Sixty per cent possession, six times as many shots on goal as their opponents, 12 yards of must-kill chances, and a completely one-sided game were not enough to help Portugal knock on Austria's fortified city. The unlucky Cristiano Ronaldo was once again in the spotlight and Portugal's attack reached a dangerous tipping point in a vicious circle of indevotion.

One of the game's expert commentators said meaningfully after the game: "Maybe what Portugal lacks is Qiansheng." ”

Yes, 25 shots on goal, 9 on target, 10 corners, 17 free kicks, plus a penalty, interviewed Portugal fans after the game, all complained: "We are one dry." ”

Let's go back and take a look at the ups and downs of the game.

Whether it is Portugal, which is aiming for the championship in the quarterfinals, or Austria, which is determined to do something big, this is a life-and-death battle that must be won, and Austrian coach Marcel Kohler's team is even more hungry for three points.

Both have had their debuts in the heat of the day, and both face similar tactical dilemmas – major setbacks to the established tactical system that has been unstoppable in qualifiers and warm-up matches, existing personnel and formations that seem to have lost their vitality and sharpness in an instant, and the two managers vacillating between whether to stick to themselves or adapt themselves, and change and change seem to mean huge risks and challenges.

England's ability to qualify early with two consecutive wins in the group stage is a successful case, but this success story is something that no one can imitate, because there is only one dry student.

The lack of a good centre-forward has been a chronic problem that has plagued Portugal, a legacy that has not been resolved since Eusebio and seems to have been intensifying in recent years.

After Nuno Gómez, Pedro Pauletta, Elde Postiga, Ledesson and Hugo Almeida, Eder has even been reduced to the fourth choice in the attack, and after losing to Albania in the opening game of this European qualifier, Fernando Santos began to try the trident inverted triangle position without a striker (diamond 442), and the combination of Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Bernardo Silva led the team to consecutive wins all the way to the promotion.

However, after the injury of the Monaco star, Portugal's forward line has lost a commander with a delicate technique and good passing, which has exposed the problem of a single attacking approach against Iceland's iron bucket formation.

The diamond-shaped 442 can accommodate the many new midfield talents that have emerged in the top three of the Portuguese Super League, but it comes at the cost of a weakened forward line and a lack of midfield width, which is tantamount to a narrow cut for Portugal, which has a winger tradition. In addition to the lack of attacking ability in the penalty area, Portugal also exposed two new problems in the opening game: a serious imbalance in the attacking side and a weak attacking ability in the middle and back rows.

Therefore, the Portuguese side took the lead in seeking change, Ricardo Quaresma and William Carvalho entered the starting lineup, abandoning the diamond 442 formation and returning to the 433, which better reflects the characteristics of Portugal. And Lisbon players make up half of the starting line-up, which can maintain the team's floor at a high level while maintaining tactical stability.

The only thing to worry about may be Cristiano Ronaldo's form, which has been a key variable in determining Portugal's ceiling.

Portugal already had two full-back schemes, with veterans Eliseu and Vieriña and newcomers Cedric Suarez and Rafael Guerrero.

In his first match against Iceland, Santos opted for a compromise approach, with the 30-year-old Vieiña paired with 23-year-old Guerrero.

Sadly, Guerrero, making his World Series debut, did not perform well, with Portugal's attack relying almost entirely on the right-wing combination of Vielinea, André Gomez and Nani.

This time, Santos sent Quaresma to change the formation 433, the intention was to reopen the offensive width and complete the large-scale force projection to the front line, while the fire continued to burn in the opponent's half, and used a large number of transposition attacks to continuously impact the Austrian defense. In this formation, Gomez, who has a strong ability to receive the game, will carry the heavy responsibility of supporting the midfield.

In this case, Portugal's 433 formation is closer to the asymmetrical 460 strikerless formation: Nani wants to move closer in the middle to give up the left corridor to Guerreiro, Vieiña stays relatively far back to pre-fund the counter-attacking tandem formed by Marco Arnautovic and Christian Fuchs; Joao Moutinho has often moved to central midfield to share the pressure on William Carvalho's organisation, and his pullback has left marker David Alaba; Gomez is building a link with Guerreiro and the forward trident in a more advanced position. On the left is a group of two or three, and on the right is more of a solo fight by Quaresma.

