Sub 21 Above Selecção AA… Barely.

March 27th, 2008 | by: Greg |

cfalex -= Portugal 1 – 2 Greece =- (International Friendly)

I don’t really want to pay too much lip service to the final scoreline of 2-1, which saw the Portuguese team lose at the hands of Greece in Dusseldorf yesterday, as the match didn’t count for much. However, I noted some key points that came to the surface and are of some concern headed into the 2008 Euro this summer…

1. Ricardo looks lost – Maybe he’s become shell shocked going from top 3 Sporting to mid-bottom Real Betis, I don’t know. But he’s just not the same assertive, commanding keeper he used to be. Not to take anything away from Karagounis’s two nicely placed free kicks, but Ricardo set up the walls each time and then gave himself no chance or line of sight to the ball based on where he stood. He used to instill a certain level of confidence in me, however, I wish Scolari would have given Rui Patricio a shot at some point last night just to see if I could gauge a definitive difference in poise and assertiveness.

2. Carlos Martins earned a ticket to his couch for the Euro — Another player who looked out of sorts was Carlos Martins. He had just been recently recalled by Scolari based on a number of injuries in the midfield and his superb play in the Spanish league for Recreativo. He did not play well yesterday. I actually forgot he was on the pitch a number of times until he came across the field and gave the ball up (which seemed to be the theme of his night) due to a sloppy pass or errant dribbling. He was over matched in a friendly against Greece. I don’t want him futzing around trying to play any important midfield position against the Czech Republic in the group stages.

3. Nuno Gomes as the lone striker is a joke – I happen to think him being on the pitch is a joke to be honest, but hey, he’s one of those players that seems to have pictures of Scolari humping a walrus so he gets to keep on keeping on under the threat of blackmailing Big Phil. Once Hugo Almeida came on and started to knock wing service back to Nuno, he managed to fall onto a ball and poke it into the net and narrowly miss a few others. Otherwise, he seems to be excellent at falling over and wincing as he walks back. Is he in constant pain or does he have a contract with Crest toothpaste that forces him to show his teeth every time he’s on camera?

4. Scolari said “two athletes earned a spot on the team” – This is actually a tricky comment. If you assume that Miguel Veloso has already earned his spot through his play prior to this game, then who is Scolari talking about? João Moutinho (who came on for Simao after he took an early, non-serious knock) showed flashes of poise and ability to play on this stage. Raul Meireles (the Portuguese Seth Green) and Jorge Ribeiro at around 23 minutes each didn’t really get enough playing time to impose themselves and make a big splash. This was only Pepe’s second run out and he played half the game. While he played well, the limited sample may hurt him. Scolari will probably see what happens at Real Madrid with Pepe’s game to make a decision on him. Bruno Alves looked assertive and effective for his run out, but this was his 7th cap, so he may already be on Scolari’s list. The only other player I can think of that might fit this description is Hugo Almeida. He had a scorching start to the season in Germany and earned himself a place in the team. He cooled off a bit and was kind of teetering as far as international football is concerned. However, once he stepped in last night, his aerial presence was unmatched and he did a superb job of “readjusting” whatever crosses the wings served. If I had to make a guess at who Scolari was referring to at this point, I’d say it was Hugo Almeida (partly due to play last night and partly due to the lack of anyone decent up front) who earned a spot and Bruno Alves. That’s not to say that other players mentioned aren’t “one of the two” Scolari had in mind or to say that the others are not going to make the squad. It’s just the feeling I got given their play and given current team personnel circumstances.

Overall, a crappy showing by a team that has obviously never played together. I wish Scolari would have played some of the less experienced guys more and given them a chance to really shine.

-= Portugal U21 2 – 0 Bulgaria U21 =- (2009 U21 European Championship Qualifiers)

Don’t let the 2-0 score line fool you, the team didn’t play so hot. The first hour was basically them treading water and looking blankly at each other in the pouring rain at the Algarve stadium. Manuel Fernandes featured some nice runs but Bruno Gama never looked like imposing himself on the wing. Bulgaria had some effective play forward at times but keeper Ricardo Batista looked the part and was up to the task. Vieirinha was involved in a number of moves forward but wasn’t able to find a finisher up front to accompany him.

It wasn’t until the 65th minute after a corner set piece was deflected to João Moreira’s feet and he managed to slam it home past the flopping and flailing Bulgarian keeper Mihaylov. Then only minutes later, Carlos Saleiro flew forward and from what seemed like midfield managed to skip what looked like a weak ground ball towards the Bulgarian net and past the diving keeper. It was admittedly a lucky goal but one that basically settled the match and allowed the players to relax and play with less pressure.

If this team is to succeed at all, they have to start asserting themselves in the match far earlier than the hour mark. The team now sits 2nd on 13 points, 6 behind England with a match in hand. The remaining matches away with England and home against the Republic of Ireland in early September are essentially must wins to qualify for the next round.

See you tomorrow for some end of the week fun and antics. Yay!

Tags: Euro 2008, Under 21

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Comments

By Porto Look to Shut Down The Industry This Weekend - Benfica - The Offside - Portugal Supa Liga | March 27th, 2008 at 9:17 am

[...] had two internationals to cover over on the World Cup Blog, so this one’s short and sweet. See you all tomorrow, [...]

Posted from United States

By LusoCanuck | March 27th, 2008 at 9:39 am

It seems every last chop I talk too is baffled at Nuno Gomes’ presence in the starting XI. My old man even goes as far as claiming it’s like getting a red card right at the start, since Nuno is so useless we might as well field 10 players. Makakula and Almeida aren’t superstars, but compared to to that douche, they’re great! The mystery of the Portuguese media not attacking this guy more bugs the hell outta me too. I dont think it was all bad, but like you said it dosen’t count anyway, but tell that to these greeks up here in toronto that wont leave me the hell alone. I liked seeing Meira more involved in the attack, With Pepe and Carvalho, we can afford to try this sort of thing out. Kinda miss Tiago a bit.

