For Portugal, the World Cup didn’t unfold to their specific aims, as they bowed out in the group stage while the United States advanced to the round of 16.
And the recent play of Paulo Bento’s side has been far from impressive, with Portugal falling to a comparatively worse Albania squad, 1-0, in a Euro 2016 qualifying match. Bekim Balaj’s magnificent volley arrived in the second half off a cross to the middle of the penalty area. A Selecção couldn’t bury the equalizer, despite notable efforts that included Ricardo Horta’s shot that banged off the crossbar towards the end of the contest.
It was clear that the Portugal supporters were not happy with the final score. Certain fans waved white tissues, which is a certain sign of discontent.
Nonetheless, Bento was untroubled by such happenings, noting that these circumstances are regular in sport and that the loss itself didn’t show many worrisome inadequacies.
"[The white tissues] are normal situations of football,” he said, according to Goal.com. “I think we must respect the choices and decisions of the people and try to continue. “We know that the game didn’t go our way, although I think the result was unfair.”
“It was a game that didn’t go well in terms of the result, of course, but in the first half we had opportunities to score. We had the game completely controlled during the first 45 minutes.”