and their next step is to face a star studded France team in the Quarter Finals.
