Portugal- 4 Cyprus- 0: Everything Goes as Planned for Once

September 3rd, 2011 | by: Paulo |

I didn’t know what to expect after the build up to this CRUCIAL Euro 2012 Qualifier against Cyprus. I also can’t remember a more distracting week for the Sellecao. Meireles’ injury doubts and transfer bonanza, Postiga’s sudden transfer, and of course the Carvalho drama. Who knows where the heads of our players were. Was Bento losing control of the squad or was the Ricky situation isolated? Plus the pressure of making up for drawing 4-4 with the minnows of Cyprus last time (one of our least proud scorelines). Although after this 4-0 beat down I feel many of the questions were answered.
cris2 It took a little longer than my liking, plus a lucky hand ball call for Portugal to finally get on the board against Cyprus, but I don’t think there was ever a question to us claiming three needed points away. We controlled the game completely from start to finish thanks to the great work from Moutinho and Meireles in the midfield. Early on we had several chances that could have easily been goals. Pepe’s header, and a few shots by Ronaldo and Postiga all tested Cyprus. Cyprus was unlucky to get the handball in the box, but even worse to have their defender sent off. But I’m not complaining. I thought that after the first goal the game would open up considerably, but we couldn’t put a good string of play together for very long. It took until the last ten minutes for the flood gates to open. 3 terrific goals by Ronaldo, Almeida, and Danny finished off an easy 4-0 win that keeps us on top of the group with 13 points and ahead of Norway on goal differential.

Player Ratings-

Rui Patricio- 7: Didn’t have much work to do, but he controlled the box well. This is our guy in net now, and I have a lot of confidence in Rui.

Pepe- 8: Always there when we needed him and was dangerous on set pieces. I think his long passing is underrated because he sent in a few really nice balls over the top to our forwards.

Alves- 7: Only one slip up with Patricio early on but other than that a good night for Bruno. I guess we should get used to seeing him starting again for Portugal with Carvalho out for good it seems, and I wouldn’t want any one else filling in that giant void.

Coentrao- 8: Was definitely one of our most consistent attackers. As the game went on he started moving up the field and drifted inside to create some nice combinations in the midfield. Deserved a goal, but unlucky to hit the inside of the post. Really could play in the midfield instead of Micael, but Bento seems reluctant to change anything at this time.

Perreira- 6: Defended really well, and attacked down the right flank a lot. His crossing was off at times, but Joao always seems to make the right decision when in possession.

Micael- 5: Linked up okay in the midfield, but looked slightly out of place to me. Moutinho usually likes to sit a little deep and control the flow of play which leaves Micael in the hole to play make, and he isn’t that kind of player. He just didn’t contribute enough to make a difference in the game.

Meireles- 6: Raul didn’t have his best game but he and Moutinho really dictated the pace of the game well. He joined the attack more as the game went on and started to get more dangerous. I still think the Chelsea man could be used better up the field. Keep in mind he wasn’t 100% fit either.

Moutinho- 8: The best midfielder on the pitch again played stellar. He won plenty of balls in the attacking third to keep our offense alive, and played in some brilliant through balls. A great assist on the last goal to Danny capped off another great display from the Porto man.

Nani-7: A decent game by Nani. He tried to do a little to much on his own at times, but he combined nicely with Ronaldo on the second goal. Left some Cyrpiots on their asses too with his stepovers.

Postiga- 6: Postiga held up play pretty well all night. He’s not a big striker that can turn on goal like Hugo Almeida, so Postiga to his strengths all game which is good. He started to pull his man farther up the field too for Ronaldo and Nani to have more space to cut in. Still needs to work on his finishing, but not a bad game by Helder. Interesting to see where his transfer will leave him next month.

Ronaldo- 9: Man of the match once again. Cool from the penalty spot and a nice left footed finish for two more goals to his campaign. Did well to assist on Almeida’s goal at the end as well. Starting to duplicate his club form for country at last!

