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Portugal’s striker dilemma

October 20th, 2006 | By: Luis | 45 Comments »

Eusebio A few games into the Euro 2008 qualification campaign, Portugal is sitting mid table, in group A, with plenty of work to do, albeit with one game in hand. An honest accounting will reveal that there are some very big positives to take forward – the emergence of Nani, Ronaldo’s maturity and motivation, an experienced midfield, etc. But clearly there are also some nagging negatives that seem to be almost “institutional” in nature. Of course, I’m talking about the most nagging problem of all – the striker dilemma. Will Portugal ever develop another dominant striker, like Eusébio, to take them to a major title?

The question has been around a long time. In the past, it was often said that Portugal played the best football in the world, if it weren’t played with goal posts. Clearly, that’s not true any more. Portugal has proven that it can develop quality players in all positions. Just check the rosters of the major European leagues and you’ll see the proof. But a dominant and physical striker that can take the ball, hold it and put it in the net consistently, especially in crucial tournaments, has yet to emerge.

Scolari is, no doubt, looking to Portugal’s other offensive weapons – the scoring midfield with Deco, Maniche, Ronaldo, Nani and Simão to balance the offense and provide width and depth in the attack. Nuno Gomes should serve the team well through qualification, but when the Euro 2008 finals come around, Nuno will be on the doorstep of his 32nd birthday. If we learned anything from this World Cup, it was that it is very difficult to win a major tournament with a lead striker on the tail end of his career.

So what are Portugal’s options? Is Scolari tapping the U-21 talent pool effectively enough? He called up Nani and Hugo Almeida to first team duty recently, but as some have argued on our commentary boards, should he take additional risks now to introduce new talent? To help answer this question, this blog will profile some of Scolari’s options in upcoming days. We’ll take a look at names like Hugo Almeida, Ricardo Vaz Té, Yannick Djaló, and Silvestre Varela. In the meantime, leave us your thoughts on other players you feel should be included in Scolari’s final analysis.

Tags: Euro 2008, Portugal, strikers

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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 45 comments.

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By CR19 | October 25th, 2006 at 1:41 pm

HEy Luis;

HOw about Huntelaar, a very long and bright future lie ahead of him. You still have RVN who would be playing for any other coach right now and Van Persie can actually play better as the center forward, he plays the wing but has more of an impact at center. Kuyt is not a great player though.

Posted from Canada

By Luis | October 25th, 2006 at 3:20 pm

RVN? Still a threat for sure, but he and Ronaldo don’t get along much. I already said I wouldn’t give him up. I’m only marginally farmiliar with Huntelaar’s play so I won’t comment there, but I’ll keep an eye out for his exploits. Always a good idea to keep an eye on the Dutch up and comers, considering how often they seem to run into Portugal.

Posted from United States

By CR19 | October 25th, 2006 at 5:35 pm

Well at least they are not paired up in qualification this time. But what Im hearing from my dutch friends is that Van Persie is making amazing stides each game and is quickly becoming if not already the leader. I guess that gola he scored for Arsenal last week sums it up.

Posted from Canada

By Luis | October 25th, 2006 at 5:39 pm

Van Persie is a great talent. Like Ronaldo for Portugal, he could quickly evolve to be Holland’s most potent threat. I’ve watched him mature over the last two years, stepping up when Henry went into his slide last year, etc.

Posted from United States

By CR19 | October 26th, 2006 at 1:25 am

Why did he not play in the Champions league final? This year he is Arsenals best player ahead of Henry. I could see them not starting him because of his age but bringing on Reyes instead that is a joke! Was he suspended?

Posted from Canada

By Carlos | October 26th, 2006 at 5:14 am

In that CL final, many things were quite strange… I do like Reyes, so I wasn’t unhappy about his bringing on, but of course, this was a serious mistake.

MY Dutch friends are not very happy about their NT’s development, but especially RvN and Kuyt are not very popular in the Netherlands after the WC.

