Portugal 1 - 1 Iceland: Iceland take historic point off weak Portugal

Posted Wednesday, June 15, 2016 by Marca.com

Fernando Santos will rue his side's missed chances in a game that was there for the taking, as Portugal opened their Euro 2016 campaign with a disappointing 1-1 draw against Iceland at the Stade Geoffroy Guichard

Defensive frailties and poor finishing contributed to the result, and these two facts will be the abiding memory of a match that did contain some positives for Portugal.

Though many commentators had pegged the Iberians as a one man team, the guile of Nani, Jao Mario, and Jao Moutinho complemented the world class power of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo looked fresh and alert throughout the first half, and the talisman has obviously shaken off his lethargy from the Champions League final; his intelligent passing presented Nani with a couple of chances but his own touch was lacking in front of goal.

Strike partner Nani atoned for an earlier miss by opening the scoring after a clever attack down the right found the Icelandic team napping.

Iceland, for their part, started the game well and they attacked the opposition with urgency and intent in the opening phases of play, but this tactic - which served them so well in qualifying - didn't last and the game settled into a pattern where Portugal attacked incessantly.

Gylfi Sigurdsson, usually such an effective attacking outlet, was anonymous as his team defended stoutly against a Seleccao side that were truly cut above, and the Nordics struggled to sting passes together in what was a frustrating first half.

Lars Lagerback's men, who mastered the art of scoring from set pieces in qualifying, were equally as disappointing from corners and free kicks and they rarely troubled the Portuguese goal with their deal ball deliveries.

The second half swung the game around as a defensive lapse left Birkir Bjarnason in acres of space and he duly scored the equalizer.

That moment precipitated an end-to-end half that saw chances at both ends, and though Portugal had the better of the opportunities up front, their weaknesses in defence became more an more apparent as the half went on.

Iceland, despite their new confdence, were still defending more, and they were being pushed on by a wall of noise from supporters that had made the trip to France.

It ended in a frantic manner and with three minutes of extra time, and there will be plenty to ponder for both teams ahead of their next matches over the weekend. Iceland will do battle with Hungary, while Portugal square off against Austria in Paris.