With Euro qualification on the line, Scolari picks young talent

The rumor mill keeps turning. Real is apparently linked with Ronaldo and Mourinho . Imagine Ronaldo, Mourinho, and Lampard in Madrid? Maybe Carvalho too, since he seems to follow Mourinho around.

Posted from  United States

Good for Scolari in bringing in the youth. Not only for the Euro but for WC2010!

The only questionable spot seems to be in the 2 trinco spots. Does Petit have a natural sub here? We have Tiago, Meireles, and not called P. Mendes and M. Fernandes who could play here as well, not to mention Maniche who will still probably be started for Euro.

Forca Quaresma and Almeida! IMO these are the next likeliest successors in their positions.

Posted from  Canada

Meireles is a solid DM, game is very similar to Maniche. I am still worried about the second Central Defense position. Meira will probably start and should be enough against Belgium, but Serbia may be a different story.

Real Madrid are having some of their worse time ever… Cristianinho, fica la mas e no Man Utd que nao te faz mal nenhum, puto…

One of the things I’m enjoying the most is this concept of making the U21 some sort of pre-AA’s team. Which actually makes a lot of sense. Nani and Moutinho have been constantly rotating bewteen both sides. M Veloso (although extremelly versatile, this kid does holding mid, central defender AND he has already played as left back as well, BUT is nowhere near as good as in the other spots) has been mainly with the U21 and unfortunatelly, Carlos Martins isn’t holding on either in Sporting nor the NT. He’s a talented guy and nobody really seems to understand why one day he’s shining like gold, the other he’s struggling just to kick the ball… The end result is that he’s always out of pace, etc…

Anyway, Simao’s absence kinda forced Quaresma in, or Nani’s call, but we’ve all been waiting for Quaresma to step up and perform, rather than showing us all he can do with his feet. Let’s hope against Belgium + Servia he’ll play like he’s been for FC Porto and not like most of plast years - a lot of fine dancing, extremelly hard moves with his feet, but the ball seldemly went in, or to somebody’s head…. WE KNOW what you can do, dude, especially most of Sporting fans, even more the ones who remember that fabulous match against Inter (they still kicked our a**), years ago…

Raul Meireles… I’m a fan of this guy. A discrete, thin but very tough holding mid, that can also play ball. Scored against Chelsea, eventhough he was a bit lucky. Point is, although a #6, he’s everywhere… I like to believe this guy belongs to what I call the “Paulo Sousa school” of holding mids…

Hugo Viana… Another from Sporting… He’s very good. He just doesn’t seem to be “enough” if we play a big one. It was his pass for the second goal against Brazil, though…

Hugo Almeida… Will this guy be on the starting 11…? I think not. Scolari is too conservative. But this is our current best #9, for me. Great goal yesterday, also in the match before against Celta and also against Ajax. I’d say it’s about time we have a striker from “The german School”. Big, solid and efficient… Nuno Gomes can keep up but will he score and Postiga doesn’t score since December (I’m sorry for his girlfriend… - joke) ;-). For any player this is not a problem, for a guy who is usually the sole #9, this is worse than being injured…

I don’t know about you, but Tiago hasn’t really impressed me much, latelly. In fact, neither did Moutinho, but this only with the Seleccao. And mind you, I’m 100% behind the guy and would love to see him grab and keep Tiago’s spot in the NT.

As Big Phil says, we never beat Belgium in oficial matches. They are in a “do or die” situation. No need to say anymore… This is of vital influence as they’re “struggling for survival”. But so are we…

He said the BEL team changed a lot and has a lot of kids. http://www.maiseuro2008.iol.pt/noticia.php?id=785850

The portuguese press are on Scdolari’s back, ever since the pre-Poland statements… He simply said: “hey, if we win all the matches home and draw all the matches away, we go through”. This was immediatelly before the Poland match, maybe to ease the pressure. The media wasn’t happy with these statements, neither were most of the people, as they felt Scolari was implicitly putting it down. I didn’t interpret it like that. I think he was right and he never said he wasn’t in for the victory (as if Scolari enjoys loosing…). I think he simply meant that if we draw, they loose more than we, so no need to start getting all anxious and pressured, etc. We lost and we deserved to loose. The media never let his neck go free again… NOW, he said we should win both matches, and the press are now saying: “ahh… we told you so, dude”…

I guess there was nothing, if we’d have beatten Poland…

Notice the poverty in the left back area, as well as ther fact after Poland, no more Maniche nor Costinha… Laurie has made some posts about extra curricular activities, from players, well… Fortunatelly that under Scolari’s rule nothing leaks out. But there were rumours of one going out at night and how that might have influenced the result. I know nothing about it. But I know that: 1) there’s no smoke without fire; 2) against Poland, it was mainly the midfield that failed and after that, there was no more Maniche nor Costinha…

Admitedly, they’re also a tad old…

The dutch are probably jumping of hapiness before the shear perspective that Maniche might never come back for PT…

Posted from  Netherlands

Why the hell is he doing this? We HAVE to win this game otherwise we will practically be out of the competition, why not play the best to ensure that win???

