Portugal
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JerseyAddict
Well-known member
Well as I've seen the game Austrian goalkepeer is a man of the match.
Besides Ronaldo can't shoot penalties. Hehe
BBZ8800
Senior Member
Some people are questioning Renato's real age:
http://www.*********/euro2016/en/article/young-gifted-and-black-why-renato-sanches-age-claims-veer-dangerously-close-to-racism/10ngidzt9l3lj1olr72udg9q4t
Renato Sanches is cursed with being young, gifted and black. Like so many top talents before him, he's being subjected to a hateful and baseless smear campaign that has its roots in racism.
The 18-year-old has blossomed into one of the brightest stars of Euro 2016, improving with every game just as his compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo did 12 years ago. Ronaldo never had to fend off questions about his age like Sanches, however; and the reason is because Ronaldo is white.
Instead of looking forward to Wednesday's semi-final against Wales with wide-eyed anticipation, Sanches is being hounded with accusations that his date of birth is fake and that he's actually many years older. Portugal coach Fernando Santos dismissed speculation in Tuesday's pre-match press conference that his youngest star is considerably older.
"Sanches was born in Portugal, not just anywhere, in Portugal," he told reporters. "He is 18, I'm 61. There's no doubt about that. I was born 61 years ago and I'm 61. He was born 18 years ago, he's 18."
The person alleged to be responsible for making a public debate out of Benfica star Sanches' age is Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho. On March 20, a lengthy Facebook post from the club president included this indirect call for Sanches' birth date of August 18, 1997 to be clarified: "1997 was already in a modern period of our society, and, as such, if they just release the birth certificate of hospital Amadora-Sintra [where Sanches was born] they will put this matter to bed once and for all."
Jornal de Noticias revealed that Sanches' father moved to France having split up with his mother a few months after his birth. As a result, Sanches' birth wasn't registered until 2002, when his father returned to Portugal. The player has no case to answer and, whether intended consciously or unconsciously, those who continue to raise the question of his age are veering dangerously close to racism.
The comments were a low blow and arrived at a convenient time as Sporting tussled for the Primeira Liga title with Benfica. It didn't affect Sanches sportingly in the short-term, thankfully. Benfica finished two points clear of Sporting and Bayern Munich splashed out €35 million on one of the most talented young players in the world.
Sanches wasn't finished with the matter, though. Record reported in May that the teenager has demanded that the Sporting president apologise publicly for his comments or face being sued. "He would have a valid defamation case because it raises doubts about the honour and reputation of a very sensitive issue of Sanches' age," Portuguese libel lawyer Joao Diogo Manteigas said.
This week the news once again hit the headlines when former Auxerre coach Guy Roux told a Romanian news outlet: "[Sanches] says that he is 18 years old, but I believe that we have to look at his past. His date of birth was declared years after he was born, so his registered date is not correct. I can assure you that he is 23 or 24."
Sanches is justifiably bitter about the slanderous stories - after all, he's done nothing to deserve it. "A lot of people disrespected Benfica and myself with those stories," he said last month. "They said Renato wasn't 18, but 22 or 23. I grew up in Portugal I was at Benfica for 10 years - how could I be 25 as some have claimed?"
The underlying issue that is often at play when a black player is questioned about his age is one of powerful racial prejudices. There have been numerous instances over the past 30 years where African youth teams have been caught fielding overage players. FIFA banned Nigerian youth teams in 1989 for that offence, a South African Under-15 captain was revealed to be 24 years old by a journalist, and in 2010 Senegal withdrew three Under-17 national team players after an MRI scan revealed they were overage.
The common factor here is that all these incidents involve Africans. Why? The answer is a complicated one, with blame falling at the feet of many parties. Sometimes agents and players will play an active role in lying about their age. Sometimes teams will knowingly turn a blind eye to players who look or act older than they claim.
However, sometimes the relative poverty in parts of the continent mean that birth records and school years aren't tracked as well as in Europe and America. Some of the players accused of cheating might not even know themselves that they are older than they are claiming.
But Sanches isn't African and he's never lived in Africa. Like many black men living in Europe, that hasn't stopped others from questioning his age. If there were doubts about Sanches' age they should have been raised in private, rather than leave him with baggage that will creep behind him for the rest of his career.
http://www.*********/euro2016/en/article/young-gifted-and-black-why-renato-sanches-age-claims-veer-dangerously-close-to-racism/10ngidzt9l3lj1olr72udg9q4t
Renato Sanches is cursed with being young, gifted and black. Like so many top talents before him, he's being subjected to a hateful and baseless smear campaign that has its roots in racism.
