Final Euro 2012 Thoughts, Bright Future Ahead

July 3rd, 2012 | by: Paulo | Comments(34)

We lost to the Champions again and its safe to say we gave them their biggest fight they’ve had in a while in a major tournament. Sure we couldn’t muster much going forward, but we didn’t park the bus either and kept Spain from dominating the match. And of course with even just a little bit more luck we could have been lifting the trophy.

It kills me that Ronaldo didn’t have a chance to shoot, but he wanted to be the hero and the one to finally send the spear through Spain’s heart. And you can’t blame him. The Alves/Nani mix up was definitely weird, but knowing how mentally tough Alves is, I doubt that was what threw him off. He just got under the ball an inch more than he wanted and it crashed against the bar. Man do I feel for each and every one of these players. They left everything out on the field and pressed for 120 minutes. Patricio didn’t have to make hardly any saves all tournament and then came up huge in the final moments to keep our hopes alive. He deserves a ton of credit in his own right.

Lastly, I have to give props to Mr. Bento. What a fantastic coach this man is, and I can see him being at the helm of Portugal for quite sometime. He cares about his players and most importantly the players give him their all each and every time the step on the field. I really admire his zero tolerance for selfishness and his great personality to bring this locker room closer than it ever has been in this era of players. As the youngest coach in this tournament, he went toe to toe with Joachim Low, Van Marwik, and Del Bosque and never backed down. I also think he played a huge part in none of our players getting suspended for any matches, instilling confidence in them, yet keeping them level headed. Paulo Bento has gained invaluable experience in this tournament and it will show later down the road.

Overall this team performed to its potential in my eyes. Many players were in peak form and even went above and beyond what we expected of them. Others still have the prime of their careers ahead of them. Bento has found his favorite starting eleven, and I don’t think most of them are going anywhere. Of course there will have to probably be a few changes. Alves is getting up there in age (32 come next world cup), but he could easily make it through the next World Cup if he stays fit. Rolando could step in for him if he gets better, along with some other players that didn’t make the squad that could burst onto the scene in the next couple years. Pepe will be 30 as well, but he should still be at the end of his prime. Coentrao (26) and Pereira (28) will be fine. I see Moutinho being a huge part of this team the rest of his career, Veloso was amazing this summer, and hopefully his move to Dinamo Kiev will pay dividends for him, but you never know. Meireles will be 31, and could be a good veteran to have around the squad, but you have to expect someone younger to muscle him out. Please close the door on Martins and Micael, they don’t have what it takes. Ronaldo and Nani will continue to lead the attack and Danny, who will be 30, might have missed his last chance at a big tournament for Portugal. Varela will be 29, but probably still in the mix to come off the bench. He deserves it after his dynamite performances. The striker problem will continue for the foreseeable future. Postiga will probably hang around early in the qualifying campaign, but being 31 for the next world cup doesn’t bode well for a struggling player. I don’t think we will be seeing Almeida any more. Bento knows that it is time to experiment with many different options. Vaz Te might be a name to watch if he performs in the EPL, Orlando Sa might finally get a loan or some playing time at Fulham, but most importantly Oliveira needs to keep developing and improving either at Benfica, or out on loan elsewhere in Europe. Other names like Wilson Eduardo, Joao Silva, Betinho, and hopefully others will continue to rise through the ranks and get significant looks in friendlies/qualifiers. Bento does like to have a consistent squad, but there is no way he can afford not to give other players a chance and he knows that. Let me know who you guys think will be the next player to rise to the senior national team. There are a lot of candidates, but Bento is very particular about who he chooses.

2014 World Cup qualifying starts September 7th against Luxembourg. Other than Israel and Russia we we should just destroy the rest of our group. Israel also shouldn’t be much of a threat, and Russia are going to be in a big transition mode after their older players didn’t play very well this summer. Hopefully we finally win a group.

In other news the U-19 national team got their European Championships underway with a 3-0 win over hosts Estonia. They crashed the host’s party after just 5 minutes when the Estonians conceded an own goal. Then Betinho doubled the lead after scoring from close range having been set up by Concelo’s cross which caused chaos in the box. Daniel Martin’s capped off the night with a fantastic free kick that fooled the Estonian keeper. This team really impressed me with their build up play, but they definitely made some mistakes at the back. The midfield has loads of talent, but they need to learn how to play off of one another better.  This team is inexperienced and young, but they show a lot of promise and have to be one of the strongest in the competition.  Having scored almost 30 goals in qualifying, this team has what it takes to bring the trophy home.