Posted from United States

By Nelson | March 27th, 2008 at 11:52 am

I hate Scolari’s insistence on using a 4-5-1

I think our optimum team should be:

Bosingwa/Miguel – R. Carvalho – Pepe – P. Ferreira/Caneira

—————-Tiago/M. Veloso———————-

C. Ronaldo —— Deco/Moutinho ——— R. Quaresma

————H. Almeida —– Makakula —————-

With the GK being whoever is best in form (probably Quim right now)

Also, does anyone know whatever happened to Hugo Viana? Where did he go after Newcastle?

If he regained his confidence and played the way he was playing back in 2002/2003, he would be a much better #10 than anyone we have now

I saw some clips of his passes and freekicks the few times he played at Newcastle…really something incredible

Posted from United States

By Nelson | March 27th, 2008 at 11:56 am

Also, I know that Ronaldo is probably the best winger we have on the team…but seeing the way he scores goals at Man U and our excess of wingers I think a viable option could be playing 2 of either Simao, Quaresma, or Nani on the wings with the other coming off the bench and playing Ronaldo up front

Not his favorite position, but if he scored goals, then I don’t think anyone would complain

Posted from United States

By Nelson | March 27th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

Something like

Bosingwa — R. Carvalho — Pepe — P. Ferreira

——————–M. Veloso——————–

R. Quaresma ———- Deco ————— Simao

———-C. Ronaldo ————-H. Almeida

This way we could have two big guys up front….plus the flanks would be tremendous, as Bosingwa is ridiculously fast and P. Ferreira is prone to trekking up to make a cross every once in a while

I personally don’t think we need two trincos…nor the 3 center back option that we play when F. Meira is in

Posted from United States

By LusoCanuck | March 27th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

Hugo Viana is on loan at Osasuna, but still belongs to Valencia…I strongly disagree that when both are fit, Viana is even comparable to Deco. And I’m a SCP fan, so I am partial to Hugo, but come on!!! a fit Deco should be the default choice.

Posted from United States

By Ceasar | March 27th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

How about a Dutch formation? 3-4-3
We have to accept that we are going to let in some goals. So put one of the full backs up into mid and that allows us to go with a 3 front line something like

Bosingwa-Carvalho-Pepe
Veloso-Riberio
Simao—–Deco
Quaresma-Almeida-Ronaldo

LusoCanuck – When was the last time you say a healthy/fit Deco? And like Gomes he’s not a spring chicken any more. My son has told me that the problem with Deco on the NT is that he’s not playing the same role he does on Barcelona. He’s played out of position. Maybe if we get him to play the same position??

Posted from Canada

By Nelson | March 27th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

Deco hasn’t played well for the NT since the WC and has been injured on and off for the past year or so at Barca

I’m not saying the way Viana plays now (I actually don’t know, I don’t get to watch much of the Spanish league)

But he was the hottest prospect in Europe not so long ago…I heard that the lack of playing time and playing out of position at Newcastle ruined him but I don’t know much about that

As of right now, the only backup to Deco that we have is Moutinho, assuming that Carlos Martins doesn’t come back

Posted from United States

By Ceasar | March 27th, 2008 at 3:31 pm

Pretty ironic that for a nation that produces midfielder’s in aboundance and that are coveted all over europe that we haven’t got a real backup for Deco (a converted Brazilian)?

Posted from Canada

By simon | March 27th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

I think you are a bit rough against Nuno Gomes… dude’s not the best of striker but its not like you have some world class alternative on that position… and he scores a goal every now and then, and seems to play better at important games. Dont you have any good oldies around who could jump in again? Isnt it possible to talk Pauleta over? Or Joao Pinto or Joao Tomas?

By OGrandeTrinco | March 28th, 2008 at 12:56 am

One of the guys who may have reclaimed his spot is Miguel. If Bosingwa can play on left, he may be moved there. Only other player who deserves to have earned their spot is Almeida.

Gomes should not start, bring him in as a second striker late in games only. He is a black hole when passed to, unless he is in the 10 yard strike zone.

The key will be in midfield puzzle. Petit/Maniche are aging and probably past their time. That said, I think Maniche can still do it. Deco has not been in form, Moutinho is his backup, meh. Defensive midfielder is up in air. Veloso is too young and his tackling ability is debatable. Meira is quasi out of form here. Chemistry is not present. The Mourinho Porto core of Maniche Costinha Deco was great, getting an equivalent partnership will decide Portugals fortunes in the Euro.

By OGrandeTrinco | March 28th, 2008 at 12:58 am

Oh yeah, no way can Ricardo be blamed for the goals. They were near perfect kicks each time. If anything, perhaps the wall didn’t jump as high as they could, but certainly not Ricardo’s fault.

By Pedro | March 28th, 2008 at 6:38 am

It’s not about the match, but just check this out…

http://www.record.pt/noticia.asp?id=780878&idCanal=1252

This is also why I like Scolari…

About the match, I’d say Moutinho got himslef a ticket to Euro 2008, but maybe I’m wrong… I would also not be surprised to see Jorge Ribeiro going as well. Not so sure about M Veloso or Carlos Martins, which doesn’t really solve our problems…
Maybe, just maybe, one day we’ll see 2 strikers + CR, rather than the classic lone striker + 2 wingers – this just happens cos we have the best wingers in the world and arguably the most avergae to mediocre strikers… The 4-3-3/ 4-5-1/ 4-2-3-1 doesn’t happen by accident…

Posted from Netherlands