JUMP TO IT, MY HERO
... BUT RONALDO IS BROUGHT BACK DOWN TO EARTH BY MINNOWS
WHEN the defining moment of Cristiano Ronaldo’s night arrived, he really couldn’t have asked for better. A beautiful curled cross from Nani dropped perfectly for the Portugal captain, who had eased intelligently back from his marker to create space for a header from six yards.
Too much time? Perhaps. Too easy? Maybe.
Whatever the case, Ronaldo — perhaps the best header of the ball in European football — placed his late attempt straight at Iceland’s goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson and the chance to win this game was gone.
After that, Ronaldo was lost to the night — to the team effort — in a mist of frustration. He can get like this, especially when playing for his country. There were two late free-kicks that would have terrified the Icelanders as they hung on for a point but there were shrugs and some waving of the arms and, at the final whistle, a pursuit of the referee to complain about an injustice only he can have noticed.
So this turned out to be another night when Euro 2016 delivered a story about a team rather than an individual. It has been the theme of the tournament and to the chapters written already by Wales and Hungary, we can add another scrawled in that lovely royal blue of Iceland.
Lars Lagerback’s team arrived in France confident that they could surprise people. They had done it in qualifying, beating Holland twice. But they had to prove it all over again now that they are actually here and this was a tough opening assignment against a Portugal team who look a little more balanced than previous models.
This Portugal team do not rely on Ronaldo quite like those of recent years and there were times, especially during the first half, when the Real Madrid forward was on the periphery as his team attacked through dangerous emerging talents such as Andre Gomes of Valencia.
Iceland, however, proved to have a bit of stickability about them and were not lacking in energy. They seemed to use the backing of their wonderfully vocal supporters as fuel at times. They probably didn’t have as much of the ball as they would have liked but it was hard to deny them this draw and they will move forward with confidence now.
They could have scored in the third minute, Swansea midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson breaking through the inside-left channel and going clear on goal.
As he advanced, he may have been aware of the sea of blue behind the goal. What a party he could have started right there. But Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio had his angles right and was alert enough to parry not only the first shot but the follow-up that came immediately after.
That served notice of the Icelandic threat but they could not reinforce the message. Not for a while, anyway.
Gradually Portugal took hold of the game and for the remainder of the first half they were impressive. Portugal can be skittish too but here they were functional and well drilled, building their attacking play around the intelligence of Gomes and Joao Mario as much as the more instinctive contributions of Ronaldo and Nani.
There were chances for Portugal before they took the lead.
Nani headed a brilliant Ronaldo cross at the feet of Halldorsson while Vieirinha saw a fierce shot parried and Ronaldo miskicked surprisingly when a raking long pass from Pepe dropped over his shoulder.
The goal, though, was a good one. Nani had looked lively and his movement across the Iceland central defenders in the 31st minute was intelligent as Gomes found space on the right to lay his opportunity on a plate from 10 yards.
For a while Portugal looked very capable and Iceland were no doubt happy to have suffered only minimal damage from a half-hour of football that had largely passed them by. Soon enough they were to build on that platform.
Ronaldo fizzed a volley wide at the start of the second period as Portugal looked for a second goal to kill the game. As it happened, the next big moment occurred at the other end.
The equaliser would not have come had it not been for the diligence of forward Jon Dadi Bodvarsson as he chased down possession on the right.
The Kaiserslautern player was not favourite to reach the ball but his muscle matched his determination and when he played it back to Johann Gudmundsson, his quick cross was volleyed in with purpose by Birkir Bjarnason at the far post.
It was a goal built on effort and selflessness and finished off by lovely technique. As the Iceland fans celebrated at the other end, their roar would have carried all the way back to those few left in Reykjavik.
The only question now was whether Iceland could hold on. They did fashion one more chance as Alfred Finnbogason stung Rui Patricio’s palms but on the whole the final instalment of the game featured Portugal’s attempts to win back what they thought was already theirs.
Nani, impressive on the whole, headed one chance over and substitute Ricardo Quaresma worked Halldorsson at his near post.
As for Ronaldo, he began the night grinning with almost childlike excitement as the anthems played and ended it with a scowl. It is not a look with which we are entirely unfamiliar.