Why Felipão won’t call Baia?

April 21st, 2006 | By: Luis Paulo | 6 Comments »

Most of you already know that despite all the efforts, Vitor Baia won’t be at the World Cup this year. However some of you don’t understand why Scolari is so stubborn.

Scolari is some kind of control freak. He needs to have full control of the group which he is managing. He needs cohesion around him. If he calls Baia he will loose that cohesion. Everyday he will be pressured to start with him. Even though Baia is a team player and would gladly sit on the bench, the press and the Portuguese would be demanding him and that could create turbulence on the group.

Felipão already decided to start with Ricardo. Therefore, having Baia as his shadow could make him uncomfortable. If Scolari knows something very well it is how to create a bond between the team. He knows that Ricardo might be unsecured during the games if he believes that Baia could take his spot. Giving full trust on Ricardo, Luiz Felipe knows that he is helping with the goalie’s confidence.

It’s just too much trouble having Baia on the bench. Scolari didn’t call Romário in 2002 for the same reason. And he won’t call Vitor Baia this year.

Tags: goalkeeper, Portugal, Ricardo, Scolari, Vitor Baia

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Comments

By Luis | April 21st, 2006 at 5:02 pm

I don’t expect him to call Baia. I just hope Ricardo is up to the task. All the confidence boosting won’t help if he just sucks. Yes, I know he did alright at EC04, but I’m not convinced. This is the one position where we can’t afford a “?”. We just don’t have any other choice at this point.

Posted from United States

By shoulian | April 22nd, 2006 at 12:00 am

i agree. One mistake and that’s it.

Posted from Singapore

By kennedy | April 23rd, 2006 at 9:20 am

Baia had is chance- It did not work out and somebody else has been given a chance.

Let Ricardo play -have a young goalie as the 3rd ( for experience of being in the biggest show on earth) to prepare him to compete with Ricardo for the position of number 1 in future games after the world cup.

Posted from Canada

By Scolari’s 23 – Final Roster - FIFA World Cup 2006 - Portugal World Cup Team Blog | April 24th, 2006 at 11:18 am

[...] I must say that Bruno Vale was a good surprise. Howerver, 2 of our choices won’t be in Germany. I already explained why Baia won’t be capped and Bruno Vale will be playing the U-21 European. [...]

Posted from United States

By Pedro P | April 25th, 2006 at 8:49 am

I agree with what you say, Luis Paulo. However, I also believe there’s more than just this.

Things that are related with FC Porto vs Scolari. Just look at what FC Porto’s behaviour was regarding Valente and Postiga…

From the begining, Scolari refused having both Baia and JV Pinto in the team. However, the pressures only came in favour of Baia. And they weren’t even so much from the public…

Ricardo is good enough. But not what you’d call the man who makes the difference. When all is said and done, I still feel Baia WAS better than Ricardo. Not so sure if he still is.

We now have a team with one the world’s best central defenders (Carvalho), one of the best right back (Miguel), some of the best wingers currently in action and some of the best midfielders. The striker, as so often mentioned, is not a “star” but he scores more than most stars… Of course it’d be nice to have a world’s best goalie. But we don’t… Does this mean we’re doomed from the start? I certainly believe not and Ricardo has showed the worse but fortunatelly, also the best. Let’s all believe the man is up for it…

Posted from Netherlands