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Match Preview: Estonia vs Portugal, Friendly

June 7th, 2009 | By: Miguel | 16 Comments »

June, 10, 2009
Le Coq Arena, Tallin, Estonia
21:30 Tallin; 19:30 Lisbon, London; 14:30 New York

After Saturday’s clash against Albania and another poor performance I’m not sure I look forward to the next match.

Ronaldo and Simão are out injured.
Deco, João Moutinho and Bosingwa were dismissed “for technical reasons” as stated by Queiroz.

So these 19 arrived in Tallin today:

Goal-keepers:
Beto (Leixões SC)
Daniel Fernandes (VFL Bochum 1848)
Eduardo (SC Braga)
Moreira (SL Benfica)

Defense:
Bruno Alves (FC Porto)
Gonçalo Brandão (AC Siena)
José Castro (RC Deportivo)
Miguel (Valencia CF)
Pepe (Real Madrid)
Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea FC)
Rolando (FC Porto)

Midfield:
Duda (Málaga CF)
Eliseu (Málaga CF)
Raúl Meireles (FC Porto)
Tiago (Juventus FC)

Offense:
Boa Morte (West Ham Utd FC)
Edinho (AEK)
Hugo Almeida (SV Werder Bremen)
Nani (Manchester Utd)

I think Queiroz dismissed Bosingwa and Deco because he knows what they are capable of and wants to see the options in action. I scouted the Portuguese press on the net for any comment he might have made on these dismissals but couldn’t find any. Perhaps Moutinho misbehaved during the week? It must be very bad for his moral to be dismissed like this. I somehow don’t think we will see him again during this campaign. I hope I’m wrong because he literally caries Sporting on his back during many games in the Portuguese league.

The last time we played Estonia in Tallin was in June 2005. World Cup 2006 qualifier. We got away with a narrow win. 1-0. Scolari was manager and guess what… yep… we played like crap. I’m starting to hate this word…

Trying to guess Queiroz’s line-up for this match is like guessing what color underpanties Madona will wear for her next concert. We’ll never know until we are actually looking at them.

As this is a friendly it is a good opportunity to show us exactly what some of the newcomers can do. I’d like to see them in action so I’ll make a wild looking line-up here:

Moreira
Rolando – Gonçalo Brandão – José Castro – Miguel
Duda – Eliseu – Raúl Meireles – Tiago
Edinho – Nani

I know Rolando is a CB but so are Brandão and Castro.
Yep this looks like the perfect way to… lose.

Again please:

Eduardo
Miguel – Bruno Alves – Pepe – Duda
Eliseu – Raúl Meireles – Tiago
Boa Morte – Edinho – Nani

A little better. Not much. One more try for Boa Morte. No more tries for Hugo Almeida.

Tags: Estonia, friendly, Portugal, World Cup 2010

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Comments

By Seth | June 8th, 2009 at 1:39 am

For some reason we play decent when there’s no pressure (remember the South Africa game back in March after that horrible display against Sweden).

Do you know why the hell isn’t Queiroz calling up Maniche?

By Miguel | June 8th, 2009 at 6:00 am

Yes we played decent against South Africa. Queiroz needed a victory to try and shut his critics cake-holes. It didn’t do the job but a victory is always tasty.
Maniche rescinded his contract with Atletico and without a club he doesn’t play/train and got excluded from Queiroz’s list (http://desporto.publico.clix.pt/noticia.aspx?id=1380632).
I’m a big fan of Maniche. The Costinha-Deco-Maniche midfield was as regular as a Swiss watch. Scolari not taking him to the Euro 2008 was a big let down. I hope he finds a club that allows him to play regularly so he can be back in time to help us win the last 4 games.

Posted from Portugal

By Christian | June 8th, 2009 at 7:58 am

Kinda dissapointed about Moutinho. I just bought the guys jersey, whoops! Regardless of my purchase, I agree with what you said Miguel in that he kinda carries Sporting. As much as I like the idea of getting in the newbies or less used guys so that Quieroz can get idea of what they can contribute on the national level, the regulars desperately need some continuity/momentum/chemistry that which I believe is the cause of such “crap” play. I’m really hoping Ronaldo just kicks it up 17 notches and destroys everyone b/c he’s scared of losing all that Nike marketing money if he’s not in South Africa for 2010. On another note, that’s why I’m convinced he’ll never go to Real. But Figo and Beckham did, so maybe I’m crazy.

Also, thanks for taking this on Miguel. I thought about it, but never got around to submitting a sample post. Good luck and I look forward to reading your posts!

Posted from United States

By Kiko | June 8th, 2009 at 9:31 am

Hate to say this but the National team is looking increasingly weaker each day.

Not so long ago, there were a couple of players ready to play on the wing, and the attacking flow was nearly perfect. Now, Deco, Nani and Quaresma are benchwarmers, Simao is inconsistent and the midfield lost its stability. The fact that Boa Morte is getting called up even in terrible form is an example of the backward step that the team has taken.

