Portugal and France

Here we go with our best football predictions daily again. Today we will take a look at the fixture from Group F of Euro 2020 between Portugal and France at the Puskas Arena. The European and the world champions face each other, so it’s a huge event indeed. Let’s take a look.

Portugal started their European Championship campaign with a dominant win against Hungary, but in their second game they showed some weaknesses and conceded four goals during a 2-4 defeat against Germany. Ruben Dias and Raphael Guerreiro scored themselves own goals while the strikes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Diogo Jota were not enough for Selecao to take something from this game.

Portugal’s manager Fernando Santos was not happy with the way his team defended against Germany. And how he could be happy when Selecao conceded four goals in one game? That’s not a defending which is good enough for a current European champion. Santos himself probably does not have a proper explanation of what happened because he has some terrific defenders like Ruben Dias and Pepe on his disposal. But the truth is the whole Portuguese back four underperformed against the Mannschaft.

Despite this we don’t expect to see Fernando Santos changing the players in defense. What he could do is bring them some confidence with a proper pep talk before the third game. More than anything else right now the European champions need to be calm and focused on what’s coming.

Against Germany Fernando Santos decided to pick the same starting eleven from the game against Hungary few days before. Once again some of the players offered a some kind of an overwhelming performance. The two creative midfielders Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva both got substituted, so one of them or maybe both of them could be benched against France. Renato Sanches and Joao Moutinho replaced them against Germany. Fernandes and Silva should be the players who feed the strikers, but they not really doing what’s expected of them. This is a huge worry for Fernando Santos because the whole team relies on their creativity and vision.

Atletico Madrid’s star Joao Felix still does not have any minutes at the Euro 2020. Felix missed the first two games in the group because of muscle pain, so it’s not entirely clear if he’s going to be ready for the third match. That’s another bad news for Fernando Santos because he could use a player with Felix’s unorthodox qualities on the pitch. His technique and fresh ideas could make Portugal’s play a little bit more interesting and unpredictable for the opponent.

Just like their next opponent, France are also approaching this match after a disappointing performance in their last game. Les Bleus had to win easily against Hungary in Budapest, but they were surprised by the hosts’ toughness and only got a point after a 1-1 draw. The Magyars scored a goal in the last minutes of the first half, but in the second half Antoine Griezmann saved France from a humilating defeat. The Barcelona star was left unmarked in the penalty area and found the net from a close distance.

France’s manager Didier Deschamps made just one change compared to the game against Germany before this. He decided to give a rest to Lucas Hernandez at the left back and replaced him with Lucas Digne. In the second half he made four substitutions, but the Hungarian defense stood up to this challenge and defended well until the end of the game.

France lost one of their players after this game in Budapest. The winger Ousmane Dembele had to leave the French camp because of a knee injury. The forward will miss the remaining of the European Championship which is unpleasant for Deschamps as he loses one of the attacking options he had at his bench. Dembele was not a starter for France, but his pace and agility were really useful tools to have in the squad. Against Hungary Deschamps had to pick Thomas Lemar from the bench to replace the injured Dembele.

Antoine Griezmann scored France’s only goal at the Puskas Arena, but the other two strikers in the French team Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe had to accept a lot of criticism because of the way they performed. Both of Benzema and Mbappe have zero goals since the beginning of the competition and that’s a little bit worrying for the French fans. Everyone expects big things from these two players, especially from Mbappe, and their stats so far at the Euro are not good at all.

France’s midfielders must step up their game against Portugal as well. N’Golo Kante needs the help of Paul Pogba and Adrien Rabiot to boss the midfield and make his usual impact in both phases of the game – the attacking and the defensive. Kante and Pogba look like undisputed starters in the team, but if Deschamps decides to replace Rabiot he could do it with Bayern Munich’s Corentin Tolisso. Tottenham’s Moussa Sissoko is another option for France’s midfield area.

The world champions are going to need more dynamic, more creativity and more desire against Portugal. They didn’t do the job against Hungary, and now they are facing a much better team. Some of France’s fans are now worried that their favorite team lacks enough desire to win the Euro after their World Cup triumph. Is this true? We will find in the next few weeks.

That’s the best football predictions daily for the Euro 2020 match between Portugal and France at the Puskas Arena. Both teams must raise their game after disappointing matches in the second round of the group stage. Portugal conceded four goals against Germany while France lost two points against Hungary. This is a perfect moment for both sides to answer the criticism and show their real worth. Five years ago they met at the final of the European Championship and Portugal celebrated. Let’s see if now Les Bleus can do better and put a smile on their fans’ faces. They have to if they want to defend their reputation.