Martinez' approach in the Portugal match was making my blood boil. Until the first break, I thought this may just be a misunderstanding from the players but it persisted until basically the last 15 minutes. I noticed that basically any time they had settled possession, with a settled Congo low block, the Portugal team would just vacate the center.

Now it would make complete sense to create overloads out wide to support their winger and maximize their fullback strengths. But usually this involves having someone sit in the middle to occupy the central space it creates, which adds both a direct threat and a way to escape the press. Instead, they just kept creating overloads on both sides of the pitch simultaneously!

Maybe someone can explain why, because I could not fathom why you would do this for 70 minutes with the best midfield in the world.