Portugal v Switzerland: Preview

I want to see more from this club as the games progress. We may be playing better then Germany but if we can make the final then we will be outclassed by Holland or Spain. I want this team to win with style and not become a team of bullies and thugs like we have seen in the past. I know most portuguese would give up their right arm to see them win but is it too much to ask to see them play a entire tournament with flare and see how far that takes us.

Posted from  Canada

Switzerland 1
Portugal 1

Late goal by Barnetta, the home fans deserve it.

Posted from  Canada

I”m betting Meira will start…

Posted from  United States

Meira over Carvalho, Miguel over Bosingwa. Would be nice to see Ribeiro over Ferreira, and the two wingers swapped for the other two wingers, as well as the other changes you pointed out.

Should be fun to watch if it is mostly B team, because they will probably try harder to impress

Time for moutinho to show what he is capable of.

Posted from  Netherlands

Well Soccer Astrologer Anita Nigam predicts for today’s match at her website

http://www.anitauniverse.com

Check out what she says…..

Posted from  India

Only victory counts and we´ll have it tonight.
With or without the “A-team”.

Quaresma will probably impress more than CR has, cos the man has his ass on fire from being on the bench for 2 matches already. Maybe Almeida as well – it´s not extremelly difficult to outplay an old N Gomes. Bosingwa will probably be out (1 card). Deco is my main question mark… On one hand he needs play time on his legs. On the other hand, he might just be rested. Must say a midfield of Veloso, Meireles and Moutinho migh be to radical a change, against a fired up SWI… Our historical against SWI gives SWI an upper hand. Honestly, I´d like to see Ribeiro starting at left-back – I´m sure he´d be better than Ferreira, though Ferreira will always fight to the end and has much more experience at high level.

FORÇA PT!

ps – @”forca”: I´ve seen several teams along the past years, one in particular, that fits perfectly your words of “bullies” and “thugs” – however, they don´t wear red and green, they wear quite a different coulour. So far, Justice has prevailed and PT has beaten the teams that have tried to kick our legs and bullied our players. In that respect, we have already outclassed them enough times… The czechs also tried it a bit, but still, they kept it at normal levels. All in all, PT has always respected their oponents but doesn´t usually get the same in return. As for HOL and SPA I wish them all the best. Personly, I´d like to play SPA in Final, but we´re not there yet. Together with PT they are the teams that openly play attacking, sometimes conceding on tactics – the champion of tactics is GER, for me. In any case, beating SWE in injury time by 1 goal isn´t as impressive for me as beating the czechs 3-1, arguably a stronger side than SWE. Beating ITA and FRA, they way the dutch did, deserves a lot of respect. Still, ITA played quite poorly (they´re also usually weak in Eurocups) and we should all agree that FRA is looking both old and lost, without Zidane to actually coach them. If PT gets to the Final, it means we had to beat either GER, CRO or CZE again. For me still more difficul than SWE, SPA, HOL or even FRA, considering how FRA played. However, FRA is still PT´s “black beast”. There´s still a meeting with Destiny, for both FRA and PT, sooner or later. Just like the dutch are eager to beat PT, following their consecutive eliminations at our hands in 06, 04, 02 (WC qualifying), and also the fact they don´t beat us since 91 (or something like that)…

Posted from  Netherlands

BTW, I´ve listened to comentators noticing the fact that PT doesn´t really have left footed players. If the line-up includes both Veloso and Ribeiro, we might just give them what they want…
FORÇA PT!!!

Posted from  Netherlands

@ Pedro

I have been reading your posts for a long time now and never really knew what to think of them. I have come to the conclusion that you are either a small child or a pathetic adult living in your mom’s basement. Your views are completely one sided and have no fact behind them. Where you in the washroom when Figo flushed his career down the drain in a 3 second acting spree? I wish you luck child!

Posted from  Canada

Maybe not thugs but scumbags would be fitting.

Posted from  Canada

i hope veloso impresses in this game.

Posted from  United States

portugal did not impress.

Posted from  Netherlands

well…

shit. no wonder most of them have their own grooves in the bench by now

FORÇA PT!
Estaremos sempre contigo:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/06/15/third_host_nation_progresses_a.html

Posted from  Netherlands

Portugal were bloody awful.

Posted from  Netherlands

I’m happy that Scolari rested most of his starters — it was the smart thing to do. In fact, I think he should have even kept Pepe and P. Ferreira out of the match as well. As it was, Ferreira now has a yellow card, and there was a nasty tackle on Moutinho, but thankfully it looks like Portugal came away without any serious injuries.

My overall impression is that the match showed the depth of the Portuguese bench in midfield and showed the lack of depth in the Portuguese bench when it comes to defense. Let’s just hope that we don’t run into injury/foul trouble with the starting defense.

It’s difficult to make direct comparisons between the midfield players today and the starting players, because playing alongside Deco and CR7 probably makes it easier to look good. Nani did a good job – he’s a workhorse. Quaresma was OK, some nice moves, but he didn’t really do anything to impress me, nor did he convince me that he should start over Simao. But I think the Little Gypsy has it in him to make an impact as a substitute coming on at the right moment in Euro 2008. Veloso, Postiga, and Almeida played OK, but none of them make a convincing case that they should be starters. In their defense, the team that played today hasn’t had the benefit of playing together as a unit for any period of time, so perhaps it was not surprising that they struggled to play well. And it didn’t help that the refs were clearly favoring host Switzerland.

All in all, I think it was a success in that we came away without serious card trouble, without serious injury, and the “B Team” got a chance to play their nerves out at Euro 2008, so that they will be better prepared if/when called on to play in a match that means something.

Next comes the real test – Germany.

It’s good the B team got they arses kicked.

I was getting sick of hearing all the “blabla” Quaresma. Now, everybody knows why he’s on the bench, and maybe they will stop whining to make him play. Sure he has potential, but he looks like CR 4 years ago. Young and with no real experience of High level football…he likes to keep the ball, perform tricks (most of the time totally useless), and I’m sure he loves dancing techtonic.
As for the rest of the players, it wasn’t bad, we had a lot of opportunities, we even scored but it was refused (still wondering why so much hate against Portugal…)

Now, we are in the 1/4 (most probably against Germany), and everything can happen. I hope we’ll do well.

Força Portugal !!!!

Posted from  Belgium

I agree with Matthew, i even think that Scollari was quite wise in putting this B-team in the game against the Swiss, i gave them the chance and they show themselfs why they are in the bench:(((
Next time they should play as a team not as some prima-donas!!!
And Ardath you are completely right about quaresma a few years ago he went to Barcelona when he should have gone to England, i think every young promise of Portugal football should go to the Premier League… we need that focus and direccional lessons.
I think we can win against Germany… but by now the best seleccion is Holland they are amasing… few stars but great united team…
Best regards!

Posted from  United Kingdom