Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has identified the decisive mistake that sealed Portugal’s World Cup exit at the hands of Spain.
Frustrated
Fernandes cut a frustrated figure for large parts of the game as he struggled to inspire his nation past Spain.
For much of the contest, neither side could land a telling blow as they traded tactical blows, but La Roja would have the final say when it mattered most.
Substitute Mikel Merino was slipped in at the death and applied a cool finish to send Spain to the quarter-finals and break the hearts of the Portuguese people.
Coming off a record-breaking season with United, much was expected of Fernandes at the tournament. Yet, like most of his countrymen, he struggled to leave his mark under Roberto Martinez.
Speaking to reporters after the final whistle, the United captain attributed Portugal’s defeat to a tactical shift that saw them drop deep and invite pressure, rather than maintaining the attacking intent they had shown in the first half.
Fernandes’ verdict
The 31-year-old said, “It’s a sad moment. We had the clear objective of winning the World Cup, but we weren’t at our best. In the first half, we were superior, but in the second half we made the mistake again of dropping too deep and giving the ball to the opponent. When that happens, we end up suffering.”
“Spain deserves credit, but I believe that if we had continued doing what we were doing in the first half, we would have left here with a different result.”
He continued, “The assessment can’t be positive. It would only be positive if we reached the end.”
“I know we’ve never won a World Cup and we always set the bar very high, but, with some certainty, this group had the quality to win the World Cup.”
“There’s no need to lose faith. We lost against one of the favourites and we have to look ahead differently. We have to be more true to ourselves, play our way, and find ways to make teams respect us more.”
Asked whether he believes the Selecao had enough to go deeper into the competition, Fernandes answered, “It’s sad how we left the tournament, we had the quality for more. We faltered by giving Spain too much of the game, which is what they really want. Then our legs start to get heavy, the spaces start to get bigger.”
“We should have continued to be aggressive, tried to prevent Spain from playing so much, we should have played more with the ball, we have the quality for that and we ended up losing ourselves a little.”
“It’s a missed opportunity, we had the quality to win the World Cup. We couldn’t get the best out of everyone in the best way and we left the World Cup prematurely.”
Fernandes will now get a much-deserved break before he reports back to United for pre-season training.
Featured image Lars Baron via Getty Images
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