The Costinha Issue

I trust Scolari. He’ll not take him unless he’s not fit enough. To play first 11 or to be on the bench.

Anyway, we have a lot of midfielders. There’s still (at least) 2 vacant places in the last 23 and my guess is they’ll be for midfielders anyway. The more fit, reliable and versatile the better. I’d say this is Scolari’s mentallity.

Petit won’t embarass us if he takes Costinha’s place. Only Costinha is not so clumsy. Also not so much of a “warrior”… Costinha scores on corner kicks, Petit has a “canon” for free-kicks.

Maniche’s starting position is also defensive midfielder – although as we all know, he can attack and score the best goal of the tournament just as well. So from the start, the team isn’t “midfield-naked”.

Tiago is almost sure to go anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if at the end Scolari calls Joao Moutinho. Much more reliable than Quaresma and much more versatile. Can play whereever in midfield, although not being a winger. He’s a real central-midfielder, from the old school and somebody the team can trust.

Quaresma has some fancy classy flares, but can the other 10 rely on him to play (with them) and beat 7 of the most difficult teams in the world? – I say surelly not.

Posted from  Netherlands

Thank you Luis Paulo

Do you think the team will be weaker with Tiago or Petit playing than with Costinha ?

Is Petit a good player for such an important competition as the world cup ? What are his caracteristics ?

Posted from  Brazil

Nelson, Petit is a very experienced midfielder. He is probably as good as Costinha. He is better at passing and long shots/free-kicks. Petit played many games during Euro04 and the WC Qualifies so it won’t be a problem if Portugal need him.

Tiago however don’t have the same caracteristics. He is not a typical defensive midfielder although he does help the defense. Comparing with Brazil, start with Tiago and Maniche instead os Costinha and Maniche would be like Juninho and Zé Roberto instead of Emerson and Zé Roberto. To you get what i’m saying?

[...] Costinha joined Belenense’s training today after a time filled with problems with Dynamo Moscow. Scolari was very pleased, especially with José Couceiro due to his will to help the player. “Want to thanks Belenense, its president Cabral Ferreira, and José Couceiro due to their help. It’s important to Costinha to train with a good team.” [...]

Posted from  United States

[...] One month ago I wrote about Costinha’s lack of fitness and his problems with Dynamo Moscow. Today, one month later and only 1 week before the final roster announce the problem remains. [...]

Posted from  United States

i am portuguese, i have been following my country through the embarrassing times of joao pinto and the 2002 world cup incident, and the various junior “golden” teams (rui costa, vitor baia, joao pinto, luis fogi, fernando couto, etc.) that never made an impact in the world cup because of lack of team work and discipline and fighting amongst themselves, but i hope that costinha will not add to these problems i listed above. he should not be on this squad, but scolari (a brasilian coaching a portuguese national team) feels that he must take him because of friendship and not because he gives him the best chance to win. i am a benfiquista (benfica supporter) and i watch petit play every weekend and he plays the hardest i have ever seen any portuguese player play since sergio conceicao and our old captain jorge costa (playing in belgium now together in standard-liege, both former porto players). also as a benfica supporter, even though it bothers me a lot to say it, quaresma should go to the world cup, he is distributing the ball better than ronaldo is and he is turning into a real unselfish player making runs on the wings and beautiful crosses (as he displayed in porto’s win over vitoria de setubal-my hometown team, as scolari was at the game personally to see, yet he did not take quaresma.) Quaresma has become less individualistic (something that plagued him during his run with barcelona) and he has learned to be a real team player (something that cristiano ronaldo needs to learn). i dislike porto players and supporters, but i must say it, quaresma deserves a world cup capping a lot more than costinha, who was also a porto player before going to moscovo. scolari did not take romario to the world cup with brasil because he felt he did not give brasil a chance to win the world cup, so why is he taking costinha?

thank you,
marco-jorge

Posted from  United States