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Portugal
U-20 and Senior NT’s Dominate
Comments(33)
Portugal cruised to an easy 5-0 win over Luxembourg. Overall, we controlled the game completely and finished like a top tier European team should. It’s hard to judge on the new faces that played like Andre Santos and Castro because it was after all Luxembourg, but they played well. Bento used many subs and gave a lot of players a chance, which was good to see. What did we learn though after all of this?
Well one thing I learned was that Hugo Almeida does have a pulse out on the pitch. I don’t know if he was flowing with confidence because of who he was competing against, or a revitalized player all together, but he was the talented striker that he is capable of being night in and night out. His volley was a masterpiece, and he actually converted on his easy chance right in front of goal unlike recently. Postiga scored as well, but he didn’t look as inspired as Hugo did in this friendly. Still, I think Postiga is the number 1 option at striker, but Bento still has a tough decision to make. He may make his decision solely based on the striker’s club form going into the next game September 2 against Cyprus, a Euro 2012 Qualifier.
Also we learned that Rui Patricio is the likely starting goal keeper from here on out. Coach Bento has consistently said how important it is for players to stay sharp by getting consistent playing time at their club, and Eduardo doesn’t meet those requirements. Plus, it will be interesting to see who he chooses to play at center back with Pepe. Bruno Alves has started the last two friendlies and notched two clean sheets with Pepe, but Carvalho plays with him at Real Madrid. I wouldn’t really mind who starts, but my gut feeling is Carvalho
The Portuguese U-20’s move on to the semifinals of the U-20 World Cup after beating Argentina 5-4 on penalties. It was a less than appealing first 120 minutes as each team only drew mostly half chances, and neither side could get a firm grasp on possession. Portugal were definitely deemed the underdogs, but they more than held their own, and notched their fifth straight clean sheet in the tournament. The penalties were really something to behold. Down 3-1 on PK’s, Portugal needed a miracle to pull out a victory. But after the Argentinian (excuse my lack of knowledge of player names at this level) hit the cross bar, and then a Mika save, Portugal converted both of their pks to even it up at 3-3. Then after trading goals, Portugal went up 5-4 on Nelson’s cool finish, the stage was set for Mika’s world class save as he tipped the ball over the bar!!! I know I jumped to my feet in shock in what had transpired, but I couldn’t be more happy for our young guns. They deserve it and France is all that stands in the way of the finals! FORCA PORTUGAL!!!
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 33 comments.
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*Ronaldo and Ricardo Carvalho, Pepe, Fábio Coentrão.
Posted from 
Portugal
This is the second time i witness Portugal reaching a final (2004 *sniff*), and against the perfect opponents, none other than brazil. I’m putting my trust in this defense one last time…. let’s wait and see.
As for the classico yesterday, i wasted 2 hours of my life on absolutely nothing. what happened in the end was a disgrace to football from both sides.
Posted from 
Lebanon
The first match was more entertaining, Ronaldo was rather poor yesterday (exhausted really) Fabio was really impressive both as midfielder but especially as left back (no surprise there!)
Pepe was his usual self (e.g. hacking people) although he made an awesome tackle as did Carvalho (he might be injured though)
Posted from 
Netherlands
@ Joao But don’t you feel that Pepe’s defensive methods are getting out of hand? he is red-card prone the moment he steps onto the pitch!! …. don’t get me wrong i love what he does, and he always does his job on the field but he always seems to get carried away, and i can easily see him getting a red card while wearing the national jersey. i really want someone to just talk to him and tell him: hey bro…. take it easy!!
Posted from 
Russian Federation
Just saw proof that in the U20 France-Portugal semi-final there was a penalty not given to Portugal just a bit before the actual penalty that led to Nelson Oliveira converting the 2-0.
Posted from Portugal
Unfortunately, it was eliminated -_- Damned Youtube copyright bastards.
Posted from Portugal
Ivan can you explain what exactly happened? The video was removed 
Roughly 1 minute before the freekick where Portugal was given the penalty there was another freekick 25 or so meters from the french goal, and after some replays (if you have the game, play it in slow-motion) you can see the ball hitting the hand of a french player.
Posted from Portugal
portugal are now 2-1 leading with half an hour to go…. we can do thisssssss!!! forca portugal 
i can see some promising talents for the senior team though.
Posted from 
France
3-2 brazil so far :@ i mean come onnnnn these are 2 goals out of nothing!!!
