Portugal beat Wales 1-0 in the UEFA Nations League to kick start their campaign with three points and a victory for their new manager, Jorge Jesus.
They took the lead in the 22nd minute through Joao Felix, with Nuno Mendes rounding his man in the middle of the pitch and providing the assist to make it 1-0.
Despite having another 10 shots and one big chance created in the second half, possessing 61% of the ball, Portugal were unable to find a second, but still saw the game out and secured the 1-0 win.
In this article, we’ll cover
Portugal’s high press
From goal kicks, Portugal were looking to press in a man for man fashion, with Pedro Neto pressing from right-wing onto Ben Davies at left centre-back, while Cristiano Ronaldo was on Ben Cabango.
Joao Cancelo then jumped onto Jay Dasilva when Neto pushed onto Davies, with Ruben Dias shuffling across to mark Brennan Johnson out wide. Meanwhile, Renato Veiga and Nuno Mendes took up man marking roles on Lewis Koumas and David Brooks respectively, often in a 3v3 on the last line.
Felix then dropped to cover Ethan Ampadu in the pivot, with Vitinha jumping onto Josh Sheehan and Bruno Fernandes ready to apply pressure if the ball went out to Nico Williams.
Ruben Neves was then looking to follow Jordan James, whether he pushed forward to make it a 4v4 on the last line, or dropped deeper to try and overload the midfield.
In more settled play but still pressing high, Felix would press as the second striker alongside Ronaldo in a 4-4-2 shape, with Neves now jumping to apply pressure to Sheehan and Dias therefore also jumping to mark James.
This would mean Neto is in his right-midfield position to mark Dasilva, meaning Cancelo can stay deeper to mark Johnson out wide.
In a man-oriented fashion, Neto and even Fernandes at left-midfield would drop if the full-backs advanced, while Mendes and Cancelo would stay with their man and follow them inside/deeper if they dropped.
Even as Portugal began to sink into their 4-4-2 shape, there was a clear intent to jump out in the press, with the frontline looking to apply pressure and the midfield looking to step up with the press, which then saw the defensive line step too.
The key was keeping the lines compact, a full commitment to jumping from each unit to keep the spaces between as tight as possible, with the defensive line often stepping high in order to do so.
Joao Felix role
The role of Felix was key to Portugal’s victory, both on and off the ball, having a key role to the teams function.
Off the ball, as already covered, Felix was working hard to stop Wales getting the ball in central areas from restarts, disrupting their build up and looking to force turnovers.
Even when he dropped in as the second striker in a 4-4-2 shape, Felix was working hard to keep a midfielder in his cover shadow, before jumping to apply pressure to Davies at centre-back.
But it was on the ball where Felix won Portugal the game, receiving the ball in a pocket of space between the midfield and defensive line, before getting his strike away which deflected past Danny Ward in goal.
Felix did a great job of dropping deep to connect play and receive between the lines when Ronaldo was occupying the last line, with Neto and Mendes often making forward runs to drag Wales back too, opening pockets between the lines for Felix to operate and connect play.
Tensions & Overloads
On the ball, Portugal found a number of ways to manipulate Wales’ defensive scheme, creating an overload in the build up and tensions down Wales’ right-hand side.
The first key detail was the positioning of Neves, who dropped between the two centre-backs to overload Wales’ front two and create a 3v2 in the build up.
Vitinha was then acting as the single pivot, forming a 3-1 base shape, where it would often trigger a jump from Sheehan in the Wales midfield.
With that jump often being triggered, it was then the movement from Fernandes drifting inside from the left in tandem with Mendes pushing forward that created an issue for Wales down their right side.
Ronaldo was peeling into the gate between the Wales right-back and right centre-back, often keeping both of the pair pinned deeper.
This allowed Fernandes to drift into the pocket of space left by Sheehan, with David Brooks often worried about Mendes arriving on the overlap.
Portugal were able to generate good advantages through this, either with Fernandes receiving in space as the block was pulled apart, or when Brooks followed Fernandes inside, opening an easy pass into space for Mendes to arrive in dangerous areas himself.
Clear intentions
Being Jesus’ first game in charge of Portugal, there were clear intentions to their style of play.
Despite Ronaldo often being labelled a player you cannot account for out-of-possession, there was a clear desire to press with intensity from Portugal, with Jesus finding a system that allowed them to do this effectively.
On the ball, there were clear patterns of play forming, with a midfielder dropping between the centre-backs, wingers and full-backs occupying different lanes and a good use of countermovements to create space in front of the defensive line and beyond it.
The question now will be how they match up against different types of opponent, with their next test being Erling Haaland and Norway, which will provide another set of problems for Jesus to solve and test his side against.
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