It is honestly. Very few teams historically have been able to do that. Doesn’t make it impossible for this group of players though. Certainly within their reach.
Sure the Seleção can be pragmatic but they dont have to play this defensive style, counter attack, small peen mentality to win. They won Euro 2016 10 years ago, to the day (crazy its been exactly 10 years since then) by barely making it through each game. They got lucky that tournament and I have no problem saying that. Sure they had a specific defensive first style of play but if you play that tournament over again 99 out of 100 they lose. Going back further in the 90s and to mid 2000s, they played this possession with beautiful build up play but they could never finish. That was the criticism with the Seleção for so long. They didnt have a great striker. By the time Ronaldo became the striker they got away from that style of play.... I want to see that playing style again where the midfield was the catalyst for all scoring opportunities.
They were unlucky in that tournament and I have zero problems saying that. Ball wouldn't go in vs Iceland, Pk miss vs Austria where we dominated and then Hungary with 2 deflected goals and a wonder strike. A huge defensive mistake vs Poland the only real threat they made. Croatia was 50/50 but we were better. Wales was a normal game. The final they take out Ronaldo and no card. What luck? That was Garra
We just needed a manager to keep our style of play from qualifiers. Diogo Jotas passing was a huge blow to the maybe
Best Portuguese side I saw was 2000-2002. Very unlucky at Euro 2000. The handball against Xavier was a tough call, especially in light of how Germany got away with a similar incident against the US at the WC in full view of the referee. But the 2002 WC was a scam. Hyundai and Sony paid those corrupt Swiss charlatans well. Shame Paulo Sousa's knees went. One of the great CMs. Like Spain losing Rodri, Xavi or Iniesta. Imagine Spain trying to win a World cup or Euro without them. He was their level. Very underrated footballer and a big reason why that generation couldn't control games, see results out.
Not a coincidence either that Juve couldn't win the UCL after he left. Won it with Dortmund the season after he won it with Juve. Despite having Zidane, Deschamps in the midfield, Juve were never in the game because of him.
The best for me are 2004-2006 side under Scolari with the team build around the key player of Porto CL winning team. They should have won that Euro if not for their arrogance thinking they already won the game because it's against Greece, well they got what they deserve in the end. As for 2006 it was a close match against France in the semi and what Portugal really lacking at the time was striker option because Pauleta was useless up front and that's the reason they lost, had they had a more mature Ronaldo they could have won that WC I believe.
Yeah… Greece twice, and in the final, one of the worst moments, by far! they were the very definition of “park the bus” I couldn’t sleep for a week. lol!
wont happen… you need a special kinda group/chemistry. 2004 was the last time portugal played close to that. 2016 was a bore, we’re still figuring it out. For me, the best team I ever watched: Brazil with Ronaldo/Cafu/Romario/RC etc. beautiful!
For sure that team had garra. But they definitely got lucky too because the style Fernando Santos had them play. I know that team would have done better if they played a much more attacking style.
Jorge Jesus fez uma visita à sua antiga equipa Al-Nassr no estágio na Cidade do Futebol. pic.twitter.com/vdngMmnQAo— B24 (@B24PT) July 28, 2026