Portugal 5-2 Sweden
Portugal are off to an auspicious start in terms of their preparations heading into Euro 2024 after dispatching Sweden in their International Friendly matchup on Thursday night.
This game lived up to its billing as one of the top exhibition games to look out for this week, as listed by my SBOTOP colleague Stuart, as both Portugal and Sweden managed to put up many International Friendly 2024 highlights.
Based on the article title, it was the Selecao who had more of those because they secured a 5-2 win over the Swedes, which is a good sign since they were without their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo.
On the other hand, while this is a bad loss for Sweden, there are still some positives for them to take away from this match as they look forward to their next games.
In case you missed the action last night, don’t fret, as we’re here to unpack the key takeaways from today’s review.
Portugal still lethal even without Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo was left out of the Portuguese national team because head coach Roberto Martinez felt the need to manage his load. This had to be done because the 39-year-old forward has already played five games in just a span of 16 days.
CR7 has been an integral cog for Al-Nassr this season, scoring 30 goals and 11 assists in 30 appearances this season, and he just scored the match-winning goal against Al-Ahli last Saturday.
And because Al-Nassr are trying to make a late push for the Saudi Pro League title, they need every bit of Ronaldo in these next few weeks.
With Ronaldo not getting any younger, it has been clear since the 2022 World Cup that Portugal would have veer away from being over-reliant on the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, similar to how Argentina are dealing with Lionel Messi.
Fortunately for the Selecao, they remain in good form because they are still one of the deepest teams in the world, and they showed just that against the Swedes.
Rafael Leao, Matheus Nunes, and Bruno Fernandes gave Portugal a 3-0 lead in the first half before Bruma and Goncalo Ramos added two more goals for good measure. Along the way, Bernardo Silva, Nelson Semedo (twice), and Bruno Fernandes all recorded assists too.
Roberto Martinez also brought in the team’s newer faces, Antonio Silva, Jota Silva, Toti Gomes, Joao Neves, and Joao Mario, to let them soak up the experience since this is a no-bearing match. If all of them continue to improve, Portugal’s future is going to look bright, especially once Ronaldo retires for good.
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention Pepe and Rui Patricio. The Porto centre-back was given an 8.8 grade in his 135th cap for the Selecao, while the AS Roma goalie made his 108th appearance last night, so he is now only two appearances shy of tying Fernando Couto in sixth on the all-time caps list.
Gyokeres still on fire
Viktor Gyokeres has picked up where he left off after scoring his sixth goal in 20 caps for the Swedes against the Selecao, in which he was assisted by Emil Holm.
Before last night, Gyokeres was one of the players that we had to look out for since he seems to be unable to stop finding the back of the net because he is fresh from scoring a hat-trick for Sporting in their 6-1 rout of Boavista in Liga Portugal on Monday.
Other than Gyokeres, Gustaf Nilsson also found the back of the net, courtesy of Dejan Kulusevski’s assist in the 90th minute.
Jon Dahl Tomasson has the unenviable task of retooling the Swedish national team after bowing out of the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
But with Viktor Gyokeres, Anthony Elanga, Alexander Isak, Dejan Kulusevski, and Gustaf Nilsson now leading their frontline and Isak Hien and Emil Holm improving at the back, at least he has something to look forward to working with in the long run, as all of them have yet to reach their primes.
Looking ahead for Portugal and Sweden
Portugal and Sweden will have one more game to play before the end of the March international break, as the Selecao will take on Slovenia while the Swedes will be up against Albania next week, and both teams are favoured by the International Friendly 2024 odds to win those matches.
According to reports, there’s a huge possibility that Cristiano Ronaldo is going to be available for Portugal, as they continue to prepare for the upcoming Euros.
Sweden’s next big competition, meanwhile, will be the UEFA Nations League, which will commence in September.
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