Tactics and how Portugal's elite players will revolutionize the identity of the Seleção
Watching the 2016/17 club season unfold, I can’t help but wonder how Fernando Santos is going to get this done. By that I mean assemble the sparkling array of talent at his disposal into one coherent unit. The more I reflect, the more it seems that what is at stake is the very identity of the Seleção.
Under Fernando Santos, we’ve witnessed the significant transformations that effectively won Portugal’s first major tournament. From graceful finesse to unyielding steel. From often reckless attacking instinct to methodological control of the opposition. But to sustain this level of performance, is the pragmatism at the heart of Fernando Santos’ plans going to get the most out of players like Gelson, Bernardo Silva, Renato Sanches, João Cancelo, and others? Let me turn that question on its head: how well are those players going to operate a system that is built on organized defense, physical endurance, and aggressive utilitarian (means-to-an-end) football?
This summer, the national football team of Portugal provided its people, in the homeland and throughout the diaspora, as well as its fans all over the world, with the peak of achievement in the history of the Seleção, the crowning glory coming on that unforgettable night of elation of 10 July at the Stade de France in Paris.
Logical cross-examination of the most recent criticisms of Cristiano Ronaldo