Substitutes-

Veloso- 5: Came in for Micael and didn’t contribute much more than the latter. Seemed like he played central mid and allowed Meireles to move up the field more, and that helped out attack quite a bit in my opinion.

Almeida-6: Took a few good cracks at net and finished the goal that Ronaldo put on a platter for him. He turned the ball over on several occasions however and didn’t look as good as Postiga on the ball. But there is no doubt that he can be a strong substitute that can change the game with one of his left footed rockets.

p63-danny Danny- 7: Didn’t get too long to showcase his skills, but attacked furiously when he had the chance. Showed nice control on the long ball from Moutinho and converted it with ease. I would really like to see him in the midfield instead of Micael, or even a change of formation to get him in the game more.

Carvalho will be missed, but Pepe and Bruno Alves can definitely be a one of a kind duo. I honestly think that if Pepe and Ricky didn’t play together every day at RM then Alves might have been the go to guy for this campaign. I wish this situation never happened, but we must move on and hope Pepe and Alves can create a rock solid tandem. They are definitely some of the most athletic and speedy center backs in the world.

I do think Paulo Bento still has a good firm grasp on the team. I’m sure some players sympathize with Carvalho, but I think they are behind the coach 100%. Ronaldo said it best, “nobody has a guaranteed place. It’s the coach who decides and we’re all behind him.” FORCA PORTUGAL!!

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By João | September 7th, 2011 at 2:56 am

At the moment our group has the best runner-up, so even if Portugal loses against Denmark they’ll directly qualify (assuming they win against Iceland)
Of course this can still change e.g. if Croatia loses against Greece or if Sweden wins their remaining matches, including against the Netherlands.

Still we’re in a really good position now, considering a year ago we had only one point out of two matches.

Posted from Netherlands

By ahmad | September 7th, 2011 at 7:59 am

if Bento took charge at the beginning we would surely be celebrating qualification right now… i am praying for an easy two games against Denmark and Iceland, we’re Portugal and compared to these two teams, we’re immensely better !! Forca Portugal.
Ronaldo has been in form for his club lately, even when we played against the big teams (Spain – Argentina), he seems to be scoring in similar fashion to how he does for RM, does this imply we will have a much better Ronaldo in 2012? I am worried that he’ll be used too much this season since his team is going to do their best to win every tournament, like what happened in 2008, he did everything with united that year but when it was time to shine for his country, he just didn’t have enough strength left in him :/

By Lima | September 7th, 2011 at 8:16 am

guys, what you think which are the favourites to win the EuroCup?

By NINA | September 7th, 2011 at 8:24 am

Paulo Bento said : We can all make mistakes, but at the moment we do we have to be aware of the fact and have the nobleness to apologies. In this case not to me, but to the Portuguese people.
Well done Bento!showing he is a very good man. now i like him even more!

By ahmad | September 7th, 2011 at 8:26 am

The same big guns as the previous Euro, most probably spain, netherlands, and germany …
in portugal’s case, it’s tough to make a non-biased assumption… but to be honest, i don’t think we’ll win it… we’re playing like a team, but we still lack that quality striker upfront …. plain and simple, postiga and almeida will not help us win the euro, it’s up to the midfield, so if nani and ronaldo and co. give it their all, then maybe we can win it, but club season is a bitch and they’ll most propably get winded and not have the strength to carry on in the tournament.

By ahmad | September 7th, 2011 at 8:28 am

@ Nina, when did he say that? and was he addressing it to Carvalho or to himself?