The 18-year-old has blossomed into one of the brightest stars of Euro 2016, improving with every game just as his compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo did 12 years ago. Ronaldo never had to fend off questions about his age like Sanches, however; and the reason is because Ronaldo is white.
Instead of looking forward to Wednesday's semi-final against Wales with wide-eyed anticipation, Sanches is being hounded with accusations that his date of birth is fake and that he's actually many years older. Portugal coach Fernando Santos dismissed speculation in Tuesday's pre-match press conference that his youngest star is considerably older.
"Sanches was born in Portugal, not just anywhere, in Portugal," he told reporters. "He is 18, I'm 61. There's no doubt about that. I was born 61 years ago and I'm 61. He was born 18 years ago, he's 18."
The person alleged to be responsible for making a public debate out of Benfica star Sanches' age is Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho. On March 20, a lengthy Facebook post from the club president included this indirect call for Sanches' birth date of August 18, 1997 to be clarified: "1997 was already in a modern period of our society, and, as such, if they just release the birth certificate of hospital Amadora-Sintra [where Sanches was born] they will put this matter to bed once and for all."
Jornal de Noticias revealed that Sanches' father moved to France having split up with his mother a few months after his birth. As a result, Sanches' birth wasn't registered until 2002, when his father returned to Portugal. The player has no case to answer and, whether intended consciously or unconsciously, those who continue to raise the question of his age are veering dangerously close to racism.
The comments were a low blow and arrived at a convenient time as Sporting tussled for the Primeira Liga title with Benfica. It didn't affect Sanches sportingly in the short-term, thankfully. Benfica finished two points clear of Sporting and Bayern Munich splashed out €35 million on one of the most talented young players in the world.
Sanches wasn't finished with the matter, though. Record reported in May that the teenager has demanded that the Sporting president apologise publicly for his comments or face being sued. "He would have a valid defamation case because it raises doubts about the honour and reputation of a very sensitive issue of Sanches' age," Portuguese libel lawyer Joao Diogo Manteigas said.
This week the news once again hit the headlines when former Auxerre coach Guy Roux told a Romanian news outlet: "[Sanches] says that he is 18 years old, but I believe that we have to look at his past. His date of birth was declared years after he was born, so his registered date is not correct. I can assure you that he is 23 or 24."
Sanches is justifiably bitter about the slanderous stories - after all, he's done nothing to deserve it. "A lot of people disrespected Benfica and myself with those stories," he said last month. "They said Renato wasn't 18, but 22 or 23. I grew up in Portugal I was at Benfica for 10 years - how could I be 25 as some have claimed?"
The underlying issue that is often at play when a black player is questioned about his age is one of powerful racial prejudices. There have been numerous instances over the past 30 years where African youth teams have been caught fielding overage players. FIFA banned Nigerian youth teams in 1989 for that offence, a South African Under-15 captain was revealed to be 24 years old by a journalist, and in 2010 Senegal withdrew three Under-17 national team players after an MRI scan revealed they were overage.
The common factor here is that all these incidents involve Africans. Why? The answer is a complicated one, with blame falling at the feet of many parties. Sometimes agents and players will play an active role in lying about their age. Sometimes teams will knowingly turn a blind eye to players who look or act older than they claim.
However, sometimes the relative poverty in parts of the continent mean that birth records and school years aren't tracked as well as in Europe and America. Some of the players accused of cheating might not even know themselves that they are older than they are claiming.
But Sanches isn't African and he's never lived in Africa. Like many black men living in Europe, that hasn't stopped others from questioning his age. If there were doubts about Sanches' age they should have been raised in private, rather than leave him with baggage that will creep behind him for the rest of his career.
El Flaco
Active member
Arjen Robben: "I don't want to take anything away from Portugal's performance, but they're a little lucky with the draw. After all, France, Germany, Spain and Italy were all in the other bracket. You need a bit of luck but if you make it to the final you deserve it. But it will be tough for Portugal."
https://streamable.com/mgrp
https://streamable.com/mgrp
El Flaco
Active member
Portugal manager Fernando Santos: "I want them to keep saying the same thing. That Portugal won [Euro 16] without deserving it, that's what i'd like, it'd be great!"
http://www.record.xl.pt/internacion...gal-ganhou-sem-merecer-era-um-espetaculo.html
http://www.record.xl.pt/internacion...gal-ganhou-sem-merecer-era-um-espetaculo.html
barcanuck
New member
They forgot this guy : [tw]748624031226732544[/tw]
Pablo Escobar
New member
That mustache 
.
