Last Man Standing

As Portugal was led out by Cristiano Ronaldo, on the other team the captain was the last man standing from the squad of Tottenham Hotspur, Spurs goalkeeper and French captain Hugo Lloris.  By the time the game ended the last man standing from the squad tasted the bitter taste of defeat, which also means that 95% of the team returning from their respective international tournaments did not meet expectations.

France were favorites to beat Portugal today, they had already won the last 10 encounters with Portugal and Portugal were notorious for the inability to translate their talent into either European or World Cup titles.  Not this night - and by the time Lloris saw the shot of Eder, history was finally made, Portugal can now stand among the great winners of football history and the final frontier the World Cup suddenly looks more likely rather than a pipe dream. Last season Eder could not get into the Swansea City team and Hugo Lloris for a moment thought that Tottenham could be heading for their first league title win since 1961.  Lloris is something special in the Spurs team because he is outright a World Class player, whereas Harry Kane is on the way to becoming a World Class player - Spurs season was better for having Lloris in goal.  As the new season approaches the fear is a massive bid from Real Madrid. Even with extra cash from TV, players like Lloris want to see a winners mentality.

Yet Lloris will come back to White Hart Lane knowing France were overwhelming favorites and so arrives back to Spurs with disappointment burned into his heart.  So do all the Spurs Belgium contingent who cannot believe they lost to Wales and the England five players who suffered the ignominy of not even reaching the quarter-finals with a 2-1 loss against Iceland.

Erik Lamela did reach a final in the USA for the Copa America, but again Lionel Messi was expected to pick up that trophy and he too will feel some sense of loss, but at least, like Lloris he came back with a runners-up medal.  The only player who defied expectations was Ben Davies and the Welsh players arrived back to a hero's welcome.  Davies last year was not a first choice defender.  The only other international Kevin Wimmer of Austria had no expectation but also is not a first choice or first team player, unless there is an injury to the starting team.

For Portugal today, they have overcome their demons, something Spurs have yet to do.  No longer do they go into future international competitions with a great weight on their shoulder.  For sure the Portuguese fans will now expect them to do even better in the World Cup in 2 years time - but this game was centered around Cristiano Ronaldo, and it was his injury that ironically ultimately ended up denying Hugo Lloris another taste of a winners medal. 

The moment Ronaldo retired from the field in absolute tears, one could see every Portuguese player lift their individual game by 15%, as if to say, we have to try this much harder to compensate for his loss.  The irony is that had he remained on the field, the team would expect Ronaldo to carry them - it was injury which was the major turning point of the game.

There is always the unlikely hero in major finals - people who write a story that no one could predict before and Eder's stunning strike is just one more of those stories.  Portugal had been derided during the competition for their tactics, but winning is a great tactic!  They also had providence help them because when Iceland beat Austria, that meant Portugal finished 3rd in their qualifying group. 

The irony of finishing third rather than 2nd is they went into the easier side of the draw for the knock-out stage of the tournament.  Not to say that teams like Poland and Croatia are easy to play against, they are not.  More good fortune came their way when Wales knocked out Belgium - a team that was fully equipped to beat a team like Portugal. 

All of that does not detract from this win.  Just as it does not detract from a shock win by Greece when they beat Portugal when the Euro's were last held in Portugal.  Winning is a habit, and this will be great for the young talents coming through the Portuguese squad.  Of all their players it would be a dream to have someone like 18 year old Renato Sanches in the Tottenham squad, but alas he has signed for Bayern Munich - a team which already has a winning mentality.

Renato Sanches now becomes the youngest player to play in a Euro Final since Ronaldo did in his losing cause against Greece.  The difference is that Sanches begins his Portugal career with the taste of victory.  Congratulations to the Portugal team and all the supporters of Portugal.

As for my team - there is no evidence that the Tottenham management are investing in players which will improve on the 3rd place finish last year, especially as the other teams seem to be retooling for the new season with squad additions which seem to make greater sense.  The danger is that if Hugo Lloris does not see Tottenham bringing in or developing world class players, we will not fault him for leaving Tottenham.  The outcome of the Euro's and the Copa America is the return to the squad of largely disappointed players, and unless Spurs want to finish 9th, there needs to be new signings of the calibre of Renato Sanches.

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