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Portugal's 'ugly' triumph was beautiful for real fans

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo. (Photo: Reuters)
Roar Rookie
18th July, 2016
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Seven days have passed since Portugal nullified the widely expected French home victory, and prevailed over it.

The written, posted and spoken outrage over the manner of the victory still sits uneasily in my stomach.

The ugly duckling, dark horse, and other zoological metaphors sought to characterise the Portugal victory as a dull, almost anticlimactic victory over a team so packed with stars and flair that their demise was interpreted as an injustice of the game.

Someone with the help of perspective ought to remind them of Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter.

Football history has been littered with finals where the unfancied team has won against a popular and seemingly inevitable winning opponent.

Greece’s 2004 triumph usually tops the rancour ratings, along with Chelsea’s Champion’s League win over Barcelona in 2012 and if you ask any Brazilian circa 1994, their own Selecao’s World Cup victory over Italy in the heat of the Rose Bowl.

Surely football isn’t all about the beautiful team playing the more aesthetically pleasing game winning is it? Is the battle in football about capitalising on your attacking prowess while nullifying the opposition?

Philipp Lahm raised some eyebrows when he called the Ballon d’Or a popularity contest for strikers. Few rational thinkers could dispute that.

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As reviled a figure Real Madrid defender Pepe may be, his defending during the final was exemplary. Players like Joao Mario and Raphael Guerreiro denied space in front of the back four, giving the previously rampant Antoine Griezmann precious little space and forcing a frustrated Paul Pogba deep into his own half to get a touch of the ball.

Nani was almost anti-Nani in his harrying and attacking third pressure as the team worked furiously after losing Ronaldo so early in the game.

Eder booting the winning goal, a player farmed out by Swansea, underlined the unlikelihood of the victory.

If France could not create chances against this defensive effort, then how exactly do they deserve the win?

Many claimed that were the game to be replayed (in some parallel universe), the result would have been different.

To that I offer Ruud Gullit’s classic Dutch proverb: “If my oma had balls she’d be my opa”.

If the fans crying foul of such an undeserving victory in their eyes, then perhaps they could see this as nature’s way of righting past injustices.

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Recall the 2000’s Portuguese teams, replete with Figo, Rui Costa, Deco, and Pauleta. Were they not deserving of European honours? This team though would most likely (again, in a parallel universe) give the 2016 incarnation a lesson in football.

Or would they?

Football does not always deliver the satisfying or natural win that people crave or expect. The notion of the better and more attractive team triumphing over the more negative team, the eleven that parks the bus is a blinkered and fantastical one.

The eleven that frustrates and waits for its time to capitalise is not the antihero. It is highly organised and has the desire and belief that what they do will win.

If football is at least part romance, what is more romantic than this?

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