It’s knock out time

Ok..ok. We allowed ourselves to feel good for a little while. We even indulged our sweet tooths to celebrate a job well done in the group stage, but now that all means absolutely nothing. It’s time to get back to the serious work ahead. In the knock out stages, one little mistake and you could be packing your bags for home.

Let me just say that even if we get knocked out this Sunday, I’m proud of this team. It hasn’t been glamorous, but they worked hard and earned the results they needed to get this far. We hope for greater things, but we stand with them no matter what the result in these later stages of the tournament.

We have some weaknesses to address for sure. I would like to see a more organized defense with much better work on corners and free kicks. At times, we look a bit disorganized and the teams from now on, will make us pay for every mistake. On offense, I want to see more consistency. We should be able to sustain the same level of offensive pressure for 90′. The fact that we couldn’t dominate play against Mexico in the second half even though they were a man down will not be overlooked by our adversaries. Maybe we took our foot off the gas becuase qualification was assured and we were up 2 – 1, but I don’t want to see that again. To win it all, we must play with intensity for a full match.

We looked calmer and more controlled on the ball yesterday, but we still haven’t seen the best of our midfield ball control and circulation. I know results count more then ‘jogo bonito’, but we’re going to need a little more creativity to get that extra goal that can help to put the nail in the coffin of our opponents.

It’s time to kick it up a notch. Scolari knows that the real tournament only starts in the second round. The group stage is just a warm up, so now this team will have to respond with a performance we haven’t seen up till now. Holland is a much better team then they were two years ago and Portugal has yet to show that it can play at the same level it did in the Euro. That’s not to say that we should be afraid. We have all the conditions to be able to defeat the Dutch, but they will be hungry for revenge and will leave it all on the pitch. Portugal must be ready for whatever comes.

We can do better. We can show the world that while there are better teams in this tournament, we should not be underestimated. The second round could be a short ride, but we’re going as far as this bus will take us.

Força Portugal!