Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot has admitted Portugal’s World Cup has not been perfect so far. Despite this, he is fully focused on helping his team achieve knockout success.
Out of 12 seeded teams at the World Cup, only Portugal and Canada failed to top their respective groups.
Portugal amassed only five points, beating Uzbekistan but drawing with DR Congo and Colombia. They qualified for the knockout stages, but only in second place.
Manchester United full-back Diogo Dalot came off the bench at half-time against Colombia, and came close to breaking the deadlock with a low curling effort.
Speaking to Tribuna, Dalot pointed out that Colombia were a tough opponent: “Don’t forget that we are playing against a historically very strong team in World Cups. We have to respect Colombia, they are a strong opponent and the quality of their players was evident
“We created chances, we could have scored, just as we could have conceded. It was a complicated game, but one that could have gone either way.”
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Dalot says other teams are imperfect too
Portugal came in for heavy criticism after their opening 1-1 draw with DR Congo. Cristiano Ronaldo’s role in the team has come in for close scrutiny. He has started all three matches.
Dalot says that the draw with DR Congo was the damaging result for Portugal, rather than the Colombia stalemate. But he is now focused on their knockout matches.
He said: “It falls short, not the result against Colombia, but obviously the result against Congo; we had to win. I repeat: we didn’t shirk that responsibility, but I also want to convey the message that the most important thing was to advance to the next phase, that was the objective.
“Now we have Croatia ahead of us, and we have to do everything to win.”
Dalot also said that the criticism of Portugal should be spread around, arguing that other teams have also had disappointing results.
“There are no perfect games. Don’t just analyze Portugal; there are other teams with results that probably weren’t what we expected, but that’s the demand of a World Cup.”
To back up Dalot’s point, England had to settle for a 0-0 draw with Ghana, while Spain were shockingly held 0-0 by minnows Cape Verde.
But fortunately for England and Spain, they both won their groups, and there is not quite the same level of introspection as there is for Portugal.
Portugal did famously win Euro 2016 after drawing every group stage fixture, so there is precedence behind Dalot’s optimism.
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Portugal’s path to the final
Portugal’s failure to win their group means that a potential semi-final match-up with Lionel Messi’s Argentina is off the table.
They face a Last 32 clash with Croatia, before a likely Last 16 showdown with Spain.
Beyond that? A quarter-final with either Netherlands/Morocco/Canada, and most likely France in the semi-finals.
There is a long way to go for Portugal, and from a selfish perspective, an early exit would help Manchester United by sending Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot back to Carrington as quickly as possible.
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