All the players have reverted to their familiar positions, with Willian Carvalho replacing Danilo Pereira in front of the defence to make the flow of the Portuguese midfield more fluid. With the ability to get a precise transfer with a lot of advance in the stages of the acceleration into the gaps, the Portuguese full-backs were much sharper in this campaign than they were in the opening game.

If Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani's two strikes at the post had been converted into goals, and if those powerful shots had been slightly deflected, Portugal might have secured a planned victory.

Leaving aside the utilitarian view of consequentialism, it is not difficult to see that Portugal's attacking design and actual performance in this game were at least above a passing level. Crosses from both wings and long-range shots from outside the box were two major moves to break through the dense defense, and the small Nani grabbed the first landing point many times in the penalty area, and Ronaldo not only tried to shoot from the perimeter to effectively squeeze the opponent's defense. The brilliant performance of the two full-backs was the product of Santos' move to abandon Pereira in favour of William Carvalho and to deploy Moutinho to support him in order to speed up the movement of the ball to the flanks in search of openings on the periphery of the Austrian defence.

The fly in the ointment is that due to the different technical characteristics of the players, Portugal is unable to gather superior forces in a specific area of the front field (left side) like Spain, tearing apart the opponent's defense through repeated transmission, and depriving them of the most hilarious weapon of breaking the secret defense. Nor can they have a shooting machine that can break through the defense with a single man's power and an unmistakable and terrifying shooting rate. Originally, Ronaldo could have done this, but in fact, Qiansheng shot with a very purposeful goal and could hit, which is not something that Ronaldo can do, maybe Qiansheng has the talent of a natural shooter.

Portugal were too loose in the opening stages, with Moutinho and Gomez, who were in charge of advancing with the ball, separated from each other in the centre circle, and it was at this stage that Austria's most threatening attack in the first half came in.

It was only after the full-backs moved forward to support the midfield and the midfield shrank down the middle that Portugal switched to the expected half-court siege mode. In contrast to Spain, who rotate frequently in midfield, and England, Portugal's attacking prominence is dominated up front, with Gomez and Moutinho, who are responsible for providing inspiration and creativity, rarely in the same area.

The opening game helped Nani score his first goal at the European Championships, which led to Guerrero's game-changing crosses, Gomez's side always produced the most dangerous attacks, and Valencia's midfield was dominated by dribbling in the short and medium ranges, mid-range splits and transitions on the move, and short balls in tight areas to the feet. He likes to pass forward with one foot, which makes him a good fit to guide the wide attack as a rib commander, and Guerreiro gets almost all of his chances to play behind him come from Gomez.

Sadly, with the front trident up front and Moutinho on the other flank, Gomez didn't get more support and his role in the short-passing network was not played.

The lack of troops in the area with the ball due to the excessive pursuit of width and depth led to the Portuguese wing attack becoming too linear, and effective secondary attacks and horizontal line connections were rare, and the three longitudinal passages of the left, center and right were cut into isolated combat units.

The way Nani and Quaresma played meant it difficult for Portugal to play tight crosses, and with Austria heavily defended the box, Portugal's attack was almost entirely reduced to underneath crosses and diagonal 45-degree crosses from the outside.

In the general attack, Santos brought on Joao Mario in order to lead the right wing attack to open up the opposition's defence, and the arrival of the Lisbon midfielder also freed Moutinho and Gomez. Moutinho started to play at the back of the middle, creating plenty of chances for Vierinha to play the ball through, while Gomez consciously moved towards the middle in a bid to exploit his breakthrough attempts to open up the middle. However, Gomez has struggled to secure support in the middle, outnumbering him too quickly, and the introduction of Eder and Rafa Silva means Santos has given up on penetrating the middle.

Compared with the first game, Ronaldo's progress on and off the field is obvious to all.

Threaten the door with a variety of shots and keep the opposition defenders afraid to slack off for a moment. If that penalty is scored, the match against Austria will be a show of no regrets for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Unfortunately, Cristiano Ronaldo failed to make those seemingly simple and crude crosses "efficient", and Santos's team has driven into a situation where there is no way back.

Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal has never lacked attention, although the center forward position is still unavailable, and the wingers and central defenders positions that were full of talent in the past are also lacking, but the large number of midfield supernovas contributed by the top three in the Portuguese Super League still makes people look forward to this team, and Portuguese domestic public opinion generally believes that this is the most powerful Portuguese team since the golden generation faded out (2006 World Cup). (To be continued.) )