Posted from  United Kingdom

Jess - I agree with Pedro. Using Under 21 talent is a good thing. Lets not forget that, fortunately, Portugal has players on the U21 team that have more experience then some seniors on other national teams. The reason Scolari is doing this is because he can. The talent pool is that rich and capable. Imagine McClaren calling up that many youngsters for critical qualification matches. Few programs have this luxury.

Posted from  United States

Its a best idea to put the team 100% all young players.They work harder and they could run faster longer.The best age 19 - 23.

Scolari is the ultimate competitor. He obviously believes that these youngsters have what it takes to get us through as he would never sacrifice qualification. I totally agree with you Luis that we are so lucky to have such a talented pool of youngsters, the English press is constantly talking about how poor their youth system is and how it is endangering the future of the English National Team so we should be proud of Portugal’s success in this area and we should use it to its greatest advantage. It is important that what each player can bring to the team is how they are evaluated rather than by age. There are still plenty of experienced players on this team and I have faith in Scolari and his vision for the squad.

Posted from  Canada

OGT - P. Mendes underwent surgery recently. His second in the last 2 years I think. It’s a shame but finding a spot for talents like M. Fernandes is tough in this midfield.

Posted from  United States

Jess - did the old men like Maniche and Petit really show their competence and importance for any team in the last weeks? The only thing I heard about Maniche is the thing about driving drunk at New Year’s eve…

And Scolari must not lose sight of EC 2008. What is the qualification for? The Golden Generation is really dying out, and we have to face up the facts, that are not too bad, though!

They made this mistake in Austria, where I come from: Once upon a time, they had a really great team, just like Portugal currently has. This time is a legend now in Austria because they don’t have any talents there. Red Bull Salzburg is dominating the League and all the other clubs are fighting against relegation. I just think: It’s too late for that country.
Germany, though, has reacted excellently. They had a coach who knew what to do, and you all know what came out.

When Scolari took over the Portuguese NT, I was a little bit worried about him forgetting the young talents. By that time I didn’t think he would stay for long, but I was wrong, fortunately. He has stroken the right pathes.

Posted from  Austria

Don’t get me wrong I hate Petit!

But I think just for these vital games he should be playing the best teams he can to ensure that victory is ours…come on we all know Portugal can slip up at important times. What I’m saying is just win the point safely before risking it.

Posted from  United Kingdom

CR lit up the premier league again this afternoon. He tore apart Bolton’s defense and created three of United’s four goals! In a post match interview Carlos Queiroz said that he believes Ronaldo is the best all round player he has ever worked with. Now that is high praise coming from a man who has worked with the best of the best! Here is a link to the interview. There is also a link there for a post match interview with Ronaldo.

Link

Posted from  Canada

Daria - I’ll catch the highlights tonight. FSC only covered that game in CA.

I was just reviewing some of the old posts from the fall. I think we were the only blog writing about how important Ronaldo was to Man U and Portugal. The tone in the main stream media is identical now, just 6 months late. Back then, everyone thought we were nuts.

I’m starting to get excited for PT games. Luckily we have 2 hugely important matches to end the fast. That always makes it more exciting. Our boys just have to find their flow and then get it done. The display against BR raised expectations for PT, in the eyes of many in the world. Now we have to prove we deserve that respect.

Serbia finally released a call-up list. Youth and uncapped players seems to be a theme this round.

Posted from  United States

For those of you that aren’t completely sick of the Ronaldo lovefest.

This is London

Posted from  United States

There may be some bad news for the NT. Deco is apparently having surgery on his hand Monday and may be out for the qualifiers.

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/news/kind=1/newsid=517629.html?cid=rssfeed&att=index

Posted from  Canada

I’m actually not so optimistic at all…

U21: I see it as a good thing that the AA team is working with the U21, because I feel it’s how it should on principle. The U21 is the first and foremost “reserve” source, a pre-stage but also a place to get the replacement on the last minute, if needed.

Midfield: When looking at the midfield, I’m more inclined to say we don’t have so much choice, rather than saying we have a lot. Furthrmore, it;s still building, so until we get a stable solution, nothing will be at 100%. Costinha and Maniche aren’t playing anymore, apparently. Also not doing so well at Atletico Madrid. Now, do we have something equivalent, or even better…? I don’t think so. I believe we have excellent promisses but that’s what they are.

