𝘉𝘺 𝘎𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰 / 𝘒𝘶𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵
Pundits, experts, and everyone have their own views and predictions on the Portugal-Belgium match, I have my own.
History in the recent past shows top teams revolving around key players – for a period of 4 to 8 years and have contributed towards the success.
Brazil with Brazilian legends Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka were at their peak from 1998 to 2002 where Brazil were runners-up & winners respectively, after Romario, Bebeto, Dunga had left the 1994 FIFA World Cup Champions.
Spain, with their cream of players, won the 2008 Euro, 2010 World Cup and 2012.
Portugal reached the semi-finals of Euro 2012, won the Euro 2016, Nations League 2019 – all under the magician Cristian Ronaldo
𝘽𝙀𝙇𝙂𝙄𝙐𝙈 – 𝘼 𝙏𝙀𝘼𝙈 𝙏𝙊 𝘽𝙀𝘼𝙏
In the Arab world, they are called Belgique (pronounced Beljikee).
Although I have cared little where they are placed on google-map, I have been a big fan of the Belgium team since the 2014 World Cup at Brazil, where I thought they would do well.
Well, they had topped the group with 9 points, and won the pre-quarters before losing to a Messi-inspired Argentina by 1 goal in the Quarter-finals.
Belgium finished 3rd at the 2018 World Cup which has been forgotten by many. The team revolves around 2 key players – midfielder Kevin De Bryne and striker Lukaku.
Honestly, I haven’t seen a single match of Belgium this Euro but they are considered one of the finest sides. Am sure the players have come of age to deliver for their country, finally.
𝙋𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙐𝙂𝘼𝙇 𝙋𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙍
I love to watch most-feared defender Pepe in defence, he will the man to bottle Lukaku although am sure Lukaku will play more on the right-wing (against Portugal left-back Rafael).
Portugal’s midfield is a loophole, Bruno Fernandes - a superstar at Man United is just a ghost of himself. He would have played better against the Belgium midfield, but am sure coach Fernando Santos will not read this post to be influenced to field him.
Portugal’s ‘recharged battery’ Renato Sanches is neither defensive nor offensive, still, he clicked the last match. He won’t, against Belgium, with his kind of game.
Every Portuguese fan and Goans have high hopes on one player - a player who can beat any team in the world - ‘Christian’ Ronaldo. Belgium knows that and will ‘shadow mark’ the ‘capitao’ all through and avoid giving away penalties.
If the game remains level for the first 60 minutes or goes extra-time, the colder-skinned Belgiots (I wonder what people of Belgium are called) will surely lose steam and it will be Ronaldo who will decide the winner; he has a history of scoring most goals in the final quarter and dying minutes.
We must understand how strongly Ronaldo is marked everywhere, but amazingly he succeeds scoring nevertheless. I just hope he gets the record-breaking goal to overcome Iranian Ali Daie before Portugal bows out.
𝗠𝗬 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡:
𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝟭 – 𝟮 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗴𝗶𝘂𝗺
𝗗𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀!