In the fierce battle of the European round of 16, Portugal and Slovenia met each other on the narrow road, and both sides are full of stars, the competition is extremely fierce. Although Portugal is known as the Crown team, but even if the players are not good, the leader of the team Martinez did not dare to easily remove the soul of the team, this move will undoubtedly indirectly affect the team's offensive rhythm. Slovenia, on the other hand, has performed well, facing all three matches with a solid attitude, even the match with England ended in a 0-0 draw. In today's match, they managed to hold off their opponents' offense, scoring a goal and a half, something to look forward to in the next round. (Now 618 is live for you on Tuesday at 3am)
Although Portugal qualified at the top of the group stage, their overall performance was slightly underwhelming. Throw in a scrappy last game, and they suffered a surprise loss to Georgia in the secondary selection. Even against the Czech Republic in their opening match, victory looked incredibly tough. A goal in stoppage time made the victory complete, and the three-goal thriller against Turkey was thanks in large part to their opponents' offensive mistakes. To summarize, Portugal's offensive end looked out of reach against defensive teams, and Cron's courage seemed to have suffered. In three games, he scored goals, but did not seem to play a proper role.
It's worth noting that Portugal defeated Slovenia 2-0 in a warm-up match in March, a match in which Cron was unable to score, seemingly foreshadowing a repeat of today's match. The Slovenian team is well aware of their limited strengths and have always sought to go undefeated with defense as their primary strategy. The fact that they managed to keep a clean sheet against Denmark, Serbia and England in the group stage is a testament to the stability of their defense. The Balkans may face challenges in the knockout stage, but I believe they will continue to shrink their defense and focus on their blitzkrieg tactics, not giving up easily even in the face of a 120-minute defensive test. If a penalty shootout is needed to decide the winner, Slovenia's chances of advancing will be greatly increased.
