Nigel De Jong has hit out at Portugal for his or her complacency after they had been knocked out of the World Cup by underdogs Morocco on Saturday.
Portugal eased into the quarter-finals with a 6-1 thrashing of Switzerland on Tuesday, however they got here unstuck in opposition to Morocco, with Youssef En-Nesyri’s first-half header sealing a 1-0 win for the North African facet.
De Jong believes Portugal fell properly wanting the requirements they achieved in opposition to Switzerland, and has put it all the way down to the European facet underestimating Morocco.
Morocco pulled off a shock win in opposition to Portugal to make the semi-finals of the World Cup
Nigel De Jong thinks Portugal paid the value for being too complacent throughout the match
‘They’d a few probabilities, there was an excellent one for Ramos. This was not the Ramos we noticed within the win over Switzerland,’ De Jong advised ITV.
‘Fernandes had an opportunity on the sting on the field. There was resilience from Morocco, as a result of each time Portugal went to drag the set off they had been on them, making it troublesome. They closed down on a regular basis.
‘Portugal had the qualities however I feel they had been actually complacent. Possibly they had been pondering in a lightweight approach about Morocco. The strategy was not the identical strategy as what we noticed in opposition to Switzerland, the excessive vitality, excessive octane strategy.’
It was a bitterly disappointing outcome for Portugal, whose await a primary World Cup goes on, nevertheless it was a milestone second for Morocco as they turned the primary ever African nation to progress into the semi-finals of the match.
Graeme Souness was stuffed with reward for the Atlas Lions, and felt they dealt with the event properly simply 4 days after they knocked out Spain on penalties.
‘It’s a part of historical past,’ Souness stated.
Youssef En-Nesyri sealed the win for Morocco with a header previous goalkeeper Diogo Costa
Graeme Souness has praised Morocco for managing to maintain Portugal at bay to create historical past
‘I’ve to be sincere, I believed Portugal can have checked out what occurred to Spain and stated “this received’t be us. We’re going to get on the entrance foot, we’ve obtained higher strikers, we’ll rating targets in opposition to them and it could possibly be a straightforward night time”.
‘However they didn’t do this. If you end up a participant on the pitch, when the ball goes out of play, you drift and begin to suppose, “oh no, that is occurring”.
‘When the goalkeeper comes and you end up 1-0 down, the alarm bells are ringing in your head. At no time was it final ditch for Morocco. By and enormous, Morocco dealt with it very properly.’
Morocco’s run to the ultimate has not been a straightforward one after they completed high of a bunch containing Croatia and Belgium, earlier than seeing off Spain and Portugal.
They’ve conceded only one purpose all match, and can now face the winner of Saturday night time’s match between England and France for a spot within the ultimate.