R Meireles is playing at a good level. But he’s playing with FC Porto. Not Man Utd… Not that Man Utd is so much better. But Man Utd gets to play much harder teams, much more frequently. And get silverware more often… This counts. Petit plays the ball more than Costinha, also runs more, but everytime I had to chose between one of them, I’d always go for Costinha. It just works/worked, better. Maniche… We don’t really have one guy that is both a defensive mid and one that goes up (Costinha was essential for this, as he always covered his back) and scores on occasion. We don’t really have another #10 like Deco. Everything else just falls short. We don’t play with 2 strikers, so that we can do it when we don’t have a #10. One option less. Tiago plays good, for Lyon… I’m yet to see what he does for PT (I’m being unfair, but I think he could yield a bit more…). Moutinho is very good and arguably the most regular player in Portugal. But he is not really a playmaker. He’s a good mid, a good att mid and usefull anywhere.

Nani will always be used as winger, or similar.

And that’s it…! You think it’s enough…? OK, Deco broke his hand, imagine Viana warms the bench a couple of months at his club, and our team’s backbone is lost… Ah OK, we put Simao as #10, or whatever… Yeah, right… You can do this stunt a couple of times cos Simao is good enough not to embarace us. But well… Hardly a permanent solution.

Now… I feel it’s about time to ask “Whatever happened to Manuel Fernandes”… He went to ENG and…? Is he playing…?

And now without Deco, should Scolari still pursue the Hugo Viana solution or should he do something else? In that case, what…? Another striker filling the midfield with 2 holding mids…? Which ones?

BTW, it’s not good having to beat an opponent we never beat with a weakened team. One that also dies if defeated and immediatelly going to Servia after. It’s never, never, never easy to play in the Balkans. Croatia didn’t loose in Zagreb for the past years. It didn’t against England… Just before WC06, Servia was the best defense in qualification… Yeah… We have to beat them too…

Posted from  Netherlands

That’s where he is… http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/premiership/2006-2007/teams/premiership-team-of-the-week/teamallstar.shtml

Posted from  Netherlands

No words… GREAT!!! http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/news/kind=2/newsid=517868.html

Posted from  Netherlands

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under17/news/kind=1/newsid=516905.html

Posted from  Netherlands

Manuel Fernandes is settling in quite well at Everton, played another full 90 minuites against Arsenal on Sunday, and from all accounts is impressing. He still needs to grow. He is a player who I believe will eventually take over Petit spot on the team. Faster and a better passer, but still learning (as with all young players). The u21 play on Friday, he most likely will play for them, as he is a regular with them when fit.

Pedro if they did go to a 442 formation, personally I would go with Meireles and Tiago in the Middle, both are more versatile than Petit. Strikers would be Almeida and Gomes. In saying that, I don’t believe it will happen, Scolari tends to be conservative and believes in his formation,I see Viana going into Deco’s position as a straight swap, keeping the same formation.

Portugal has enough creative force with Quaresma and Ronaldo attacking, the issue will be the finishing (especially by the strikers), if they take their chances then we’ll all be happy.

Agreed, Joe. I also don’t see Scolari not putting H Viana in Deco’s spot. Viana has been consistenlty (consistency is a Scolari trademark) the #10 sub and, it’s only statistics that his time would come. And it’s one thing to go in and replace Deco, another is to start knowing there is no Deco…

Although the 442 is another option I believe should also be worked, I also don’t see him experimenting on an official match. I’d also put Gomes behind Almeida and I’d also chose Meireles and Tiago (Moutinho as his sub). Petit is excellent to carry the piano home and used to have a dangerous long distance kick. He lacks some vision, though.

Finishing… Man… The eternal problem, at least we get the guys in Sporting coaching kids to become strikers and not wingers… I mean, if they can produce THOSE wingers, how come they can’t produce a striker…? It takes more skill to make a winger than a striekr…

Posted from  Netherlands

Sporting is great at teaching technical skills to their players and I believe is one of the reasons they produce great players (wingers in particular), but goal scoring is as much about instinct, and drive as it is about talent. I guess what I am trying to say is you can’t teach goal scoring, you can teach all the technical skill which hopefully allow you to score, but scoring is more than that. People say you either are a scorer or your not. I think Almeida has the nose for scoring. I just not sure if he will get his chance with the national team soon enough.

Congrats goes to Scolari for picking this roster full of youths with raw talent.My personal favorite is Daniel Fernandes as second goalkeeper,excellent choice after Ricardo……..bravo.

Posted from  Germany