Scolari: “Portugal Can Reach the Final”

Big Phil thinks his side can be world champions, but is careful not too put too much pressure on his players. “Portugal can reach the final, but I don’t like to demand from my players much more than what they have already achieved,” Scolari told UEFA.com Magazine. “After reaching a certain level, then I can ask a little more from them. Portugal are currently among the ten best teams in the world, so I can expect the team to achieve a place among the top eight. Only then we can take another step towards the top.”

Scolari’s ambitions may seem even more realistic given Portugal’s Group D foes: Angola, Iran and Mexico. However, the coach remains cautious. “I always prefer to have in my group a team as good as or even better than mine, because then I have a shot since two of them go through. However, if you are in a very balanced group things get more complicated, because then you’ll get a better team in the next round and your chances are jeopardised.”

When you’re a top coach, cookie-cutter tactics just don’t work, Scolari insists. Your coaching style must be dynamic. “The players’ traits are completely different [to Brazil].” Scolari said. “The culture is different, the style and system of play are different because of their unique characteristics, and the players’ mentality is different… With Brazil I worked in one way and with Portugal I work in another manner. Even the climate and the education levels of the athletes are different. But I am fully adapted to Europe and to Portugal in particular because I managed to assimilate the Portuguese qualities and incorporate some things I brought with me from Brazil to them.”

“I think a lot about the game and work on it before the match is actually played,” said Scolari. “I try to imagine what difficulties and situations the team might face and what I’ll do in case they happen, including substitutions. Sometimes I have to improvise, but during the week preceding a game I work specifically on what I imagine will happen in the match. And I explain this to the players, telling them what I plan to do in any given situation.”

Seems to me as if Scolari possesses a quality that Portugal’s former coach, Antonio Oliveira, didn’t: thinking. This might mean the difference between walking off the pitch with heads hanging low and celebrating on the field with the Cup held high. At least, it’s a start in the right direction.