Portugal and Fernando Santos Are Still Searching for a Euro 2016 Breakthrough

As Portugal are finding out, the very nature of this extended European Championship is that it isn’t always about how you start but how you finish.

There have been a huge number of matches in which teams plugging away have finally got their rewards in the closing moments: France against Romania and Albania, Spain against the Czech Republic and England against Wales are among those that come to mind.

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In those cases, pressure has built and built until goals have become almost inevitable, and the fact the four best third-placed teams qualify for the knockout rounds has given a similar feel to the group stage too.

You can afford a slip-up in at least one, probably two, of your matches. You are still more than likely to progress with just one win under your belt. Keep plugging away, and eventually you’ll get there.

Of course, you want to be playing the exciting, winning football we’ve seen from Spain and Italy—the only two teams with 100 per cent records thus far—but if you’re not just yet, then the key is to force those late winning or equalising goals. To keep getting points on the board, basically.

But a point is all Portugal have managed in each of their two matches so far, with the lack of late winners against Iceland and Austria leaving them without the comfort blanket of a victory in what was billed as a fairly winnable Group F.

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Unlike those teams that have been able to hide behind late moments of drama, their flaws have been exacerbated by the lack of a soothing victory, which looks to be exactly what these somewhat edgy, unsure players need if they are to have any hope of forming a cohesive unit.

Coach Fernando Santos doesn’t give you the impression he knows his best team, chopping and changing players in the attacking positions and fielding interchangeable figures in central midfield and at full-back.

None of this would have been a problem if Cristiano Ronaldo had his shooting boots on, of course, but as we discussed after the Austria result, the Ronaldo shadow that plenty of the Seleccao players choose to hide behind can’t be used as an excuse if Portugal are to have any desire of winning this tournament.

Winning it will come in the fine details, the cool head, the accurate pass, the late winning goal.

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Santos, a coach in his 60s in his 11th different managerial role, has to decide how best to drum these qualities into his players—and if he has it in him to do so.

Because he just looks like joining a long list of Portugal managers to try and fail in tournaments, joining the back of the conveyor belt behind the likes of Paulo Bento, Carlos Queiroz and Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Some of those did better than others, and it should be pointed out just how close Portugal have come to glory this century (two Euro semi-finals and a final), but they have always lacked that extra something.

And in this tournament full of battling, impressive underdogs who are only too willing to make you look foolish, finding that extra something is going to be crucial. The pressure will fall on the coaches to provide that, and we’ve seen some—most notably Italy’s Antonio Conte—thrive under that pressure already.

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Others, such as England’s Roy Hodgson, will be forced to abandon all of their beliefs and throw caution to the wind—as the inherently conservative coach did when he threw on almost all of his attacking talents in a bid to find a winner against Wales. Daniel Sturridge duly obliged.

Has Santos got that in his locker? Perhaps crucially, does Ronaldo trust in him enough to find it?

Given Albania finished third in Group A with a minus-two goal difference and that Group E’s third-place team could well end up on just one point, it might be that Portugal don’t need to win any games to progress to the knockout stages. In that scenario, a draw against Hungary in Lyon on Wednesday would be enough.

But this is a team that longs for a victory, that breakthrough goal and a sense of relief. They seem convinced it has to come from Ronaldo, but the others around him need to take responsibility too.

If it does eventually come, then anything could be possible from there in what is a fairly wide-open tournament.

Portugal need to discover those finer details sooner rather than later, though, or else they’ll be watching plenty of the tournament from home.