By Ivan | September 7th, 2011 at 10:02 am

I hope that if we make to the Euro, Paulo Bento uses Nelson Oliveira and/or Wilson Eduardo, they might provide us the firepower to win decisive matches in Poland/Ukraine. We may have a shot at the final then, but it’s in the best scenario. What I’m really liking about our team (with Bento as a coach) is that we’re starting to always find a way to win important matches, even if we don’t always play well.
Against Denmark at home, we used two mistakes in the first half to promptly score (something we don’t always do). In the 2nd half the old story seemed to return with the RC own goal, but then Nani works through the danish defense and passes the ball to Ronaldo who scores with no opposition besides the keeper. We win our first competitive game against group contenders in years.
Againt Iceland away, CR7 scores from a free-kick early in the game, but then the locals score through a goal that I really don’t buy. I’ve saw the replay many times and tried as much as possible to be unbiased and I still think the ball didn’t pass the goal line. Yes, Eduardo didn’t do the best save, but to me it was never a goal. Then Raul Meireles appears to give us the lead again, out of nowhere. I like so much when it happens! That’s the way winners play. In the second half we had some more opportunities and missed them, but scored through a mistake by the keeper. You can say that it wasn’t really an effort built by Portugal, but there was Cristiano Ronaldo’s cross at least and Postiga was at the right place and right time to slot in. That’s SOMETHING.
Against Norway at home we struggled a lot, but brake them through nonetheless. Their defense played superbly and didn’t allow too many chances from us, but the Nani cross and Postiga’s shot just went in.
Against Cyprus away, I think our players didn’t do the best job. After Ronaldo scored from a penalty our players seemed to calm down and not solve the game right away. Quite embarassing that Cyprus took charge of the game in the 2nd half after they were reduced to 10 men, and only a mistaken offside woke up our players. They then put three to record our biggest ever away win to Cyprus.
Bento should teach the players to keep their cool and play to win when the scoreline is not safe. This way we’ll rarely lose and draw. But then again, Portugal wouldn’t play medium-top sides the way it did against Cyprus, wouldn’t it? I would REALLY love us to win in Denmark, we haven’t won there in ages (more specifically, since 1977) and I think we’re able to do it.

About the other top guns: Spain’s finishing and form doesn’t seem as good as between 2008 and 2010 (I personally think it was their peak, they won 31 matches out of 33!), but they’re still very dangerous and much able to win big matches. Germany has a monstruous attack, but a bit shaky in the defense, Netherlands… I can’t really find something against them, Bert van Marwijk has given them such a winning mentality that they can’t seem to be beaten… The Netherlands will not repeat Euro 2008’s mistake and blow it all in the first games. They’ll play just what they need, but to be fair, they DO seem to concede quite a few goals, especially against Hungary at home. It’s just that their relatively weak opposition (apart from Sweden) makes it seem like they’re invincible.
And then there are France and Italy. I don’t know that to expect from them, but everyone should keep an eye on what they do. There’ll be other teams, sure, but we can’t predict what will happen until the games actually happen. That’s the beauty of football: sometimes the obvious happens, but sometimes we expect the strongest team to win and an upset happens, and then there are times when we expect a “surprise” and the powerhouse wins nonetheless.

In short: we should be optimistic, but only moderately. The game in Denmark will give us a hint on what Portugal’s able to do in the EC, should we be there.

Posted from Portugal

By Ivan | September 7th, 2011 at 10:32 am

Oh, and I forgot to include England! They play well at times and mostly do their job in the qualifiers, but usually get too excited and choke when the big tournament arrives. If Capello wants his side to have a chance, he should bring them down to earth and say them something to make them play at 100%, PLUS, ignore the press and any expectations that are put on them by it. England fans get frustrated because everyone says England underachieves because of ALL of England, when in reality it’s only their dumb press that does so. When England wins, the press hails the Three Lions as the best in the world, which makes England’s players relax, while when they draw/lose, they attack and demoralize completely the english players. The best they have to do is avoid buying english tabloids during the tournament and do their own work.

Posted from Portugal

By NINA | September 7th, 2011 at 11:35 am

@ Ahmad RTP TV, He said RC must apologies to the Portuguese people and he wouldn’t call him for NT because as a coach he couldn’t… i read that in my local website which is in Persian!
well done Ivan!
It would be better you and Paolo takeing charge of this blog.

