FIFA World Cup 2022: How rotational and functional Portugal were able to overwhelm Switzerland – tactical analysis

Portugal beat Switzerland in what was a demonstration of the superiority, talent and quality of the squad, in addition to several changes in the game aesthetics of coach Fernando Santos, known for his more pragmatic and positional style of play when he has the ball, which has been criticized of being flat and boring. However, a more functional and rotational game was offered by the manager to his players, who with freedom of movement did a lot of damage to the Swiss, who did not hold back for a minute the speed and agility of the Portuguese, who will face Morocco in quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup.

Switzerland, after a group stage where they conceded three goals, one from Brazil and two from Serbia in an extremely eventful match heated by the political conflict between Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri. They faced Portugal in the round of 16, a team that has historically been very complicated to them and this was one of those that they will try to forget forever. No phase of the game was taken advantage of by Murat Yakins team, which was too weak and fragile defensively, but also very confused by Portugals game plan.

In this tactical analysis, we dive into the tactics of both teams in form of analysis and see how Fernando Santos tweaked his tactics and won the tactical battle against Murat Yakin.

Lineups

Portugal chose to play with a kind of dynamic 4-3-3 with Digoo Costa in goal, Diogo Dalot as RB, Pepe and Ruben Días as centre-backs and Raphael Guerreiro chosen as LB. The midfield was made up of William Carvalho, Otavio and Bernardo Silva, ending later with Bruno Fernandes, Joao Felix and Goncalo Ramos, the replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Switzerland looked for defensive solidity with a 5-3-2 with Yann Sommer, Ricardo Rodríguez, Manuel Akanji and Fabian Schar as CBs; Edimilson Fernandes the RWB and on the left Ruben Vargas; Granit Xhaka, Djibril Sow and Remo Freuler in midfield sought to provide passes to Breel Embolo and Xherdan Shaqiri up front.

Portugals flexible structure and organised pressing

Portugal changed their image after what was seen in the group stage, where they did not look solid defensively, nor was it fluid in terms of ball and build-up at some times. However, Fernando Santos, after the crushing 6-1 victory against Switzerland, spoke of his hybrid system and of a twist he wanted to give the team more functional and mobile roles for each one of them, who have a lot of talent to appear in different areas of the field. He commented that the important thing was to maintain a defensive organisation that allowed them to steal the ball quickly, but then he didnt care where his players moved when they had the ball.

All this generated multiple chan