I think it's pretty weird to accuse Renato since the guy is born in Portugal ( or is he?
) but this goes more for Eto'o or Umtiti born in Cameroon and I seriously think Umtiti will be a candidate for fake age soon.
As for Carvalho, I think its rather that mustache that makes him +10, but it's very often these days us guys choose beard early and the older moms and dads don't understand cause it makes us look older. Generation gap.
.I think it's pretty weird to accuse Renato since the guy is born in Portugal ( or is he?
) but this goes more for Eto'o or Umtiti born in Cameroon and I seriously think Umtiti will be a candidate for fake age soon.As for Carvalho, I think its rather that mustache that makes him +10, but it's very often these days us guys choose beard early and the older moms and dads don't understand cause it makes us look older. Generation gap
.
Pablo Escobar
New member
World Cup 2002 - Groups Stage, 3rd favorites after Argentina and France to win the Trophy ( all 3 out in the GS )
Euro 2004 - Home, lose opening and lose final to the worst rated team
WC 2006 - After one of the most dirty matches in the history of the football they make it to the QF, Figo & others should've been fed to the pigs after that game with Ned, Ronaldo showing his very low caracter with England, just another example of a shitty country and its shitty people.
- Figo, Rui Costa etc era over
Euro 2008 - QF
WC 2010 - Round of 16 coming 2nd in the Group
Euro 2012 - SF, beat Czech Republic...
WC 2014 - Group Stage, eliminated by USA.
Euro 2016 - This shit team won without having 1 single though opponent en route to the final, worst Euro in history + format couldn't possibly be worse.
Euro 2004 - Home, lose opening and lose final to the worst rated team
WC 2006 - After one of the most dirty matches in the history of the football they make it to the QF, Figo & others should've been fed to the pigs after that game with Ned, Ronaldo showing his very low caracter with England, just another example of a shitty country and its shitty people.
- Figo, Rui Costa etc era over
Euro 2008 - QF
WC 2010 - Round of 16 coming 2nd in the Group
Euro 2012 - SF, beat Czech Republic...
WC 2014 - Group Stage, eliminated by USA.
Euro 2016 - This shit team won without having 1 single though opponent en route to the final, worst Euro in history + format couldn't possibly be worse.
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El Flaco
Active member
Portugal coach Fernando Santos after their draw vs Austria: "I’m staying until July 11th and I’m not going to be on holiday. How can I make this promise? Because I believe in my players. Why shouldn’t I believe in them?"
http://indianexpress.com/article/sp...y-will-reach-final-cristiano-ronaldo-2868039/
http://indianexpress.com/article/sp...y-will-reach-final-cristiano-ronaldo-2868039/
BBZ8800
Senior Member
More or less, they have better results than England, Netherlands. Miles better than Croatia who didn't win a knockout match for 18 years already inspite of haveing players like Modric, Raki etc.
Portugal is somewhat tied with France and Italy, worse than Spain and Germany.
They aren't THAT bad as we won't to make them look.
About Euro, I look at them as on Simeone's Atletico.
They have a strong defense, and yet, they'll always score a goal in one way or another.
Knockout rounds:
Croatia 1:0, 120 mins
Poland 1:1, 120 mins
Wales 2:0, 90 mins
France 1:0, 120 mins
1 goal conceded in 450 minutes of knockout rounds.
Croatia wasn't that weak. People here in Croatia were saying that we'll reach the final and that we'll trash Portugal 3:0.
Poland wasn't that weak either.
France as a host and helped by Uefa and referees weren't an easy opponent either.
True, they haven't played against Germany, Italy and Spain, but those guys messed up also in their matches.
We often look at football only as a sport where you are supposed to play beautiful and where you should score more goals than the opponent (Barca's philosophy), but on the other hand, you can actually win trophies (not league tournaments since there you need to attack, attack and attack all the time to earn 3 points as often as possible), but in knockout tournaments, a strategy of not conceding a goal is equally as good and valid as ours: score as many as possible.
Teams like Portugal against whom teams can't score a goal are more or less unbeatable.
If you don't concede, you'll never lose. Except on penalties.
If you always score, that doesn't guarantee victories in the same way as not conceding.
So, to some extent: not conceding > scoring on every match (for knockout rounds)
Portugal's NT team and their coach has a part of Mourinho's (also a Portuguese) spirit and knockout tactics in them.
