Portugal 2-0 China (FT): LIVE Blog

March 3rd, 2010 | by: Miguel | Comments(14)

All times in GMT 0:00, match at Estadio Cidade de Coimbra, Portugal, 20:45 Lisbon, London; 15:45 New York; 22:45 Johannesburg; 04:45 (Thu) Beijing

22:50 – A very disappointing second half. Tiago’s absence was very noticeable. At first glance Moutinho and Meireles aren’t compatible. It could be they simply haven’t had any chance to play together not allowing them to know their routines inside the pitch. Pedro Mendes seemed to wait for them instead of going head on to stop any play building from happening. Seeing he’s always played the defensive-midfield role I can understand this, he simply needs a strong midfield pair ahead of him and Meireles-Moutinho aren’t it. Meireles turned off midway through the second half and from that moment on we just got overrun. Sordid affair. Varela is an interesting player but can’t picture him over Simão, Nani or Ronaldo on the wings. Liedson-Almeida-Varela is a combination that didn’t allow for any of them to shine. The best thing I can say about the game is… it’s over. Did Queiroz learn anything from it? Let’s hope so because it didn’t go towards getting the supporters on his side ready to bring out all those flags we saw during the Euro 2004.

22:42 – 94:50 – Full Time. The supporters aren’t happy and voice/whistle their discontent. This saddens me.

22:41 – 94:00 – Corner kick. China heads it away. Moutinho tries a shot from outside the goal-area. The ball hits Liedson and finds the back of the net. Strange goal to end a strange match.

22:37 – 90:00 – Varela dribles a defender, enters the box only to shoot way over the bar. Good effort. Lousy finishing.

22:36 – 88:40 – Shot wide by China. We are giving the ball cheaply. Pedro Mendes isn’t his usual self.

22:33 – 85:52 – Great effort on goal by China, shot goes wide! What is going on!? We have completely lost midfield. Unbelievable.

22:30 – 83:10 – Hilario dribles the Chinese striker and then gives the ball away trying to find Miguel. FFS!

22:27 – 80:00 – The supporters in the stands are running out of patience. Oles for… China!

22:25 – 77:00 – Moutinho takes the shot from 30m+ out. Over the bar. Why try from that distance if you don’t have the needed power shot (or at least aren’t known to have one)? Get it to the wings!

22:22 – 75:00 – The game lacks pace. Pedro Mendes is playing to far back not applying the same pressure Tiago did as soon as China had the ball. Moutinho seems absent. China is trying to defend further away from their box and has managed to keep us at bay so far.

22:13 – 65:55 – Great run by Varela. Cross gets headed away by a defender but the ball finds Meireles who fires it against the post!! That should have been another goal! We’ve seen this by the truck loads during the qualifiers. Great opportunities but no goals. Nerve wrecking.

22:10 – 62:40 – Tonel on for Bruno Alves.

22:08 – 61:30 – Varela (25 years, 1st cap for the NT) on for Nani.

22:05 – 57:13 – Great cross by Nani to Hugo Almeida who instead of getting the shot off tries to drible past the defenders and eventually pass the ball to Liedson but the play gets lost amongst the defenders.

22:02 – 55:00 – Good recovery by Moutinho who passes to Liedson entering the box but unable to properly control the ball shoots over the bar.

21:59 – 51:10 – Horrible left-footed cross by Paulo Ferreira. Quality of the game has decreased noticeably.

21:53 – 45:00 2nd Half – There are a couple of changes in the team. Hilario on for Eduardo. Miguel for Duda and Moutinho for Simão. Paulo Ferreira moved to left-back. Pedro Mendes takes Tiago’s place and Liedson on for Ronaldo.

21:33 – 46:15 – Half-time.
Paulo Ferreira’s blunder still fresh in my mind I now find it hard to rate this first half. Above average performance but another display of our lack of killer instinct in the striker department. Everybody tried. Hugo Almeida managed once.

21:33 – 46:00 – Paulo Ferreira looses the ball allowing them to enter the goal-area and get a shot on goal. Good save by Eduardo!

21:30 – 42:55 – Nani pressures their right-back managing to steal the ball. Crosses to Hugo Almeida. With only the keeper in front of him allows the save! Second goal in sight.

21:28 – 41:00 – The pressure we apply as soon as they have the ball is enormous. We are keeping them inside their half of the pitch. Good stuff.

21:26 – 38:05 – Duda hits the bar from a free-kick!

21:22 – 35:00 – Cristiano Ronaldo on the counter finds Hugo Almeida just inside the box. Good shot. Great Goal!!

21:20 – 33:00 – Meireles is recovering a lot of balls in midfield. Strong performance so far.

21:17 – 30:00 – Good cross by Paulo Ferreira that finds Simão in the middle. Another one headed into the keeper’s hands which are starting to look like ball-magnets.

21:12 – 25:01 – Hugo Almeida avoids a defender and gets a shot on target from outside the box. The target being the goal-keeper. Good effort.

21:08 – 21:10 – Ronaldo and Simão combine to enter the goal-area. Great shot by Ronaldo and an enormous save by the Chinese keeper… again!

21:06 – 19:20 – Chinese defender saves the ball at it was about to cross the goal-line! Great opportunity by Hugo Almeida! We are dominating!

21:05 – 18:00 – Hugo Almeida tried to head the ball past the keeper but he managed to get the tips of his fingers on the ball enough to avoid the first goal!

21:02 – 14:35 – Good cross by Duda (!) headed over the bar by Nani. That should have been on target! Very dangerous.

20:59 – 11:30 – Duda takes his time tracking back. China has shot just wide.

20:57 – 10:00 – Cross into the box headed into the keeper’s hands. Think it was Simão. Could have done a lot better.

20:54 – 06:50 – Left side freekick. Ronaldo shoots just wide.

20:52 – 04:52 1st Half – I picked a hell of a day to do this. Just got home in time to see Ronaldo cross into the box. Almeida deflected to Nani who had everything to score and shot over the bar. Great chance!

16:51 – Portugal Under 23 beat Wales Under 23 by a conclusive 7-2
João Ribeiro, Vaz Té (2), Paulo Machado, Bruno Gama and Saleiro did the honours.
Good omen for tonight’s match.

16:26 – Portugal’s group stage adversary, the Ivory Coast, lost to the South Koreans. Two unreplied goals. Things aren’t always as easy as they seem. The Ivory Coast elephants were trying to learn something about Asian soccer as they face the same North Korea we do. How is that for a lesson?

16:00 – Queiroz has just released the line-up for tonight:
Eduardo
Paulo Ferreira – Rolando – Bruno Alves – Duda
Raul Meireles – Tiago
Cristiano Ronaldo
Simão Sabrosa – Hugo Almeida – Nani

Rolando takes over for Carvalho who apparently has a thigh injury. Sporting’s Tonel was called up at the last minute.