By João | September 7th, 2011 at 1:13 pm

@Ivan, great post I do have to disagree on some things. The thing is we don’t have a striker problem at the moment. A striker problem is when a striker who repeatedly gets the ball in the goal scoring opportunity and doesn’t score. That didn’t really happen against Cyprus because our strikers rarely got the ball in the first place.
We don’t have enough creativity and that’s the first thing that needs to be fixed before finding players who are better than our current average strikers.

Posted from Netherlands

By Ivan | September 7th, 2011 at 1:25 pm

I dunno, Nani, Coentrão, and Ronaldo (at times) seemed to create enough chances to win during most of the 1st half, they probably just relaxed after the 0-1 and didn’t put much effort afterwards, before the inexistant offside in the 78th minute. I’m sure Bento won’t let his players relax against Denmark the way they did against Cyprus, especially when 1st place is on the line.

Posted from Portugal

By ahmad | September 9th, 2011 at 12:44 pm

Is anybody paying attention the world beach soccer championship? I’m surprised nobody mentioned it, i didn’t even know it was this year!!

it says that our beloved national team is facing Brazil tomorrow in the semis, the winner will face either Salvador or Russia.

It will nice to see us lift this trophy, best of luck to all players. Forca Portugal.

Posted from France

By ahmad | September 9th, 2011 at 12:44 pm

it will be*

Posted from France

By Ivan | September 9th, 2011 at 6:12 pm

Portugal has had an awful record with Brazil as of the latest in beach football, except a home victory in a Mundialito recently. I can remember a defeat by like 2-8 (reminds me of Arsenal) sometime during the last 12 months, I think.

So I wouldn’t build much enthusiasm to that semi-final. And even if we do win, the players might arrive to the final very tired because of the fight the brazilians will surely make. If Portugal wins, let’s hope either El Salvador or Russia will be tired too.

But… are you really getting THAT desperate for Portugal winning a trophy? xD

Posted from Portugal

By ahmad | September 9th, 2011 at 6:35 pm

@Ivan, Arsenal and Portugal should never be stated in the same sentence

and actually i am …. well sort of … because we simply deserve to , i watched us lose a Euro, a U-20 world cup and a few beach soccer world cups ; and i know that this nation’s footballing history deserves a better history when it comes to winning things. I must say that if we lose tomorrow i will not cry

has anybody watched the latest castrol video series on youtube (or skysports) concerning Cristiano Ronaldo? it’s actually quite amazing, here’s the first part for you guys, enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7vYfKfI87U&feature=related

Posted from France

By Ivan | September 10th, 2011 at 5:19 am

If we lose two more finals, I’ll start to think of it as a curse. But for now I’ll think we just lack something to convert our talent into a final win. I mean, when Nélson Oliveira scored the 2-1 for Portugal in the U20 final, I felt so proud at the moment, really feeling that we’re so small, yet the best in the world. I could see on the pitch that the brazilians were getting frustrated with the disadvantage and fouls against them, believed that we were about to become U20 World Champions for the 3rd time. But then came the 2nd brazilian goal… and I just don’t like remembering the game afterwards.

Posted from Portugal

By ahmad | September 10th, 2011 at 8:33 am

you brought back some bad memories Ivan, not the U-20 tournament, i actually remembered the euro final; i was 12 and i actually cried at the time … i only cried twice because of football (the other one was Man Utd vs Barca in 2009). i still remember the image of scolari giving ronaldo a consolation hug after the match still gets me so frustrated!!
i just don’t this team to worry about the likes of denmark and norway and such teams anymore (with all respect to those teams)… hopefully this mentality will change with Bento, i think it is changing a bit and we are on the right track towards acting like a big team.

