World Cup 2018, Portugal vs Morocco: Best and Worst Players from the match

#2 Worst: Bernardo Silva

Silva was expected to be the creator-in-chief for Portugal

Bernardo Silva is actually one of the few Portuguese players to have been playing in the top clubs of Europe.

Silva endured a somewhat decent campaign last time for Manchester City, where he was benched for a majority of the time before jumping into action in the final few months of the season.

Silva was expected to be the creator-in-chief for Portugal, as his quality and talent are certainly unmatched amongst the certain crop of Portuguese players. Silva is blessed with good footwork, crosses the ball well enough and has a tendency to take appropriate decisions in the final third.

He should be the one fixing and bring cohesion to the Portuguese attack, alas, that’s not been the case whatsoever.

In both their games until now, Bernardo has failed to stamp any authority, as he has been way too lackluster and lethargic to turn the tides of the game.

His crosses aren’t reaching the box accurately, neither are his passes which tend to be blocked due to lack of power and precision in them.

Silva has been outmuscled quite often through the centre too and has absolutely gone missing at crucial counter-attacking junctures of the game.

His work-rate has been poor for a team like Portugal that looks to defend in numbers, collectively.

Gelson Martins, even in that short cameo, gave a better outlook of what the team could do if they inject some good pace on the right flank, as most of the attacking moves feel to be flowing through the left side of the pitch.

Silva needs to buckle up soon enough or lose his place eventually.