Defenders dropping like flies…

September 26th, 2011 | by: Paulo |

The rollercoaster ride continues for Sellecao players on the club level leading up to the finale’s of Euro 2012 qualifying. First, we have to take care of business with Iceland, and then four days later take on Denmark in a crucial final game that will leave only one team on top.

Pepe and Fabio Coentrao have each sustained leg injuries during Real Madrid’s game last week, and their fitness is a big question mark as we get closer to the October 7th and 11th qualifiers. The Carvalho saga is definitely going to surface as long as Pepe is injured, and it looks like Rolando will have to fill in if Pepe is unable to go. Bruno Alves is the other likely starter. Coach Bento will likely call up another center back as well if Pepe is in fact out. Who are some names that Bento could call on at center back?

As for Coentrao, he is a dynamic asset to Portugal, and will be a huge loss if he can’t play. Look for Bosingwa to get recalled back to the squad and he will either be required to play opposite of his usual right back position, or Silvio will get the go ahead to start for Portugal. The last time we saw Bosingwa in a Portugal jersey was when he played at left back in the 4-0 pounding of Spain. Another option is Nelson, but I doubt Bento will pick him for such a huge game. I have a good feeling that Coentrao will heal up in time for the qualifiers though.

Hugo Almeida has already been ruled out for both qualifiers due to a leg injury. Therefore, questions linger on who will get called for duty at striker. Even more alarming is that Postiga has yet to score since being loaned to Real Zaragoza at the beginning of the season. He has always done better for country than club, but it is still worrying that our starting striker cannot find the net even once. Other veteran options at striker include Liedson, who has 9 goals for Corinthians, and Nuno Gomes who has 3 goals in 6 games for Braga this year. At the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to age are players like Orlando Sa who have performed very well at the U-21 level and just got his first minutes at Fulham. Bento could also call up another winger like Quaresma or put Ronaldo at striker if he had to. Either way, Paulo Bento has a tough decision on his hands.

The good news is that Ronaldo and Nani have continued their fine form. Ronaldo struggled the last few games for Real Madrid before netting a hat trick in their latest game. Nani has become one of Manchester United’s best players this year. He had another brilliant goal over the weekend to go along with his magnificent goal and assist against Chelsea earlier in the week. It is no secret that these two players will carry us as far as they can in this Euro 2012 campaign. The Champion’s League continues this week, so a lot of action is ahead!

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Comments

By vasilich | September 27th, 2011 at 10:40 am

Wonderful blog, amazing posts, nice layout, great content management.Nice of you!

By Mark Torrado | September 27th, 2011 at 6:06 pm

Hugo Almeida should be fit for the game ?

Posted from United Kingdom

By Ivan | September 27th, 2011 at 7:52 pm

Don’t count on it. It was said 16th September that he should stop from 3 to 4 weeks, so that rules out the possibility of him playing against Iceland and Denmark almost completely. And with Paulo Bento naming the squad for the games on Friday I don’t think he’ll risk calling a striker who’ll most likely be injured or out of form at best.

Posted from Portugal

By Ivan | September 27th, 2011 at 8:12 pm

Paulo, once again, good read and sum-up of the situation.
My biggest hopes for the game in Denmark lie on Nani and Ronaldo’s creativity on the wings, they should be getting some chances to score and hopefully they can be as involved in the goals as they were in the home game. I’m also looking forward to how our defense will deal with Bendtner this time, and Eriksen too, who has been an emerging Denmark’s talent. The good news is that, despite us missing Carvalho and possibly Pepe and Coentrão (can anyone tell if their absence is certain?), the danes will also not have Agger, Boilesen and probably Christian Poulsen (they also have a Simon Poulsen) in the defense.

Posted from Portugal

By jon | September 27th, 2011 at 8:51 pm

Pepe and Coentrao are both incredible players so they will definitely be missed if they can’t play. Now the retirement of Carvalho is starting to look like a disaster. I loved having the trio of Carvalho, Pepe, and Alves, but now all of the sudden, we’re down to Alves. Rolando is a very good defender, but he isn’t at Pepe or Carvalho’s level yet. Manuel Da Costa has been having a great season in Russia so he might get a call up.

I agree that while Postiga tends to be at his best with the seleccao, it really is disappointing to see that he is yet to score for Zaragoza. Sporting’s young striker Wilson Eduardo is on loan at Olhanense and he has been scoring goals in almost every game. Nuno Gomes and Liedson are our best finishers, but I don’t think that they are in Bento’s plans.

My starting 11 against Iceland

——————–Patricio————————
Pereira——Pepe(Rolando)—-Alves–Coentrao(Silvio)
—————Meireles—-Moutinho————–
Nani—————Danny——————-Ronaldo
———————-Postiga———————

Bench:Eduardo,Bosingwa,Andre Santos,Veloso,Wilson Eduardo,Varela,Da Costa.