Play defensive, don't concede, with 2-3 good attackers you'll always score somehow.
Add some luck and trophies are quite understandable.
(Italy has the same tactics for years on WCs and Euros: don't concede and again, you'll never lose...)
Again, this strategy won't work over 38 matches in league championships.
But on tournaments with 4 knockout matches (Wcs or Euros) or in a CL with 2+2+2+1m knockout matches, it can work quite well.
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JerseyAddict
Well-known member
We'll you have some good points there and say against Croatia they arent to blame for winning but Croatia itself for loosing.
One huge thing that I noticed is how Portugal played KO phase and how he played group. in group stage they attacked and pressed and had so manny shots. And failed utterly. Suddenly in KO phase they were without shot or with 1 shot on target against Croatia nad France. I can't remeber and don't care to look stats with POland and Wales.
They totaly killed the game with no intence to attack seriously or whatever. Nice fact was said yesterday by our comentator. Even Greece 2004. (which all balimed for "uggly football") scored in first 70. min of the finals. Portugal did not tried that either.
Is this evolution of all KO phases of national/club competition? Even when you have a good team (Portugal has relatively good squad) you will bunker yourself and wait and pray the god for some counterattack/luckyshot/penalties... I mean... that is the reason why lots of people say football is dull and booring. 90min of nothing.
Good positioning and defence? NICE. I see that in a chess match also. I don't see 100m players in chess.
One huge thing that I noticed is how Portugal played KO phase and how he played group. in group stage they attacked and pressed and had so manny shots. And failed utterly. Suddenly in KO phase they were without shot or with 1 shot on target against Croatia nad France. I can't remeber and don't care to look stats with POland and Wales.
They totaly killed the game with no intence to attack seriously or whatever. Nice fact was said yesterday by our comentator. Even Greece 2004. (which all balimed for "uggly football") scored in first 70. min of the finals. Portugal did not tried that either.
Is this evolution of all KO phases of national/club competition? Even when you have a good team (Portugal has relatively good squad) you will bunker yourself and wait and pray the god for some counterattack/luckyshot/penalties... I mean... that is the reason why lots of people say football is dull and booring. 90min of nothing.
Good positioning and defence? NICE. I see that in a chess match also. I don't see 100m players in chess.
BBZ8800
Senior Member
[MENTION=21233]JerseyAddict[/MENTION]
You are right about that.
But me personally, if I were a coach, I would also play for a result.
If I would have someone like Messi in my team=then fine, I would go all in and attack
But, if I would have a team like England=I would play cautious
I would have a team like Italy=cautious
Croatia (with good players but with weak mental strength)=either cautious or all in, since they are weak mentally and who knows whether they'll be able to play defensive and concentrated for 2-3-4 matches in a row without a mistake
Belgium=cautios
Portugal=cautious
More or less, only Germany and Spain had some quality to go out and attack every opponent on this Euro.
But even then, Spain sucked in a lot of areas (like attack and motivation).
La liga and 38 matches over 10 Months is one thing.
You need to play active and try to win in those matches.
But in KO matches CL/Euros/WC, I would personally play the same as Mourinho/Portugal/Italy and similar teams unless my team would be Barca or German NT team which have players who are individually and as a team better than other teams in a tournament.
So, to some extent, maybe this is the future of Euros/WCs (unless some teams will be waaaaay stronger than others).
Defending and counterattacking and scoring a single goal from some mistake or a set piece (Portugal's free kick yesterday also) seems like a best recipe in matches where teams are 50:50 in strength.
Imo, Portugal aren't that lucky.
Other teams are more naive and very mentally fragile (Croatia and France mostly, from their knockout rounds opponents).
Portugal had the smartest tactics and guys who hadn't crumbled in the knockout stages.
Someone will say: but they were crap in a group stage.
Well, yes, Portugal would never win La liga over 38 matches with this style of play.
But I have said something similar for Barca vs Real/Atletico in knockout matches.
Barca has more quality for tournaments which last 38 rounds and 10 Months.
But in knockout matches where you need some luck, but tons of concentration and motivation and where every mistake is deadly (unlike in La liga where you have time to fix majority of defeats in the next weeks), Barca could use some modified approach.
Remember Rijkaard in 2005 against Chelsea. He played attacking, Mou played like Portugal.
Mou won.
Next year, Barca:Chelsea in 1/8 of a CL. Barca didn't play all in attacking like in 2005.
We played cautious.
Barca cautious and Chelsea cautious, but we have a better individual players, and that's it.
