However, his stint at Real Madrid during 2003 & 04 with Zidane and Co. only yielded two Super Cups. He seems to be a great supporting cast member but the spotlight has either eluded him or shone so brightly that he’s yielded mediocre results. So, we stand to go from a World Cup winner to a Spanish Super Cup winner? Yikes.

Excited? Disappointed? Are we better off, worse off, or basically the same? Paper or plastic?

While we don’t even have a boss yet to take us into the 2010 World Cup, I’m asking you all to do some minor team retouching and time traveling. I’m aware that new people will emerge and injuries will be a factor, however, consider this past 2008 Euro Selecção and the faux-hawk, mullet sporting boys we’re going to take to South Africa in two years. Now ask yourself, if you had to bet, who are three names you’re sure won’t be on the plane to the Land of Mandela and who are three you’re sure will be enjoying the peanuts and soft drinks? Cristiano doesn’t count here.

If I had to guess on three “sure bets” for both categories I’d say:

In: Pepe, João Moutinho, and Nani.

Out: Simão, Petit, and Ricardo.

Kiss Kiss, see you tomorrow.

I’m more comfortable being on the A-B side of the bracket than the C-D from a “getting to the finals” standpoint because I feel that having the third group game to rest some guys and prepare for the second seed of group B in the quarter finals, a showdown with Gernany in the Semis is looking like the highest probability and most difficult potential match en route to the final.

I know this is all speculation at this point, as we may not even make it out of the Quarters. However, I can’t help but feel a decent amount of confidence going forward and it’s always fun to dream…

Força Portugal. Thank you.

Greg,
This weekend being “Portugal Weekend” and the only reason I really know that is because it always falls on the same weekend as “puerto rico” day. When I start seeing those puerto rican flags on the cars, I say to myself “Oh it must be Portuguese Weekend”. Long setup aside, Where is everyone going to watching the game Saturday? I will be at a bar watching the game with a Turk, who is a good friend of mine. He married my cousin, who is Portuguese and is barred from watching the game at home or wearing any of his Turkey gear until the game is over.

I read it and said “Shit, he’s tryin’ to steal Quinta-Feira Question Time’s thunder today!” So, rather than reprimand him and send him to his room, I decided to let him do the work for me today and ask the day’s question (in his convoluted manner of speaking).

Personally speaking, I watched the World Cup matches in 2006 at a bar on Ferry Street in the very Portuga Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey. However, since it IS “Portugal Day” weekend or whatever you want to call it and that means a massive amount of drunk morons packing the streets with no way in or out, I’m going to grab my brother, cousin, and a few friends and head over to a more local Portuguese watering hole where they have a few plasma screens and plenty of Sagres to suck down.

For the purpose of embarrassing my shirtless friend Mike and to give you an idea of the kind of mayhem that ensues after Portugal wins here in New Jersey, see the pictures I took outside the aforementioned bar back in 2006 after the penalty shootout win over the English:

However, Turkey proved their mettle and ability in the qualifiers. With two matches remaining, they defeated then second place Norway 2-1 away. As Norway won their final game over Malta 4-1, the pressure was on Turkey. Faith Terim’s side defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 at home (a team they lost to earlier in the qualifiers by a score of 2-3) to take the second qualifying spot from the group. They will NOT go down lightly.

Switzerland are playing at home. Ask South Korea if playing Italy at home in World Cup 2002 might have helped them to a 2-1 win. For me, having a host nation in your group is tantamount to having, at the very least, another #2 seed thrown in.

Host nation advantage and Turkish fire aside, I think the Czechs will be accompanying us to the second round. They topped a qualifying group that had perennial favorites Germany in it, so they obviously have the talent to compete with anyone in the world. Throw in a world class keeper like Petr Čech to go along with the all star list of outfield players, and you have the formula for quite a formidable opponent. Who do you think will be accompanying us to the next round?

Here’s who I’d start (again, throwing some convention to the wind and taking more stock in form rather than experience):

Hugo Almeida
Quaresma – Cristiano Ronaldo
Deco – Raul Meireles – Miguel Veloso
Paulo Ferreira – Ricardo Carvalho – Bruno Alves – Bosingwa
Quim

I know some of you have already posted some ideas in regards to who you’d start back on Monday. Why not bring those ideas forward and put them in the comments here? Or, even better, why not think of an alternate option, maybe something less realistic and perhaps a little crazy and post it too? No one is here to judge you. Only to ridicule you.

Here’s my list (with starting XI in italics) which is essentially a mix of obvious guys as well as guys who maybe have seen extremely limited action. It’s just an opinion and discussion starter, so don’t kill me for some of these selections. You can, however, feel free to mock me in the comments. I’ll probably make fun of your list too.

Keep-nets: Quim, Ricardo, Eduardo — Whenever I’ve seen Rui Patricio this year, he has looked so painfully mediocre for Sporting that I can’t justify taking him on even as a third choice. I also would not start Ricardo at this point since I think Quim’s the more in-form keeper. I tend to favor form over experience.

Defenders of the Universe: Bosingwa, Miguel, Ricardo Carvalho, Pepe, Fernando Meira, Bruno Alves, Paulo Ferreira, Caneira — Jorge Ribeiro can be swapped for Paulo Ferreira. Nuno Valente has become a veritable third choice at Everton so he’s not viable for me.

The Absurdly Stacked Midfield: C. Ronaldo, Nani, Simão, Quaresma, Art Deco, Mikey Veloso, Pélé, Maniche, and Raul Meireles — Some may take exception to not bringing along stalwart Petit but I don’t care, as Veloso will do the Trinco job rather nicely, thank you. Also, when Pélé was thrown into the fire at Inter, he played extremely well, therefore he gets the call here. Petit just feels too stale for me here, and I have enough confidence in Veloso that I think taking a risk on Pélé is okay. I can see an argument for replacing Meireles with any of the followinig: J.Moutinho, Manuel Fernandes, and Petit for Veloso backup.

Forwards: Hugo Almeida, Makukula, and Yannick Djalo — All I have to say here is that I wouldn’t bring Nuno Gomes to a penalty kick contest that involved no keepers. I don’t care about having virtually zero experience up front, as most are thinking that the majority of goals aren’t going to be coming from this group anyways. Yannick’s a real stretch here and I struggled between him and Helder Postiga. However, Yannick’s on frigging fire right now and that third forward probably isn’t going to play much anyways, so it’s not a make or break selection in my opinion.

So, there it is. That’s the fearless group of Chops I’d toss on the bus and tell to bring me home the trophy. Fire away, my five fearless readers, fire away!!!