Ronaldo – Portugal “died the war” to win tickets to the World Cup, why attack?

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal is only 1 match away from the 2022 World Cup finals.

Video of Portugal’s defeat against Turkey:

Portugal has won tickets to play in the play-off final World Cup 2022 Europe region after beating Turkey 3-1. At 1:45 a.m. on March 30, Ronaldo and his teammates will continue to play at home against North Macedonia, the team that shocked the world when they defeated the reigning EURO Italia champions.

Portugal in the morning won the ticket to pick up World Cup 2022

On the FIFA rankings, Portugal is currently ranked 8th and 59 places ahead of North Macedonia. In terms of force correlation, North Macedonia does not even have a player capable of being called up to the Portuguese team, let alone entering the main team of coach Fernando Santos. But the ball always contains surprises and “European Brazil” will not want to be the next victim after Italy.

But say anything, the Portuguese fans and Ronaldo fans must have been delighted to know that the opponent in the World Cup play-off final was North Macedonia, not Italy. Obviously, the opportunity for Ronaldo and his teammates to book flights to Qatar is brighter than ever.

Why does Portugal have to attack?

Coach Santos was criticized a lot after Portugal could not win a direct ticket to the World Cup 2022. Many commented that the strategy of kicking the bottom door waiting for the opportunity to counterattack of the 67-year-old military leader once brought “Brazil in Europe. Europe” winning EURO 2016 is outdated and no longer suitable for existing people.

Portugal owns a desirable attack

Indeed, coach Santos owns the attack that is considered the strongest in Portuguese football for nearly 20 years. Besides Ronaldo, the betel nut team also has Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo (Man City), Bruno Fernandes (MU), Diogo Jota (Liverpool), Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid) are all attacking stars in the ” number of cheeks” in Europe.

Coach Santos has probably studied to refresh the tactics in the 4 months since the defeat against Serbia. In the match against Turkey in the play-off semi-finals, Portugal completely transformed when playing a beautiful attacking football. “European Brazil” holds the ball more than the opponent (60% compared to 40%), has more shots (16 versus 12).

As for North Macedonia, they suffered 32 shots from Italy in the play-off semi-finals, but it was a match where the “Azzurri” strikers were all ungainly in front of goal. Portugal is different, scoring has never been a problem for them because coach Santos has a quality attack in hand including Ronaldo, Jota, Felix, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva.

Another reason why Portugal have to play offensively is to cover the hole in the defense after Ruben Dias is injured. In the match against Turkey, coach Santos had to use midfielder Danilo Pereira to pair with 38-year-old Fonte because Pepe had Covid-19. Even when Pepe recovered in time, Portugal’s defense was not appreciated because the former Real Madrid midfielder was also 39 years old.

Cancelo will return to the match against North Macedonia after serving a suspension, but the Man City full-back has never been appreciated for his defensive ability. On the opposite flank, Guerreiro is similar. Therefore, taking compensation is the optimal solution for Portugal in this life-and-death battle.