Remove opponent's counterattacks and some individual errors in defense, and we are unbeatable.
Barca won a tie and won a CL that year, with the same recipe against Milan in semis, for example. Very, very cautious Barca.
2015, Lucho's Barca played less attacking than Barca from previous seasons.
We won.
This year, (2016) we turned into more attacking Barca, we were burned in knockout stages again.
Someone will reply: but with Pep, we attacked and won.
Well, yes.
That happened back then.
Either Pep was a genius, or we were just too strong for any opponent, or we were somewhat lucky and brave or a mixture of everything, who knows?
It seems that in majority of other CLs/WCs/Euros over last 20 years=NOT the best team is winning titles, but a team who plays the smartest, with a right level of concentration, motivation, physical energy for key weeks and with a right amount of defending and counterattacks.
One more thing, check the pattern of this year's biggest tournaments:
Euro 2016:
Por:Croatia 1:0
Poroland 1:1
Por:Wales 2:0
Por:France 1:0
-- 450 minutes, 1 goal conceded in knockout stages
-- 3 clean sheets
Champions league 2016:
Real:Roma 2:0, 2:0
Real:Wolfsburg 0:2, 3:0
Real:Man. City 0:0, 1:0
Real:Atletico 1:1
-- 7 matches, 5 clean sheets, 3 goals conceded in 7 knockout matches
Copa America 2016:
Chile:Mexico 7:0
Chile:Colombia 2:0
Chile:Argentina 0:0
-- Chile, 0 goals conceded, lol
So, Real, Portugal and Chile combined played:
7+4+3 knockout matches this year.
They conceded 3+1+0 goals in 14 matches (4 goals in 14 matches).
Or, they conceded only in 3 matches out of 14 (Wolfsburg, Atletico, Poland).
So, these 3 teams had 11 clean sheets in 14 matches.
It is easy to dismiss someone's success just by saying: they were lucky, they had an easy draw and similar.
The fact is: defenses are winning in knockout matches lately.
Key is not to concede a goal.
And then you have Barca, who had to face Atletico, and we had that stat that Barca conceded at least 1 goal in the last 13 out of 14 matches with Spanish opponents in knockout rounds in European matches.
In that term, Barca is sometimes naive the same as Croatia.
Croatia hadn't win a knockout match for 18 years in a row, yet they believe it is someone else's fault and that they are just unlucky.
Barca are conceding too many goals in knockout stages and we also think that we should continue "our" way.
Our team should learn how to play more cautious against Atletico, Real and Bayern in knockout matches.
In La liga, fine, go out and attack. If we'll lose, we will win points in the next round, no big deal.
But if we concede 1-2 goals against Atletico in knockout stages, we are dead.
If someone replies: but we won against AM xx times in La liga (I'll shoot myself).
That's a whole different world. Different tournament, different approach, different stakes.
You aren't KO'd after one defeat and it is easier to attack as crazy in those tournaments, since we are the best and we will eventually win the highest amount of points over 38 rounds.
The pressure is way lower in La liga, and stakes aren't that high since you have tons of time to fix any wrong step.
Against AM in a CL, well, we have seen what happens after a single wrong step there.
You are right about that.
But me personally, if I were a coach, I would also play for a result.
If I would have someone like Messi in my team=then fine, I would go all in and attack
But, if I would have a team like England=I would play cautious
I would have a team like Italy=cautious
Croatia (with good players but with weak mental strength)=either cautious or all in, since they are weak mentally and who knows whether they'll be able to play defensive and concentrated for 2-3-4 matches in a row without a mistake
Belgium=cautios
Portugal=cautious
More or less, only Germany and Spain had some quality to go out and attack every opponent on this Euro.
But even then, Spain sucked in a lot of areas (like attack and motivation).
La liga and 38 matches over 10 Months is one thing.
You need to play active and try to win in those matches.
But in KO matches CL/Euros/WC, I would personally play the same as Mourinho/Portugal/Italy and similar teams unless my team would be Barca or German NT team which have players who are individually and as a team better than other teams in a tournament.
So, to some extent, maybe this is the future of Euros/WCs (unless some teams will be waaaaay stronger than others).
Defending and counterattacking and scoring a single goal from some mistake or a set piece (Portugal's free kick yesterday also) seems like a best recipe in matches where teams are 50:50 in strength.
Imo, Portugal aren't that lucky.
Other teams are more naive and very mentally fragile (Croatia and France mostly, from their knockout rounds opponents).
