World Cup 2018: Uruguay vs Portugal - 3 battles that decided the game

#2 A compact, Godin-led Uruguayan defence frustrates Portugal

Godin(right) was instrumental to his side keeping the lid on Portugal

Uruguay hadn’t conceded a single goal in the group stage of the tournament and the reason was evident from Uruguay’s high-class defensive organization, commanded by none other than their most-capped player, Diego Godin. The veteran centre-half, who has been the gem of Diego Simeone’s style of play at Atletico Madrid for so many years now had quite evidently induced that mentality into the South American outfit, giving the Portuguese zero space to work their way into the box.

Bar Pepe’s goal where the ex-Real Madrid man used his experience to skin his marker to rise highest to nod home a Raphael Guerrero cross, Uruguay closed the European Champions down with relative ease and never looked on the verge of falling apart despite one-way traffic in the dying stages as Portugal were chasing an equalizer.

Out of 20 shots on goal for Portugal, only 6 were inside the box – a measure of how uncompromising the Uruguayan defence were as Portugal were forced to resort to strikes from long range, as weaving their way into the box turned out to be a near-impossible task. Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez were often seen tracking back in order to intercept a forward pass, such was the desire of Oscar Tabarez’s side to hold on to their lead.

Ronaldo has still not scored in a World Cup knockout round

Portuguese talisman Cristiano Ronaldo was himself subdued – he was well and truly quelled by some excellent double, sometimes even triple man-on tactics each time the ball fell at his feet. His only shot on target was a second-minute long-distance shot that was easily swallowed by Fernando Muslera, even though it came at pace at the Galatasaray keeper.

The organization at the back, the ease at which the offside trap was laid and the never-dwindling loss of concentration from the Uruguayans was a treat to watch for the traditional football fanatic.