Portugal beat Croatia to advance to Round of 16!

It was heartbreak for Croatia that saw two goals taken back in extra time as they fall 2-1 to Portugal.

There was not much to this game until the 2nd half where Croatia started to stunt on Ronaldo’s Portugal. It was a shame to see the midfield trio of Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, and Neves go absolutely quiet for ANOTHER game. There will be some uncomfortable conversations if they cannot string together at minimum 2 goals against Spain.

For me, this midfield was one of the strongest of the World Cup and that was why I said Portugal was one of the teams that had the best chance to make it far and eventually win the World Cup. While CR7 has been abysmal, I account that to a team that doesn’t play for him. Watch the games and you’ll see that CR7 is pressing the back line and yelling for the ball in the box and yet, nothing happens. It is only when subs such as Francisco Conceição come in do they pass to CR7. He even had a goal called back due to a close offsides call and that is because they trusted to play a ball overtop where CR7 controlled it beautifully for a sweet finish.

I think the biggest thing Portugal have to learn is to play to their strengths and not play down to these teams and unfortunately they will have to play up since their path to the final looks scary with Spain/France and a surging USA team all possible opponents. One thing is for certain, this level of play is unacceptable for a team that came in with such high hopes.