Posted from France
I cannot believe Caetano did not score that. Ok well we lose. But its Portugal’s own fault. Mika who was amazing this whole tournament but today is absolutely garbage. 2 Goals out of nothing. But it was a good game, now lets get ready to beat Cyprus on the 2nd!
we had the championship within our reach… and we lost it because of stupid meaningless mistakes!!! how unlucky seriously!!! we deserve better than this, i want to see this national team get a championship…. we f***ing deserve it :@
Posted from France
The main cause for our loss was the players getting tired one after other… the brazilians seemed more fresh and also had the Lady Luck blessed, like in the 3rd brazilian goal. Not to say they didn’t deserve to win. After all, the goals were all legal.
We have another lost final, but now let’s move on quickly to the senior team!
Posted from Portugal
I said that we should move on quickly, but my reaction just can’t be this small.
It certainly won’t help our feelings remembering the what could have and what should have of this final. Not much to do other than to say they did a fantastic match, gave absolutely their all (our relative lack of goals was due to fatigue from Nelson Oliveira mainly, even though he did score a brilliant goal and the players having no strength left and doing innacurate, sometimes, hugely innacurate passes, but it’s all natural), and when it happens, there’s no big reason to be butthurt.
Will Portugal win a major title on any level on our lifetime!? Despite this dissapointment I still look forward and believe it’s possible!
Posted from Portugal
Jeeze Ivan you just struck me with something hard lol. Will Portugal ever win a major title in our lifetime? Well I definitely believe we have promising youngsters, but damn Ivan you got me thinking. It would suck if I we were to die and Portugal without a European title or at least ONE star on our jersey
Portugal needs time and we need to be Patient…. so far during my life as a Portuguese fan, i have seen us lose 2 finals (regardless of the importance of the two competitions compared to each other), which really isn’t a pleasant site to see. I did notice however a promising midfield and defense for the senior team.
And as i said times and times again, i am utterly amazed with how poor we are at the striker position…. for a footballing nation like us, we should be flooded with them, and not relying on old geezers to score for us in a major competition like the upcoming Euro. We need someone like Chicharito, or Ruud Van Nistelrooy… in other words someone you can give the ball inside the 18 yards box and would be sure that he would strike that sucker right on target.
I am sure such players must exist in portugal, a good striker is the final link in our already complete team.
Wilson Eduardo, I think, is the answer for our future striker. He definitely has the killer instinct that has lacked in our players, he proved it when playing for the U19 and U21, currently. Plus, playing for Olhanense, he’s already scored a goal away against Sporting (Lisbon) in the 1st week of the Portuguese League, and will probably play today too, in the 2nd week.
He’s probably our biggest hope at the moment! I don’t want him to fall in the trap of many other “promising” strikers that were loaned to a smaller club and had no playing time in favor of a south-american, african, and sometimes other european player, losing consequently the form and potencial, like happened not too long ago with Orlando Sá. It’s just the problem with the Portuguese League, really.
At least the U20 World Cup run should open up the eyes a bit for the clubs’ managers in Portugal.
Posted from Portugal
I really hope Bento gives Nelson Oliveira a try. He has extreme pace and speed which would go extremely well with Ronaldo and Nani. Hopefully he can be of use for us in 2014.
Yeah, but for now he’ll most likely get called up for the U21’s Euro qualifying campaign, which will begin in early September.
Posted from Portugal
Carvalho won’t be there versus Cyprus, the current rumour is that Bento expelled Carvalho after he went outside the training camp without notifying anyone.
Ugh… I hate off-pitch drama, this sounds worrying this also means no Pepe Carvalho central defenders duo.
Posted from Netherlands
Carvalho is retiring from international football…
Posted from Netherlands
That is rather disturbing… what the heck happened during the team’s preparations? Did he get insulted by someone?
And why is this happening just before an Euro qualifier!? We need more info on this…
Posted from Portugal
This is giving me bad memories from WC 2002 preparation, even though this case is quite different. I hope it doesn’t effect the team’s mindset for the match. A personal brawl affecting the performance during the match is the last thing we need!
Maybe I’m overdramatizing this, but it’s just too abrupt.
Posted from Portugal
My gut feeling is that Bento was going to start Alves or something along those lines. I don’t think that would make Ricky quit, but who knows. Whoever pissed him off needs a reality check
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Well, the penalty was questionable, but at least it wasn’t the opening goal, which would have been worse. And Brazil had a bit of help against Spain too, so it evens out. It’s not like Portugal is used to favorable decisions in crucial matches, quite the opposite.
Now on to the final. The biggest challenge of this U20 generation will happen in a few days…
And I ended up not watching anything from the Barça 3-2 Madrid… Ronaldo so close, yet so far.
Posted from
Portugal