Comments on: Matinee Monday — Portugal 2 – 0 Georgia: The Goals and Analysis

By: Julio

Julio — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:47:38 +0000

I thought the veloso rating was pretty harsh i think he should start over petit. plus i think quaresma belongs in the starting 11.

By: ricardo

ricardo — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:57:34 +0000

Well in my opinion it won’t matter who starts as the NT lone striker. I watched portugal played through the qualifiers and friendly games and i feel that the overall play of portugal don’t really revolve round the striker. First we can’t cross the ball. time and time again when a good cross was needed in the box it fails to arrive. Be it ronaldo/ quaresma/simao they are more interested in beating defebders with their footwork/skill and den go for a shot at goal. Ferreira and bosingwa too can’t cross for nuts. I think Scolari is aware of this that’s y he starts with nuno. Since his overall linkup play is best among the 3 strikers. That’s why i feel pauleta struggled in most games in previous tournaments too. The 4 -2 -3- 1 formation is a hard formation for any striker to play in esp if he don get the service from the other players.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:07:08 +0000

I think the back four is solid and, depending on how Deco and Petit play, the midfield is too. For the past 2 tournaments, Portugal went in shaky but played to a high level when it counted…lets just hope they do the same for this one.

As for Scolari being quick to revise, it seems that he only does that for lapses in defense, not attack. He continuously started Pauleta in ‘06 despite his invisible act for a lot of the games. I hope that the starting 11 can pull it together, but I see the main substitutions being:

Quaresma for Simao around 60-70 min if we’re down
Almeida for Gomes around 60-70 min if we’re down

Postiga for Gomes around 70-80 min if we’re tied
Nani for Simao around 70-80 min if we’re tied

If we’re up 2-1 or so I say look for Meira to come in for Moutinho/Deco in the last quarter of the game

By: Ceasar

Ceasar — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:07:15 +0000

@ OGrandeTrinco – I think your right. That’s going to be the starting XI. Scolari is very predictable in that regard. Half loyalty to certain players (Gomes, Simao) and half stubbornness (Petit, Deco, Ricardo). But he is quick to revise if you screw up (see P Ferreira in 2004 after first game).

@ Christian – For sure we have the talent, in spades, and potential. I believe we always have. We need to believe and play to win right from the whistle. We don’t have the confidence and patience of a Brazil or Italy to stay calm and play easy knowing we will pull it off. They can do that we can’t. If things don’t go our way early we tend to panic and start playing as individuals which has always been our achilles heal.

By: matarro

matarro — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:51:33 +0000

i agree with,we have to wait for the turkey game to start making some conclusions.i am trying to be positive about this team but some how i believe
we ain’t got the team for this euro.
about this commercials with the Greeks celebrating as winners of 2004 its just a conspiracy against Portugal

By: OGrandeTrinco

OGrandeTrinco — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:50:05 +0000

The starting xi is pretty much a lock:

Ricardo
Bosingwa Carvalho Pepe Ferreira
Petit
Moutinho Deco
CR Gomes Simao

According to Scolari, the only possible decision wast the Moutinho/Raul/Veloso position and Veloso was a passive voyeur last game and Moutinho impressed.

By: christian

christian — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:05:14 +0000

I have no idea what to expect with this team. Does anybody know what the deal is with the starting XI? Is Simao going to be starting over Quaresma? And I guess Simao taking the penalty this weekend might have answered your question Greg of who will take the pk’s if it’s not Ronaldo. I’ll start making some conclusions after next weekend’s opening match against Turkey. Until then I don’t think any of us can know what this team will do in the Euro Cup. They have the potential, the talent, and the current best player in the world, but they could easily fall on their face. And the fact that in the past 4 years our back 4 have changed completely with each major tournament (well with the exception of Carvalho) slightly concerns me.

P.S. I’m hating the ESPN commercials about “country v country” and seeing the Greek’s celebrate after they scored in the Final in 2004. Still makes my stomach churn even 4 years later

By: Ceasar

Ceasar — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:16:44 +0000

All I can say is that we had better pick it up a couple of notches or we are going to be on the early train home…
Georgia looked like a team that was given a 2 week free holiday, all inclusive, in the Algarve if they played a friendly with us and didn’t try too hard.
I know it’s a friendly, I know the intent was for us to get an easy win to give us a positive feeling going into the opening game against Turkey. But you know what the difference between winners and losers is? Winners play to win all the time! Not only when it’s an important game, but always. Italy, France, Germany etc never just play a game. They are in it to win, period. And I’m sorry but we looked like a team that was just going thru the motions or as in the second half, was full of individuals trying to impress the coach. Pass the ball, not on your life!
Is it me or did Miguel look like he’s been spending a little too much time at the lunch buffet?

By: OGrandeTrinco

OGrandeTrinco — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:24:05 +0000

Nice write-up Greg. Although, I disagree with Quaresma’s rating, it should be much lower. His decision making was terrible. A practice game is when you can try to build some chemistry with your team-mates. Yes, we all know Q can beat 2nd rate defenders, but it becomes a low probability play vs. top notch defences, when you have 2 vs 2 in box, you must cross it! He was brilliant a few games when he was keeping it simple stupid, and occassionaly mixing in a run himself, but if he does this as a sub, he’ll be 2nd to Nani really quickly.