Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal snatched a place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 on Saturday as the Real Madrid superstar’s parried shot was headed into a gaping net by Ricardo Quaresma to defeat Croatia late in extra-time.
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Croatia came close to taking the lead just seconds earlier, as Ivan Perisic headed an effort against the post.
Croatia’s Domagoj Vida, center right, fights for the ball with Portugal’s Pepe during the Euro 2016 round of 16 soccer match between Croatia and Portugal at the Bollaert stadium in Lens, France, on June 25, 2016.
Santos, though, did think his side could have done better, especially by “passing the ball faster” but says that the team found that hard because “Croatia didn’t let us play” which was a testament to them.
Portugal remains the only team at the tournament to have qualified by drawing all matches at the knock out stage only to luckily progress by a dying minute goal against Croatia.
Definitely nothing went according to the script all game-long, but Croatia were tipped by many to proceed to meet Poland in the quarterfinals.
Croatia continued to dominate possession after the break, but their wasteful finishing continued as Marcelo Brozovic narrowly failed to connect with Ivan Strinic’s cross.
With neither side managing a shot on goal for the regulation 90 minutes, the match went into extra time.
“That was our mistake and we were punished”, Cacic added, “but that’s football and many times the best team doesn’t win”.
His opposite number, Santos, thought it was a very tactical match. We had them in our qualifying group.
“We didn’t let them counter, we paid special attention to that”.
Nani, who played a role in the winning goal, made his 100th appearance for his country – the fourth player to reach the milestone after Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Fernando Couto. I didn’t check the results online, so it was as good as live.
“Everything was flawless except we didn’t score”, Cacic told reporters. It may have taken until the 82nd minute for Vladimir Petkovic’s charges to get back on level terms thanks to Xherdan Shaqiri’s moment of magic, but an equaliser was the least they deserved after a dominant display in the second period. “Portugal tried to take over but Croatia didn’t let us, but when they tried to take over we didn’t let them”, Santos told reporters.
I’m obviously really sad.
Both sides were extremely cautious and seemed more concerned with keeping their opponents out than seeking a goal of their own at the other end, with the first shot on target not arriving until the 117th minute. The group is excellent, young, all demonstrating team spirit, all pulling in the same direction and this has been one of the factors that shows we are stronger.
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The football inside Parc des Princes, where Wales topped Northern Ireland 1-0 on Saturday, was of the lowest quality we’ve seen at this tournament.
