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𝘉𝘺 𝘎𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰 / 𝘒𝘶𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵

France v/s Portugal - a replay of EURO 2016 final. Gonna be a THRILLLLLERRRR.

#ForçaGoa – Watching Portugal play feels like our own Goa is playing -- atleast for most of us, and for many reasons. Am a die-hard Ronaldo fan, who isn’t?

I bet, world football can’t ask for a better match than this – FIFA World Champions v/s Defending European Champions.

Germany, France, Portugal, and Hungary -- the Group of Death is wide open. Any of the 4 teams can qualify for the next round, even Hungary.

However, every single Goan will want a Portugal win and see them play again.

𝙒𝙃𝙊 𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙁𝘼𝙑𝙊𝙍𝙄𝙏𝙀𝙎?

France are favorites to be champions..! Not just this match.

But Portugal means we are talking about a prince and his magic – Ronaldo who can single-handedly win matches like Tendulkar did for us India, in cricket.

I have been watching Ronaldo since Euro 2004, he was full of tricks & dribbles then. What a phenomenon he has turned out since, a delight to watch. How much joy he gives to fans, not to forget nightmares to corporates like Coca Cola.

𝙋𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙐𝙂𝘼𝙇 𝙇𝙄𝙆𝙀𝙇𝙔 𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙀𝙐𝙋:

I may not be able to name our Indian football team, but am pretty sound with the Portuguese line-up:

𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗿: Rui Patricio

𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀: Semedo, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Rafael,

𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱: Danilo Pereira (Renato), William Carvalho, Bruno Fernandes,

𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀: Bernard Silva, Jota

𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗿: Ronaldo.

Pepe is still very quick, energetic, and cunning like a fox despite his age of 38 years. However, Portugal’s central midfield is lacking speed and ball-clinching ability like ‘Kante’.

Premier League superstars Bruno Fernandes & Bernardo Silva have been almost non-existent so far.

Renato played a good game as a sub last match, he could start the match even though his pace is just a ‘grasshopper hop’.

Two of Portugal’s best players – Joao Felix & Joao Cancelo may be still out - injured & sick, which has affected the team for sure.

Ronaldo will be guarded like a diamond, and why not. He is the only possible source who can strike the Eiffel Tower and eat the French toast.

𝙎𝙐𝙋𝙀𝙍𝙋𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙍 𝙁𝙍𝘼𝙉𝘾𝙀

France has world class players in Lloris (goalkeeper), Rafael Varane, Kante (who lives up to the Konkani translation of his name ‘Kante’ – thorn), Pogba, Adrian Rabiot, Benzema, Griezmann, Mbappe (I wonder why his name is not spelled Embape; so weird if we put ‘M’ before our names, try it).

Portugal might have scored 5-goals in their opening 2 matches, but they were against weaker defences than France. The French have conceded only 1-goal so far.

Curiously enough, the world’s best striking pair of Benzema & Mbappe are without a goal so far, but it is highly unlikely that top-class strikers will be blank for long. Am quite assured, one of them will fire against Portugal.

𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗬𝗦𝗜𝗦

The match will be a ‘cat & mouse’ game – highly defensive to start with and relying only on fast counter-attacks. Both sides will be cautious as a draw would see them through.

There will be sparks flying as soon as any team scores, then the fun begins and the game will go crazy as people will have ‘one eye’ on the Germany-Hungary match as well.

𝙈𝙔 𝙋𝙍𝙀𝘿𝙄𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉: 𝙋𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙐𝙂𝘼𝙇 1-1 𝙁𝙍𝘼𝙉𝘾𝙀