Posted from Austria

By Pedro P | October 26th, 2006 at 7:31 am

Hi guys!
I know this is about ball and not about history. But, anyway, I still remember when Luis introduced to concept of “lusolitious”… Another reason is that so many people that write here live somewhere else… So I’ve decided to send you a link with the basics of our little rectangle, by the see…

http://countrystudies.us/portugal/3.htm

Posted from Netherlands

By CR19 | October 26th, 2006 at 12:40 pm

Last I heard the anger in Holland is shifting towards the coach. The team was put in a position to fail. Lanzaat > Seedorf. Im not sure about that. As for Kuyt he has always thrived on hard work not much skill. Can get mad at a guy like that.

Posted from Canada

By Carlos | October 27th, 2006 at 8:45 am

Yes, I’ve been working with Pedro’s site for several presentations about “our little rectangle”, and the geological component is very good…
and I can just recommend
http://inepcia.com/portugalforbeginners/index.html
once again. One of the few sites that offer some humorous views…

Posted from Austria

By Carlos | October 27th, 2006 at 8:52 am

Sorry, the link has changed:

http://www.portugalforbeginners.pt.vu

Posted from Austria

By SamuelHKnight | October 27th, 2006 at 12:20 pm

Glad everyone seemed to enjoy the “trade” idea.

Second question: who’s a better diver: Ronaldo or Robben? And who’s got the better aggrieved look after taking the Swan dive?

Third – favorite moment of the Cup was watching Deco and Gio happily yapping away after they both got red-carded.

Posted from United States

By Luis | October 27th, 2006 at 6:53 pm

I think Ronaldo’s diving days are behind him, hopefully he’s learned his lesson. I would say that Robben is the bigger “flopper”. One little touch and there he goes. At least Ronaldo looks like more of a freight train when he drops – usually.

Robben most definetly has the best look post-flop. He usually looks like a husband that’s been caught cheating. What, no card? shrug shrug….Who me? shrug shrug….

Posted from United States

By CR19 | October 27th, 2006 at 7:52 pm

Well Luis, lets not get ahead of ourselves here. Both are divers there is noarguing that. As for who dives morre often then yes probably Robben. WHo is known woldwide as the diver that would be Ronaldo. Unfortunetely those 2-3 games he went overborad and everyone remembers that of course english fans will not let people forget. AS for the look after then yes Robben takes it. ALthough the thing about RObben is sometimes he takes a rough challenge and doesnt flincha muscle. Watch some Chelsea games and you will see. OF course he is not the biggest guy on the planet so a challenge that would take him down might not be enough to take down someone the size of CR. Both are great players and both will be known for their dribbling not their acting.

Posted from Canada

By CR19 | October 27th, 2006 at 7:56 pm

Who is better beating one man: RObben

Who is better with their head: ROnaldo

Who is quicker: Robben

Who is stronger: Ronaldo

WHo has a better first touch: RObben

WHo is the better at free kicks:
Ronaldo

Who can produce the most waterworks:
Ronaldo.

Posted from Canada

By CR19 | October 27th, 2006 at 7:59 pm

ALthough Robben didnt go down when he took that ninja kick in teh chest at the WC. I think there was to much shock for him to flop.

Posted from Canada

By Carlos | October 30th, 2006 at 12:58 pm

Deco is probably going to Chelsea. José Mourinho would love to have him and Frank Rijkaard seems to think he doesn’t need this excellent player, who is one of the best midfielders in the world. However.

Posted from Austria

By CR19 | October 30th, 2006 at 8:57 pm

Deco has no place on Chelsea. The other mids are too creative for him. BLackburn would be a better fit in the EPL.

Posted from Canada

By Luis | October 31st, 2006 at 10:01 am

CR19 – Deco at Blackburn? That will never happen. And while Chelsea certainly has a packed midfield, I’m sure Mourinho would find a way to use him. Deco would be an asset on any team. In my opinion, he’s not going anywhere any time soon.

