Heading into the
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While Portugal may have dominated possession for long periods of their opening game, they only had seven shots against DR Congo, with João Neves’s early opener the only attempt on target across the 90 minutes.
Unsurprisingly, this has led to plenty of criticism, with pundit Thierry Henry putting much of the blame on Cristiano Ronaldo by saying: “the team needs to score, not you need to score”.
Defender Diogo Dalot has revealed that the players expected a backlash if they failed to perform, but it leaves Martinez with a big decision to make. Will he drop the 41-year-old Ronaldo for the more mobile and harder-working Gonçalo Ramos? Or will he put his trust in his captain?
Uzbekistan may have lost to Colombia but there were plenty of positives for their head coach, World Cup-winning defender Fabio Cannavaro, to take from the game. The Italian is working with a well-prepared group of players and it showed, as they came close to making the game 2-2 in the 90th minute when Akmal Mozgovoy curled a shot just wide of the post.
Dangerous on the counter-attack and aggressive in the press, they will look to frustrate Portugal with a disciplined defensive display. Key to delivering this will be Man City’s Abdukodir Khusanov who, despite being just 22, is very much a leader at the back.
Cannavaro will also be looking to Abbosbek Fayzullaev to provide some creativity in attack. The 22-year-old winger grabbed the equaliser against Colombia and is a genuine threat with the ball at his feet.
Portugal vs Uzbekistan: Group
FourFourTwo’s prediction
Portugal 2-1 Uzbekistan
FFT expects Portugal to just have the edge in what could be a very tight contest
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