Man City: Cancelo slammed for Portugal

Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo has been criticised for his performance in Portugal’s 3-2 win over Ghana in the World Cup.

The Lowdown: Portugal beat Ghana

Portugal managed to secure a victory in their first group game of the tournament thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Felix and Rafael Leao.

In the starting XI, Portugal manager Fernando Santos included three of City’s squad figures, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias and Cancelo.

Unfortunately, for the City right-back, his performance caught the attention of one journalist, in particular, but for all the wrong reasons.

The Latest: Cancelo slammed

In a Twitter post, journalist Josh Bunting had this to say about Cancelo and his display, labelling the full-back as ‘dreadful’.

“Portugal defensively have been a mess, that needs adjusted ahead of the Uruguay game on Monday. Cancelo has been dreadful both defensively and offensively, allows the cross to come in and Osman Bukari heads in for 3-2.”

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The Verdict: A disappointing start

Having completed the full 90 minutes of the game, the 28-year-old had 85 touches of the ball in total but only racked up a passing accuracy percentage of 83%, which is lower than any other Portugal defender on the day.

From an attacking point of view, Cancelo only attempted one dribble in the game and failed to complete it successfully. He also didn’t manage to have an attempt on goal in this game, despite having 15 for City in the Premier League this season.

Was Cancelo disappointing against Ghana?

Yes

No

Then on the defensive side of his game, the full-back was beaten by Ghana’s Abdul Baba Rahman in the lead up to their second goal. Taking all of this into account, it seems that Cancelo didn’t have the best opening game in terms of his individual performance.

Moving forward, he’ll be hoping that he can improve from this first match and carry on winning as many games as he can with his country before returning to club football at the end of next month.