WC2010 Qualifier Recap: Malta 0 – 4 Portugal

Technical difficulties anyone? I think Queiroz started the match with the following XI, but I’m not sure because of the fantastic broadcast conditions:

Nani – Hugo Almeida – Simão
Deco – Carlos Martins – Raul Meireles
Antunes – Ricardo Carvalho – Pepe – Bosingwa
Quim

We ended up taking the three points with a 4-0 victory on an own goal by Maltan Said in the 24th minute and three second half goals from Hugo Almeida (60′), Simão (71′), and Nani (74′). I saw a total of six full motion minutes of this match as I was dealing both with a Tropical Storm cutting out my satellite as well as the shitty feed from Setanta.

However, what I DID see didn’t look all that impressive. It’s tough to play attacking, open football against obscenely defensive tactics, which Malta were playing. On the other hand, it’s obvious that the 2010 group is still a work in progress.

I like Queiroz being somewhat ballsy and throwing Antunes out there to get some real burn and I can’t wait until he’s able to step up to a free kick chance and show the absolute rocket ship he has for a left. Raul Meireles and Carlos Martins really do nothing for me yet and I’m waiting for one of them to have a match where I say “Wow.” In the end, we got the three points and are top of the table for now, so no real worries just yet.

I promise that the Denmark recap will be more thorough like the recaps in the past (assuming Setanta can set up a reliable feed from Lisbon).