Jorge Jesus, Portugal manager has stamped his mark with 3 wins in 3 matches (Pic courtesy : AFP / Getty Images, Pedro Rocha)
Portugal are buzzing, they reminded me of the Brazil team of the early 2000s, in the Nations League they have played 3 won 3. Ronaldo did not play v Norway, in the Wales game he only played for 67 minutes and now in the Denmark game he did not play which they won 4-2. What a game and performance, they need a better keeper, I think Diego Costa does not cut it, Goncalo Ramos is bloody good, he can support and score, if now and in the World Cup CR7 played as super-sub, Portugal might have won the World Cup, coach Jorge Jesus, he set them up to play entertaining football, for me more entertaining than Spain and less robotic, but Spain are obviously more efficient and clinical.
Maybe if Coach Jorge Jesus was there at the World Cup they would have won, definitely better performances than Roberto Martinez in how he lined up his team. Ramos never even played in the 1-0 defeat v Spain in the World Cup loss. In the Wales match in this Nations League, Portugal played a 1-4-1-3-2 a bit more defensive, but valid reason with Wales being more like a British club with fast pace football that could catch them off-guard. Ruben Neves played in front of the back four as a holding midfielder or anchorman.
The match v Norway away was the same formation as the Wales game, stats wise Portugal were outplayed in the game, but they still won, something Jorge Jesus and his coaching staff knew well that we probably did not, Portugal would have been blasted, well just maybe that is if they went for the fluid 1-4-3-3. But stats can be misleading as against Denmark again it showed that Denmark outplayed them, but if you watched the match it was different Portugal seemed more penetrative and skillful with their 1-4-3-3 formation.
This Portugal team seem to play more freely expressing themselves better and being more creative without Cristiano Ronaldo there. After he was promised that he would get playing time v Norway, Jorge Jesus changed his mind, that together with Jorge Jesus' stern press conference led to Cristiano Ronaldo walking out. Jorge Jesus admitted that the morning before the match he promised Cristiano Ronaldo that he would play v Norway, when pressed by the reporter on why he did not play as it was a promise, Jorge said, " I can promise whatever I want and change it, I am the coach..." this might be the reason why Ronaldo walked out of the training camp, Ronaldo's flight from Copenhagen to Madrid was the most watched flight of the day in the world. To add fuel to the fire, Rasmus Hojlund who scored a goal for Denmark and did the famous CR7 siu celebration, pushed Jorge Jesus on the chest when he came to shake hands with Hojlund. Hojlund grew up watching the great CR7 and he was his favorite player, article and video attached here.
A promise, a mis-communication? Maybe both Jorge Jesus and Cristiano Ronaldo could have handled this better, but a promise is a promise, maybe ..just maybe this time Cristiano Ronaldo might have a point, but kudos to Jorge Jesus on standing up to Cristiano Ronaldo, which will make the rest of Portugal team to toe the line. This is not the first time a coach or manager has benched Ronaldo, Fernando Santos did it in the 2022 World Cup. Ronaldo has had a disagreements with coaches in the past.
Promise or not, Jorge Jesus is not one you want to mess with, he has won trophies at every club he has been to, in Europe, South American and Asia.
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