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MOTD: Poland 1-1 Portugal (3-5 pens)

By on June 30, 2016

Portugal haven’t exactly been on fire at the European Championships this summer. Still, they’ve managed to wriggle their way into the semi-finals of the tournament with a quarterfinal victory over Poland on penalties.  The only record Portugal have broken at Euro 2016 has been for their mediocrity, having become the first team ever to advance to the semi-finals of the competition without winning a single game in regulation time.

They drew three times in the Group Stages, defeated Croatia in extra-time in the Round of 16, and have once again advanced by the slimmest margins as Ricardo Quaresma’s spot-kick put Poland in their rear-view mirrors.

Cristiano Ronaldo had a torrid night in front of goal, completely misfiring three golden opportunities and putting just one of five good chances on target. However, he stepped up to the plate when it really mattered in the penalty shootout and calmly slotted home.

After the first seven penalties found their way into the back of the net, Rui Patricio brilliantly saved Jakub Blaszczykowski’s low effort to give substitute Quaresma a chance to win it with Portugal’s fifth penalty.   It was almost as if Quaresma was so focused on his penalty that he forgot that he had actually won the game for Portugal after scoring, pausing twice before bursting off towards the corner to celebrate.

“It was enormous pressure and I had an entire country in my hands,” Quaresma said, per The Guardian. “But I stayed positive and I knew I was going to score. I was very confident. We’re on the right track and we’re going to continue.”

Robert Lewandowski fired Poland into the lead in the second minute (the second fastest goal in Euro history) after Portugal full-back Cédric Soares, making his first appearance of the tournament, horribly misjudged a diagonal ball over the top. Poland’s Kamil Grosicki broke in down the left before cutting the ball back for Lewandowski to finish from the middle of the box.

Yet eighteen-year-old Renato Sanchez equalized for Portugal just after the half hour mark and Fernando Santos’ men clinched the win in penalties. Portugal weren’t particularly convincing, but good enough on the night.

Although the hulking Sanchez usually operates as a center-forward he was deployed in a wide position on the night and the decision payed dividends for Portugal. While Sanchez was at times little clumsy in defense, the Bayern Munich singing tracked back admirably and sent Portugal roaring back into the game in the thirty-thirty minute.  He combined with Nani down the right and blasted a deflected strike into the back of the net from the edge of the box, becoming the third youngest player to score in the Euros.

Ronaldo had a hatful of chances to complete Portugal’s comeback in regular time yet uncharacteristically let chance after chance go begging.  He first saw Poland goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański save a tame, low effort from twenty-five yards and then fired into the side netting on the end of Nani’s incisive through-ball.  On the other side of the half, he completely whiffed a difficult volley from Joāo Moutinho’s clipped ball over the top and misjudged another difficult cross in extra-time.  Ronaldo didn’t even throw a tantrum at that point, instead simply holding his head in disbelief.

For this reason, Ronaldo had more riding on the penalty shoot-out than anybody else.  Having seen Lionel Messi’s devastating penalty miss against Chile in the Copa América Centenario final last weekend Ronaldo elected to go first in the shootout and buried his spot-kick.

Such the pressure, Ronaldo could barely watch the rest of the shootout from the halfway line.  While the rest of his teammates stood arm-in-arm the thirty-one-year-old crouched behind them, only peeking over a shoulder to watch each attempt.

Ronaldo pumped his fists after Patricio’s save and let out a triumphant roar when Quaresma sent Portugal into the semi-final for the fifth time in seven major tournaments dating back to 2000.

Homepage photo credit: Fanny Schertzer [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.