Tekst Saša Ibrulj
Do you remember Copa 2011? Paraguay opened the group stages with a dull 0-0 draw with Ecuador; followed by winning a point in a 2-2 draw with Brazil and conceding twice in last two minutes to drop two points to Venezuela. Weird as Copa can be, the draw put them against Brazil in the quarter finals. Match went to penalties, Brazil missed all four of them, and Paraguay advanced to semifinal to meet Venezuela, again. Again dull, again 0-0; fifth draw in five matches and after penalties Paraguay was in the big final, their first since 1979
Paraguay lost that match to Uruguay, but in a way Tata Martino proved a point. If you are pragmatic enough, if you realize that you actually look better when you look ugly, then you may win something at the end. Fast forward five years and Portugal is in the Euro 2016 quarter final after four draws in four matches; if we ignore the fact that they did beat Croatia in the extra time.
But, that's not the point; the point is that the idea to be pragmatic and adjust to the game is probably the oldest one and the one that will live as long as football lives. And there is nothing wrong with that. As much as we try to overanalyse it from time to time, football is actually a simple game. You just need to win, that is the only important thing.
The same point Otto Rehhagel proved in 2004, the year when Fernando Santos moved to Greece for the second time in his life. Fernando Santos who's Portugal struggled in the group against the teams that decided to sit back and defend - Iceland (1-1) and Austria (0-0). But, the Hungary (3-3) match ...
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