Posted from France

By Ivan | September 10th, 2011 at 12:00 pm

I usually get carried on stuff like this

I don’t like recalling lost finals, but at the same time I want to discuss it, weird, isn’t it … yes, we reached the Euro 2004 final, but WE were the ones supposed to win it. I didn’t like how many at the time were happy with the 2nd place. What!? I mean, c’mon, Spain won the EC in 1964 at home, France in 1984 too, it was ABSOLUTELY our time to win it in 2004, not some Greece that doesn’t have NEARLY the amount of success both on club and NT level as Portugal. The greeks win it in freaking Estádio da Luz! Darned incompetent Scolari, I may even have forgiven everything bad he would do afterwards for Portugal had he won that final. No, he wasn’t prepared at all. He learned nothing from the opening game, and because of him we become the first country to lose an EC final on home soil. Awful, just awful. He was decent between the Euro 2004 and WC 2006, but HE was the one responsible for that loss. He didn’t call Vítor Baía, winner of CL for Porto and instead calls Ricardo. I’m pretty sure he would have stopped that header from Charisteas.
And Portugal wasn’t a top team AT ALL between the WC 2006 and Euro 2008, we couldn’t even win half of the games played at that time. That’s why I consider Scolari a failure as a manager of our NT and facepalm at those wanting him to return, they were the same people as those that criticized the Portugal’s horrible games in his last years.

Hopefully Bento makes us a winning team on a constant basis. We are a bit already, but it needs to carry on for a long time.

Posted from Portugal

By Ivan | September 10th, 2011 at 2:08 pm

And there it goes. Portugal loses 1-4 to Brazil in the semi-final of the Beach Football World Cup…

Posted from Portugal

By ahmad | September 11th, 2011 at 10:35 am

hahahahahahahahaha i went to see the scoreline before i visit the blog to see your “expected” comment…. 1-4 it is then….. for heaven’s sake this is actually starting to become funny

you’re 100% right, scolari is overrated and Bento seems to be a way much better prospect in the coaching position. What happened in the Euro final was a shame, we were the best team in the tournament hands down and we ended up losing it to a silly header that i bet ricardo is still cursing the day he didn’t save it … not to mention his blunders against germany in the following WC and Euro. Let’s hope things are going to take a great leap forward and we can finally see our team wearing some medals in the near future.
until that time comes, we wait ….

Posted from Russian Federation

By ahmad | September 13th, 2011 at 6:09 pm

carvalho has been banned for one year by the federation, that means he will get no financial reward in case Portugal qualify to the Euros… he deserves at least that if you ask me, and this is coming from someone who freakin loves this guy.

By Ivan | September 14th, 2011 at 5:56 am

No doubt. The portuguese players should feel a disciplinary hand from the manager and I’m glad it’s happening with Paulo Bento. This should stop players in the future (at least under his management) from getting whiny and expecting everything to come down their way on a silver plate every time they want to play.

Posted from Portugal

By Ivan | September 14th, 2011 at 6:03 am

Bruno Alves seems to get worse with every match he plays for Zenit. Yesterday he was sent-off in a CL match. This is not good news.

Posted from Portugal

By ahmad | September 15th, 2011 at 9:40 am

yeah i noticed that …
i was watching the Benfica vs MU match last night and i cant help but notice the commentator saying that he fears for the future of Portuguese football. The comment went something like this:

“Benfica has 11 players on the field from 10 different nationalities and the only Portuguese player from their side is Amorem. I fear for the future of Portuguese football, and i don’t want to see the day where the big teams in Portugal have no Portuguese players in them, that will be a huge issue for the national team.”

for some reason i felt his words to be dead on.

By Ivan | September 15th, 2011 at 10:11 am

I really wish that the top Portugal teams stopped doing raids to South America and (occasionally) Europe to buy players. They should concentrate on home born talent, which there is plenty, it’s just overshadowed by the foreigners. The U20′ recent campaign in the World Cup should be proof of that. Benfica is probably the worst case in Portugal, this season they have been starting like 0-1 portuguese players per match, but still. Sporting has also started to rely more on foreign players and Porto doesn’t seem to be improving in that aspect.

The portuguese players are mostly much better than the foreigners that play in the Portuguese League, they just need to be given chances. In the 5th round of the PL only 39% of the starters were portuguese.

Posted from Portugal

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