Christiano Ronaldo spent the biggest moments of his international
career in the dugout with a sore left knee but emerged almost two
hours later with a broad smile on his face as he celebrated the win
over France that has made them champions. Ronaldo had been injured in
the first half and had to be pulled off, all throughout the game, Ron
could only pace about like a manager in his shots. He actually paced
more than his manager though***.
The game saw France creating much of the scoring, about 17 to
Portugal's 6. But times were just against the French who kept running
into the Portuguese goalkeeper and the woodwork. The most gruelling
moment for France was when Andre-Pierre Gignac hit the bar.
Prior to the game on sunday night, the final was seen by French
fan as a opportunity to salve the heartbreaks they had been going
through for 14 years. The host nation has been at the receiving end of
series of disappointments since they won the 2000 Euros. They crashed
out of the group stages of the 2002 World Cup without scoring a single
goal. In 2004 they were counted among the spoils for Greece in their
run to the Euro trophy. In 2006 they missed out on a World Cup victory
when star player and Real madrid manager Zinedine Zidane got red
carded for headbutting Italy player Marco Materrazzi. In 2010 they
were on holidays in South Africa.
Portugal did not lose any match, and they drew all their group
stage games. They didn't win any game in regulation time until the
2-0 semi final win against Wales. Throughout the tournament, Santos'
men displayed so much strength, less skills and tactics but proved to
be the most mean defensive unit. Not so neat actually, but cool enough
to get the job done.
""It was quite a closed match, but we had our
chances," France manager Didier Deschamps
said. "The disappointment is there. It's huge.
And it will take time to digest it."
For the Portuguese coach: " we were as cunning as serpents, as
simple as doves".
Santos coached Greece to the second round of the 2014 World Cup in
Brazil, and he did a really good job building a team that centred
around the skills of Ronaldo. But he had to start thinking hard when
the Real star burned his knee. But thanks to a strong backline and a
goalkeeper that was determined not to let down, Portugal survived.
The goal came from a supposed Swansea flop Eder who took a
wonderful shot with his right foot sending the ball into the corner
of the net from a distance.
As Antoine Griezman said, "Portugal isn't all about Ronaldo and we
have seen it".
Somewhere in Manchester, England, new Manchester United boss Jose
Mourinho celebrated the victory by posting pictures of himself in his
pyjamas holding up a scarf in Portuguese colours.