Posted from United States

By CR19 | October 31st, 2006 at 10:18 am

Exactly If Deco would ever play in the EPL, the best fits would be BLackburn and Watford.

Although we are starting to realize how important he really is to Barcelona.

Posted from Canada

By Carlos | October 31st, 2006 at 3:32 pm

Blackburn has a very brutal squad where it’s always hard to get into the line-up. But the fans really want for a more creative midfield because the Rovers have a load of problems with controlling a match and organizing the defence. Deco would be just exactly right, he could, however, do nothing worse than going to Blackburn for his development.

Inter beat Spartak Moscow 1-nil tonight, and Luís Figo did very well, but was substituted in the middle of the 2nd half because Inter had been leading since minute 1 due to Julio Cruz.

Posted from Austria

By CR19 | October 31st, 2006 at 3:47 pm

Im glad someone understood what I was suggesting. 2 more years when Deco is a after thought is when he could end up there.

Posted from Canada

By Pedro P | November 1st, 2006 at 4:01 am

Sporting did everything they could to get 3 points out of Munich, yesterday evening, but the best they could do was to steal the first points from the germans, so far. They are now 3rd place…

Now the next clash is in 2 weeks, when Inter receives Sporting, in what I imagine to be a very tight game…

http://www.ojogo.pt/22-253/artigo589088.htm

Posted from Netherlands

By Carlos | November 2nd, 2006 at 4:17 am

Oh yes, and I’ve decided to support Sporting now after all.

I hope they can take advantage of their goalkeeper, who is surely much better than Inter’s.

The Italian strikers, however, Ibrahimovic and especially Cruz, are in great form at the moment.

Another thing that could help Sporting is Inter’s lack of discipline, which normally results in many yellow and red cards. They lose their nerves especially in CL games, when they are under huge pressure.

Posted from Austria

By Hisham | November 3rd, 2006 at 3:17 am

what happened to the player profiles? I have been waiting for those, as I do not have as enough information about Nani, moutinho, vaz te, etc. as I would like to

Posted from United States

By manolo | November 12th, 2006 at 8:54 pm

Hello to all who wear gold, green and red with pride.
I would like to start off by saying that I agree with fellow fan (nelson) who says that the solitary striker position is a thing of the past. However, that being said, lets set things straight. Pauleta is the reason Portugal eventually lost this past summer to France and more importantly, why we scored soo few goals throughout the tourni. If you look at a true quality striker such as Henry, you truly understand what it takes to be a champion. Eto and he bring the play to and inside the box. I never understood why Pedro had such tremendous success with PSG and club play but not with the national level(when it counted), but the past is the past. If there is one true problem Scolari has, it’s holding on too long to his trditional lineup. It cost Portugal dearly. Portugal and Scolari need to go with the young guns. After this summer’s U21 tournament in the Netherlands, all the talent not called up so far, such as Moutinho, Nelson, Veloso, Mireles,Djalo, Vaz te and Fernandes need to be with the big boys. They need to play the easy games(gimmes)in qualification for the Euro. Gomes is a nice guy and all, but is completely useless, because like Pauleta, he waits up front in no mans land. I say it’s time that Scolari tries a 3-2-3-2 formation or at the very least bring in Pedro Mendes (he desrves a call up) instead of having both Costinha and Petit in the center. I mean, where’s the creativity in midfield supposed to come from??? I was shocked to see them both play against Poland; Petit for maniche? What gives Phil???
My team (at the end of the Summer) would be
Ricardo
Miguel-Carvalho-Andrade-Nelson

-(Mendes or Fernandes or Tiago)

Ronaldo – Deco – Quaresma

Nani – Djalo/or Almeida

Subs: Moutinho / Deco
Veloso /Miguel
Tiago or mireles/Fernandes
The success of the team relies on the Striker position. I especially have faith in Djalo in the long run, but short term, maybe someone from abroad will be needed. Anyone know of a Striker from former colony besides Liedson(too old) who can play for the gold, green and red?

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