By Paulo | September 28th, 2011 at 10:15 am

If only Bento would play Danny at the central attacking midfielder, if only. I agree with your squad completely, accept I think Ruben Micael will get called instead of Andre Santos because Santos hasn’t seen a lot of action at Sporting. I would love to see Wilson Eduardo get a called up.

Thank you Ivan, and I agree Bendtner is always a thorn in our sides, and I hope Rolando and Alves can deal with him.

By Ivan | September 30th, 2011 at 7:06 am

Goalkeepers: Beto, Eduardo, Rui Patrício

Defenders: Sílvio, João Pereira, Bruno Alves, Sereno, Ricardo Costa, Rúben Amorim, Rolando

Midfielders: Raul Meireles, Nani, Rúben Micael, Carlos Martins, Danny, Paulo Machado, Miguel Veloso, Quaresma, João Moutinho

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Eliseu, Nuno Gomes, Hélder Postiga

Posted from Portugal

By Ivan | September 30th, 2011 at 7:08 am

Not too keen on Sereno, Ricardo Costa, Rúben Amorim, Rúben Micael and Eliseu being called up… And Miguel Veloso and Quaresma usually don’t pull off more than some sparkles during their performances.

Posted from Portugal

By João | September 30th, 2011 at 9:41 am

Very disappointing to see that Bosingwa hasn’t been called up.

Posted from Netherlands

By Ivan | September 30th, 2011 at 11:05 am

Yeah, I don’t get why PB’s not calling him up, he got solid performances for Chelsea lately. The defense would be strengthened with his presence in the back line, certainly not with Ricardo Costa, ’cause he has continuously proven he’s a mess.

That aside, and knowing the injuries we’ve had of Pepe, Coentrão and Carvalho not being available for obvious reasons, I don’t see this call-up being much better.

Posted from Portugal

By Paulo | September 30th, 2011 at 12:33 pm

I agree with you guys, I have no idea why Eliseu or COSTA would get called up over Bosingwa. Bento must still be holding a grudge over the comments Jose made a while back after not being used in a game. If it was me, I put those things behind us and get Bosingwa onto the field. It’s almost inexplicable how Costa gets called up even though he has only played once this year….

By Ivan | September 30th, 2011 at 8:05 pm

After looking through some sites, I think the reason for PB not calling Bosingwa has its roots in some brawl before, during or after the game against Argentina, in February. Didn’t find anything to do with that after looking through the archives.

Posted from Portugal

By Tiago | October 1st, 2011 at 12:12 am

@Ivan you are 100% correct. On that game vs Argentina Bosingwa and Bento had a fight before the game started, don’t know what was the reason but I would guess Bosingwa was mad he wouldn’t start? This led to the FFP trying to cover it up by saying Bosingwa got injured a few minutes before the match. I remember that day, the commentators were saying how it was weird they only told Bento a few minutes before the match, but really they were trying to cover up the argument. Didn’t do a good job though.

By João | October 2nd, 2011 at 4:56 pm

Danny won’t be able to play against Denmark and Iceland due to personal reasons.

Bosingwa, Carvalho and now Danny?

Posted from Netherlands

By Ivan | October 2nd, 2011 at 5:16 pm

Wait, wait, how do we know it’s a similar case to the one of those two? I’m inclined to say he has some kind of problem that disables him to prepare the matches. Maybe Zenit’s forcing him to not go? Hopefully it’s not some argument with Paulo Bento and him being sulk over not starting.

Anyway, he was replaced by Varela for these two matches. Still a pity, his creativity could have helped a lot in these matches.

Posted from Portugal

By Ivan | October 2nd, 2011 at 5:17 pm

*Wait, wait, how do we know it’s a similar case to those two?

Posted from Portugal

By João | October 3rd, 2011 at 2:30 am

@Ivan;

I don’t I’m merely jumping to a conclusion ;p You’re right to say that the situation isn’t similar (Danny never managed to reach the camp)

Posted from Netherlands

By Miggy | October 3rd, 2011 at 5:58 am

I think Danny’s absence is not like the others, because it’s not like retired from the national team or anything. My guess would be that something to do with family, maybe, has prevented him from leaving Russia.

Hopefully, and not just for the sake of us qualifying to the Euro he gets everything sorted out. Though Bento has just about playing him out of position every single time, he is a talented player.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Ivan | October 3rd, 2011 at 12:26 pm

Now Sílvio’s not fit for Iceland and Denmark, plus Ronaldo’s condition is unknown.

God, seems like we’ll never have a fully fit squad for any games.

Posted from Portugal

By Ivan | October 4th, 2011 at 6:26 am

Ronaldo has trained with the team, Sílvio will miss the game versus Iceland for sure.

Posted from Portugal

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