Portugal 0-0 Austria

It was a hugely frustrating night at the Parc des Princes for Portugal as the Seleção were held to a goalless draw despite dominating the match from start to finish.

Nani was denied by Austria goalkeeper Almer and hit the post, and Ronaldo missed a presentable chance in a one-sided first half.

The second half was the same story, with Almer saving brilliantly from Ronaldo and several chances going begging, none more so than a penalty that Ronaldo could only hit against the post.

Before Euro 2016 kicked-off, the general consensus was that Portugal had more than enough arguments to reach the latter stages of the tournament. That sentiment faded almost entirely after the Seleção failed to beat Iceland, and quickly gave way to pessimism.

This has been somewhat of a pattern in major tournaments. Expectations are high before the first kick, and then reality sets in when Portugal doesn’t win the first game.

On occasion, the early stumble foreshadows an unceremonious exit from a tournament, as were the cases in the 2002 and 2014 World Cups, when the Portuguese were quite simply embarrassed by the United States and Germany, respectively.

However, a sobering first result also has a way of refocusing players and inspiring a sense of urgency in the group, catalyzing deep tourney runs, as we witnessed in the 2004 and the 2012 European Championships.

"I expect a very open end-to-end game, although not a crazy game," said Fernando Santos ahead of Portugal's match against Austria tomorrow in the French capital.

With both sides coming off a poor opening result, it is easy to agree with the Seleção coach.

Tom Kundert looks at the questions Santos will be pondering as Portugal attempt to get their campaign on track after a false start at Euro 2016.

Matchday 1, over and done with. Some familiar feelings for me at this point, but also some oddities. As is their historical preference, Portugal labored against an opponent that they might feel they should have overwhelmed, but also gave away their first half lead.

Statistically, it’s an anomalous result as Portugal have only drawn 7 of 77 matches in the last 10 years after taking the lead.

But Iceland earned it, didn’t they? And that’s certainly familiar, because not so long ago it was Portugal breaking onto the international scene, punching above our weight and wrestling decent results from more illustrious opposition. Euro 2000 springs to mind when Portugal went undefeated in Group A, knocking out England and Germany in the process.

As the football story focuses on the tiny island nation and their extraordinary progress, I think it important to reflect on matters outside of football that are perhaps more significant.