Portugal had the smartest tactics and guys who hadn't crumbled in the knockout stages.
Someone will say: but they were crap in a group stage.
Well, yes, Portugal would never win La liga over 38 matches with this style of play.
But I have said something similar for Barca vs Real/Atletico in knockout matches.
Barca has more quality for tournaments which last 38 rounds and 10 Months.
But in knockout matches where you need some luck, but tons of concentration and motivation and where every mistake is deadly (unlike in La liga where you have time to fix majority of defeats in the next weeks), Barca could use some modified approach.
Remember Rijkaard in 2005 against Chelsea. He played attacking, Mou played like Portugal.
Mou won.
Next year, Barca:Chelsea in 1/8 of a CL. Barca didn't play all in attacking like in 2005.
We played cautious.
Barca cautious and Chelsea cautious, but we have a better individual players, and that's it.
Remove opponent's counterattacks and some individual errors in defense, and we are unbeatable.
Barca won a tie and won a CL that year, with the same recipe against Milan in semis, for example. Very, very cautious Barca.
2015, Lucho's Barca played less attacking than Barca from previous seasons.
We won.
This year, (2016) we turned into more attacking Barca, we were burned in knockout stages again.
Someone will reply: but with Pep, we attacked and won.
Well, yes.
That happened back then.
Either Pep was a genius, or we were just too strong for any opponent, or we were somewhat lucky and brave or a mixture of everything, who knows?
It seems that in majority of other CLs/WCs/Euros over last 20 years=NOT the best team is winning titles, but a team who plays the smartest, with a right level of concentration, motivation, physical energy for key weeks and with a right amount of defending and counterattacks.
One more thing, check the pattern of this year's biggest tournaments:
Euro 2016:
Por:Croatia 1:0
Por
oland 1:1Por:Wales 2:0
Por:France 1:0
-- 450 minutes, 1 goal conceded in knockout stages
-- 3 clean sheets
Champions league 2016:
Real:Roma 2:0, 2:0
Real:Wolfsburg 0:2, 3:0
Real:Man. City 0:0, 1:0
Real:Atletico 1:1
-- 7 matches, 5 clean sheets, 3 goals conceded in 7 knockout matches
Copa America 2016:
Chile:Mexico 7:0
Chile:Colombia 2:0
Chile:Argentina 0:0
-- Chile, 0 goals conceded, lol
So, Real, Portugal and Chile combined played:
7+4+3 knockout matches this year.
They conceded 3+1+0 goals in 14 matches (4 goals in 14 matches).
Or, they conceded only in 3 matches out of 14 (Wolfsburg, Atletico, Poland).
So, these 3 teams had 11 clean sheets in 14 matches.
It is easy to dismiss someone's success just by saying: they were lucky, they had an easy draw and similar.
The fact is: defenses are winning in knockout matches lately.
Key is not to concede a goal.
And then you have Barca, who had to face Atletico, and we had that stat that Barca conceded at least 1 goal in the last 13 out of 14 matches with Spanish opponents in knockout rounds in European matches.
In that term, Barca is sometimes naive the same as Croatia.
Croatia hadn't win a knockout match for 18 years in a row, yet they believe it is someone else's fault and that they are just unlucky.
Barca are conceding too many goals in knockout stages and we also think that we should continue "our" way.
Our team should learn how to play more cautious against Atletico, Real and Bayern in knockout matches.
In La liga, fine, go out and attack. If we'll lose, we will win points in the next round, no big deal.
But if we concede 1-2 goals against Atletico in knockout stages, we are dead.
If someone replies: but we won against AM xx times in La liga (I'll shoot myself).
That's a whole different world. Different tournament, different approach, different stakes.
You aren't KO'd after one defeat and it is easier to attack as crazy in those tournaments, since we are the best and we will eventually win the highest amount of points over 38 rounds.
The pressure is way lower in La liga, and stakes aren't that high since you have tons of time to fix any wrong step.
Against AM in a CL, well, we have seen what happens after a single wrong step there.
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Argentina has not scored in the last 4 finals they played. 120m vs Chile (CC 2016), 120m vs Chile (CC 2015), 120m vs Germany (WC 2014), 90m vs Brazil (CA 2007). That's a lot of minutes of 100m players not scoring. And the finals are played differently, its about tactics, so chess is really the perfect analogy.
Portugal played way better than Greece in 2004, and besides the first 20 minutes of the game, Portugal ended up outplaying France after Ronaldo's injury. So not sure about the not tried statement.
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