Eating Grassroots

Portugal 2 : 0 Turkey
The Portuguese manager, also a Chelsea target (who isn't) Scolari has a lot to be happy about to see his team muster a solid performance against the Turkish side. The Portuguese attackers constantly threatened the Turkish goal with C.Ronaldo hitting the woodwork from an audacious free kick. However it was a defender who broke the deadlock after an hour played. Pepe scored his second goal of the match and rightly so after his first was disallowed. Building in confidence the Portuguese side went forward to seek the killer goal was was rewarded after Meireles tapped in a fine but lucky Portuguese move.

Analysis
The game was truly for Portugal to lose, the quality in this Portuguese side has been in the making for some four years with the likes of C.Ronaldo, Quaresma, Petit, Simao et al. entering the prime times in their careers. Although they longer have Pauleta their Captain Nuno Gomes proved to hot for Turkey to handle, where Pauleta would used to make cheeky runs and tap ins Gomes provided a much more mobile attacking option which was greatly lacking in the 06 WC campaign where most goals were a result of wide wind play. Gomes was unlucky not to have bagged a couple after some fine attempts. However I am still unconvinced that this central option of Gomes is really what Portugal is about. We can definitely expect Gomes to be employed as the weapon to
-push back the opposition's center halves therefore creating 'the hole'. Which we has seen to devastating effects.

"The Portuguese Hole"
The hole is known as the space between the Central midfielders of the attacking team and the opposition's Center Halves. This is where nearly all the creative work of a team is done.
Portugal has a great ability to create the hole as they have
-great wingers
-attacking minded forward
When teams are defending against pacy wingers, the defense line tends to be much deeper, closer to their own goal, as it will prevent the wingers crossing the ball between the keeper and the striker (this is how tap ins are scored). The deep defense will will force the wingers to cross into the defense or back out towards the edge of the box which allows the defenders more time to anticipate the attack and allow tackles to be down. However the down side is that the gap between them and their midfield increases and therefore a large gap occurs.
This is how Portugal got most of their goals (Deco's wonder strike and Maniche's belter against Netherlands) and it will be the same this year around with a slight twist.

The Twist
Many managers will be award of Portugal's ability to exploit the hole and therefore will employ the services of a Holding midfielder to plug the gap. The twist however is that Ronaldo and Nani, both coming from Man Utd, also have been using their ability to strike the ball from the edge of the box after a cut-in. This is done when a winger burst down the side and suddenly cuts back towards the center of the field just before reaching the edge of the box (so they run parallel with the goal line). If employed successfully the defense would have been running back into their own box thinking that the winger was going to hit the by-line for a cross, however, when they are conn'd would attempt to rush back. This causes the defense to be disorganised especially when a defender tries to run out to block the shot, thus creating gaps in the defense. Ronaldo and Nani have bagged a couple this season employing this tactic and is likely to work against the aging defenses most other teams employ.

Portugal has yet to get into 3rd gear, although they did show glimpses when they got their second. The fluidity is not quite there, but the tournament is still young and getting into gear too quick is sometimes damaging. However there are plenty of positives to take from the game.
Scolari will be a happy chap.