Georgia — Portugal: Georgia Upsets Portugal’s Second Team (2-0)

A heavily rotated Portugal setup to rest for the round of 16, and a defensively solid, quick-to-counter Georgia took advantage of their opponent’s relaxed frame of mind to advance out of the group stage.

Written by Kyle Boas.

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After securing six points against Czechia and Türkiye, Portugal were guaranteed a spot in the knockout stage, and were relatively safe to think they’d finish top of their group even with a loss. That gave them an opportunity to switch up the lineup and bring on some players that haven’t had a lot of minutes, but that also meant they had a half-hearted mentality.

Portugal manager Roberto Martinez swapped out everyone except for goalkeeper Diogo Costa and Cristiano Ronaldo. Diogo Dalot, António Silva, Danilo Pereira, Gonçalo Inácio, Pedro Neto make up a back-five, with Dalot and Neto advanced down the wings. João Palhinha and João Neves make up the midfield, and João Félix played off the left but drifted back into the midfield. The quick-footed Francisco Conceição danced on the right wing, and a very frustrated Cristiano Ronaldo sat up top, complaining to the ref for the majority of the match.

Georgia manager Willy Sagnol made three changes to shore up their defense. The more attacking Heorhiy Tsitashvili came off for center-back Luka Lochoshvilli, which pushed Lasha Dvali to left-back. Giorgi Chakvetadze and Otar Kiteishvilli joined Giorgi Kochorashvilli in a midfield three. Georges Mikautadze and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia played up top in a front two.

Portugal’s Negative Energy

There was an air of negative energy surrounding the Portugal squad from the first minute of the match. In previous matches, it seemed like Portugal were enjoying themselves on and off the pitch. They took things seriously, but they were fun and productive. Against Georgia, that was not the case.

This game nailed home the idea that Cristiano Ronaldo’s mood has a great effect on the team. They obviously look up to him. As I mentioned, he became frustrated with the referee for several “missed” calls, throwing his arms in disgust and making a scene. His normal disgust towards his teammates for missed passes became more exaggerated.

As ridiculous as it sounds, if Ronaldo is in a bad mood, the team will follow. That is not a good mix in a game with an entirely different starting eleven. They’re in a bad mood, they’re tired, they don’t have much to play for, and they lack rhythm as a group. They’ve lost half the battle before the ball is kicked and risk losing the momentum they gained from their win over Türkiye. The only thing that would have cheered them up was a goal, and that never came. The perfect environment for Georgia.

The First Mistake

Unlike Türkiye, Georiga was very quick on the counter. Their passing and touch were more accurate but inconsistent. Despite the inconsistency, they caused Portugal’s back-three, made up of Antonio Silva, Danilo Pereira, and Goncalo Incacio, issues as they were not fully in sync.

Minute 1:26 – Antonio Silva makes a mistake when passing back to Danilo Pereira, gifting the ball to Georgia striker Georges Mikautadze.

The first goal in the 2nd minute resulted from a misplaced pass by right center-back Antonio Silva. Georges Mikautadze intercepted the pass, drove into Portugal’s half, and then played Khivcha Kvaratskhelia in for the goal. It was a simple error from an individual, not the result of the team being out of sorts.

Portugal Having Trouble Getting Shots on Target

Portugal resorted to crossing, vertical passes, because Georgia were compact in their 5-3-2 formation. Georgia shifted side to side with the ball to create at least a three layer barrier of protection between the ball carrier and the penalty area.

Portugual’s left side had the best chance of passing into the box. Jõao Félix had license to roam and drop deep, stay on the left, or move all the way to the right to help overload the right-wing. Pedro Neto held width on the left-wing. Both are very technical. Cristiano Ronaldo has impressed me with his general sharpness and fitness, but at this age, he moves like his spine has been fused. He liked to drift to the left-wing more than the right, but he’s just a runner; he wasn’t much of a help in the moments where they played together in the tighter spaces.

On the right, Jõao Neves was limited, mostly used to provide the square pass to an isolated Franciso Conceição. The isolation was positive because Conceição is good one-on-one, but Neves and Diogo Dalot are not going to dribble in a phone booth like Bernardo Silva or Vitinha, or play a cutting pass like Bruno Fernandes. There was no one to play off of; it was Conceição versus two defenders.

Dalot is having trouble finding his place in this lineup. He was tasked with either staying high on the right-wing or moving inside into the half-space to push Francisco Conceição wide. This would be a more comfortable role for Jõao Cancelo, but Cancelo is first choice, so he didn’t start. Dalot is most effective when he is in constant movement in space on the wing to cross, and is more useful on the overlap rather than standing still in a half-space.

Portugal only managed to get five shots on target after limiting Georgia to just twenty-eight percent possession, the lowest amount of possession by a team to win at the European Championship on record, since 1980.

Portugal’s Lax Pressing

The nonchalant demeanor of the Portuguese players towards the game showed the most when they lost the ball.

Minute 30:58 – Georgia play out from the back with minimal pressure from Portugal’s forwards.

Cristano Ronaldo, Francisco Conceição, Jõao Félix, and Jõao Neves were bystanders in the counter-press. When Georgia were in their own end, they would have had to make a massive mistake to give up the ball because each pass was met with minimal pressure.

This lack of pressure allowed right-back Otar Kakabadze to push forward down the right wing and gave Georgia the chance to create situations where Portugal could make another error in the final third. Portugal made that second error in the 54th minute when Antonio Silva tripped Luka Lochoshvili in the box. The second goal was scored from the resulting penalty kick in the 56th minute by Georges Mikautadze.

Substitutions

Now that Georgia has a two-goal lead with only thirty minutes left in the game, they can defend. They brought off the exhausted Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the 81st minute. The game was won, but Portugal didn’t have the ambition or cutting edge to score two goals.

Portugal’s substitutions were not made to change the game. Jõao Palhinha coming off at halftime for Ruben Neves was likely planned, because having Ruben Neves paired with Palhinha seems more balanced than starting Jõao Neves.

Matheus Nunes, Diogo Jota, Nelson Semedo, and Goncalo Ramos were all fairly cold when they came on, so they didn’t make that big of an impact. They tried some interesting things with Franciso Conceição on the left and Diogo Jota and Goncalo Ramos attacking crosses right to left, but the only meaningful thing to materialize was a chance in the 92nd minute where Jota narrowly missed a flick to the far post from a low-driven Conceição cross.

Cristiano Ronaldo came off in the 66th minute as a frustrated figure, having failed to score in the group stage of a major international tournament for the first time in his career.

Takeaways

This Portugal lineup with Ruben Dias, Pepe, Bernardo Silva, and Vitinha starting might be more effective against a team that does not sit back in a more expansive transition-heavy game where there’s more space between the lines because, without space, they needed more technical playmakers present and better defensive organization in transition.

This was the biggest upset in European Championship history; the 74th-ranked team beat the 6th-ranked team in the FIFA rankings. Georgia should be proud of the way they defended. Giorgi Mamardashvili is a massive asset in goal with his long telescopic arms, and if they can keep Khvicha Kvaratskhelia fit, then maybe they can produce another upset in the knockouts.

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