EPL Classico: Mourinho et al. take on Ronaldo and Co.

It was a mistake to leave Bayern. Ballack did and still does have much more fans there - after that fantastic World Cup. Now Bayern is not even near the top of the Bundesliga table - and they’d really need a disciplined leading player like Ballack.

Posted from  Austria

Following Luis’s link, C Ronaldo and his “evil-eye”, at it AGAIN, seducing naive and innocent dutch teenagers (via TV), after it’s striking WC performace that saw the English national team down to 10 men…

Posted from  Netherlands

Hey Pedro;

This would make CR a perv, no?

Posted from  Canada

At 21, every guy is a perv!

Posted from  United States

http://jornaldigital.com/noticias.php?noticia=13029

Posted from  Netherlands

http://jornaldigital.com/noticias.php?noticia=12920

Posted from  Netherlands

http://domelhor.net/futebol/story.php?category=3&id=217

Posted from  Netherlands

From World Soccer magazine:

“I’ve been in France for 7 years and I’ve never uttered this word before. In fact, I didn’t even know this insult”

PSG striker Pauleta denies calling a female assistant referee a ‘lady of the night’ a misdemeanour that cost him a two match suspension.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Luis, why did you erase my comment. IT may not of been soccer related but it was teh truth. YOu are like the media you hide important details!

Posted from  Canada

CR19 - I won’t tolerate your stupidity when you openly insult other posters for no reason. How old are you anyway? Perhaps you’re just too clueless to pickup on Pedro’s sarcasm. Either way, give it a rest.

Posted from  United States

Check this article out in the Intl. Herald Tribune. Sorry I missed this when it was published on the 16th. The writer of the article states some of the things we’ve been talking about Ronaldo.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/16/sports/soccer.php

Posted from  United States

Brazilian born Pepe, FC Porto’s defender, to get portuguese citizenship…

http://www.ojogo.pt/22-281/artigo595111.htm

Posted from  Netherlands

And, of course, this friday we’ll have a Sporting - Benfica clash…

Posted from  Netherlands

And Deco agrees with Pepe and thinks Sporting will win…

http://www.maisfutebol.iol.pt/noticia.php?id=747134&div_id=1194

http://www.ojogo.pt/22-282/Artigo595447.htm

Posted from  Netherlands

Ok so if Pepe gets Portuguese citizenship, does he get a call up for the NT? Does he get to play alongside Carvalho, is he good enough and deserving?

Posted from  United States

I don’t think he’s thinking of doing it with the sole purpose of opening the door to the NT. Although he did meet with Scolari, yesterday… To be honest, I don’t see how anybody could currently pass ahead of Carvalho + Andrade + Meira… The 4th has been subject of study. But, generically, it’s better to haver plenty than to have nothing…

Ideally, Pepe would be a great goal scorer…

Honestly, I don’t know how he plays. But I guess he’s quite OK. I believe that in the 3 men defense FCPorto had last year, it was either him, or Pedro Emanuel, the solitary CD… More, I dunno…

But what do you all think about Portugal applying for WC in 2018…? 2010 will be South Africa and 2014 must again change continent, and is in principle going to be either Brazil or Colombia (I think).

I mean, I’ve read (brieffly) in other places that actually England and The Netherlands (it would be Benelux, together with Belgium and Luxembourg) are also thinking about it, if the WC comes to Europe, and not to Australia by then…

Posted from  Netherlands

In regards to Pepe, he is a good player, in fact I’m a bit surprised that Brazil hasn’t called him up. I would rate him ahead of Luisao of Benfica. if he does get called up I believe has has the talent to make the team, my concern is the message it sends out to Portuguese kids and the image of possibly portugal being Brazil 2. Though I guess this is not much different than the youngsters coming through the Portuguese system from former colonies such as Cape Verde or Guinea bissau (Nelson, Djalo). The difference may be that these kids were developed in Portugal and generally went there at a very young age.

As for the world cup. I don’t think it will happen, due to financial and political issues in Portugal. Someone can correct me, but won’t the municipalities be paying off the stadiums built or renovated for Euro 2004 for quite a while. And with the world cup they would probably have to be refurbished. It would be nice to see, but I don’t think it will happen.

Posted from  United States

Joe - there are some outstanding debts for the stadiums, but one of the main arguments for Portugal to host is that they wouldn’t need to upgrade much at all. The new stadiums were designed with a potential WC bid in mind and pretty much have cutting edge services built in. Of course, the politics involved in choosing a host for the WC is another matter.

Thanks for keeping the commentaries going. I’ll try to do a news roundup post tomorrow.

Posted from  United States

No Portugal WC in 2018, to close on the heels of Euro, FIFA will give other countries a chance, Definitely England unless there is some security concerns (hooliganism). The Dutch maybe, (Stadium Issues). Only way for Portugal to do it would be in a joint bid with Spain, which wouldn’t be a bad thing spread the costs no need to build new stadiums.

Posted from  United States

Either I’m very much mistaken, or you will never see a joint PORTUGAL & SPAIN event of this sort… Actually, the big looser still in EC04 was exactly Spain… The were also in the race for EC04 and I think they must have thought they had it in the bag. Tough luck… So, I’d say that Spain is actually ahead of all the others, should they apply. It’s also quite a nice country for such an event (especially during Summer), the best european league, also a team that shows usually good football but also don’t usually get anywhere and I’m pretty sure they won’t lack the conditions… A lot of good arguments…

I wouldn’t be surprised to see England pushing as hard as possible to have it. Hosting an event is worth a million Scolaris… There weren’t any issues during EC96, were there (I don’t remember this)?

I also guess that if Australia jumps into the picture, it might also go there…

Posted from  Netherlands

The next WC in South Africa will be a very expensive thing for FIFA, so in the next years they will probably choose countries that are all ready for such big events..
The Brazilians seem to be very likely to get 2014b, betting agencies also insist in Brazil, but after that either Australia or an unproblematic European country will get it, so we have quite good chances to reach the final again.

Posted from  Austria

I don’t think Portugal will get it in 2018….the consensus seems to be Oceania, probably Australia, seeing as they have never hosted it. 2022 might be North America, possibly Mexico or the US again….I don’t think Europe will get it until at least 2026, although it would be nice to see Portugal host it sometime within the next two decades or so. Who’s up for Euro 2012?

Posted from  United States

It is unfortunate that portuguses players don’t get the respect they deserve have the time

Forza italia, in what way? Do you mean we don’t pay them enough respect, or French fans or English ones?
And the Italians are acclaimed that much because they aren’t as modest as the Portuguese players, which is no disadvantage, by the way.

Posted from  Austria

http://www.ojogo.pt/22-287/artigo596332.htm

Posted from  Netherlands