On top of that, qualification looks like mission impossible. They HAVE TO win every remaining match to stand a realistic chance of qualifying.

There is still time until the next qualifier so, hopefully, the team will improve.

Posted from United Kingdom

By OGrandeTrinco | June 8th, 2009 at 10:22 am

IMHO, the line-up should be

Fernandes
Rolando Alves Brandao or Castro Miguel
Tiago Pepe Meireles
Nani Almeida or Edinho Simao

with subs for Edinho/Almeida, Eliseu/Simao at half to give the new boys a shot.

I still play Pepe since the Trinco role is still open, and Queroiz needs to decide if Pepe is the go to man here, Pepe needs get his head on that position, since sometimes he goes to high. Meireles has been silent, but again, the position needs to be solidified before next game, and the only one who seems to be in a postion to take the spot is Tiago who is playing anyway. Alves plays, since he deserves it. Simao plays, to try to build some chemistry with Almeida or Edinho.

The biggest selection problem for Queroiz is left-back, keeper, then striker. Is Brandao/Castro capable of left-back? I don’t know, i think we got the answer on Duda, so Queroiz needs to move on, and this game will be likely the last information he will have to go on when making the September choices.

Posted from Canada

By Miguel | June 8th, 2009 at 5:02 pm

@Christian: I think Ronaldo will go to RM sooner or later. With the lack of support he got from the club and fans when everybody was hammering on him during and after the WC2006 I was surprised he stayed. A good thing since he got his foot so far up everybody’s ass they were speechless with the 2 seasons that followed. I agree he needs to kick it up 17 notches. He’s never performed at Manu lvl for the Selecção. Btw… thank you I’ll try and keep this blog alive!

@Kiko: I was thinking exactly that. To much benchwarmers on the team. Great players but they really need to focus on either making it into the starting eleven of their clubs or find a new club. The team lacks aggressivity. When you don’t play every weekend you tend to get soft, less aggressive.

@OGrandeTrinco: Simao is injured. Eduardo is a great goal-keeper. I’m riddled by some of his more insecure saves. Left-back is more-or-less solved with Duda. My second choice would be Cesar Peixoto from Braga. Better then Duda IMHO. The big, no, HUGE problem is in fact the striker. If excellent wingers like Ronaldo and Simão don’t seem to be able to make a single cross into the box but consistently try and move into it to score themselves then forget Hugo Almeida or any other like him. Go with Postiga, Varela or Djallo (naming only the ones that are on Queiroz’s 47 possible choices list) they would prove much more effective. The best scoring opportunity for Portugal in Albania was when Deco made a pass to the back of the defenders and Meireles appeared out of nowhere to allow the Albanian keeper a superb defense.

Posted from Portugal

By Toodles | June 8th, 2009 at 5:37 pm

Miguel.
I agree with your comment about Maniche-Costinha-Deco.

Possibly one of the best combos we ever had….even if was literally borrowed from Porto.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Miguel | June 9th, 2009 at 6:47 pm

Queiroz has already announced the team for tomorrow – brace yourselves:

Beto
Miguel – Ricardo Carvalho – Rolando – Gonçalo Brandão
Zé Castro
Tiago – Boa Morte
Nani – Eliseu – Edinho

Source: http://www.record.pt/noticia.aspx?id=09fa93cb-e6f3-4548-bc3a-d04d9f918586&idCanal=00002452-0000-0000-0000-000000002452

I can’t make any sense of this line-up. Can you?

Posted from Portugal

By Christian | June 10th, 2009 at 8:52 am

I really need to brush up on my Portuguese soccer, I dont crap about half these guys. Well, I exagerate. Don’t know much about Ze Castro, Eliseu, and Edinho. Overall the lineup does make me scratch my head. I have no idea what Quieroz is looking for and what direction he’s trying to lead them. Does anyone get the feeling this is deja vu of 1994 WCQ, and that we’re going to waste the prime years of Ronaldo like we did for Figo, Rui Costa, and Joao Pinto in relation to the WC? They had some decent success in Euros, but they didnt make it to the WC till 2002.

And is Fernandes ever going to get a full go at the keeper spot?? Let’s hope they blow away Estonia so that I can feel good about this team for the first time since the game v. Czech Republic last summer.

Posted from United States

By OGrandeTrinco | June 10th, 2009 at 11:01 am

Initially the line-up looks careless, but there is some reasoning on some of the positions. I’ll start with the flaws IMHO:

Def-Mid: Ze Castro – so has he given up on using Pepe in this role? I think he needs to play whomever is going to start here vs. Denmark. Pepe’s positioning and defensive=-mid role play was horrible vs. Albania. He seems to be randomly trying people instead of building toward a preferred starting line-up.

Carvahlo – is he 100% recovered from injury? if not, I do not play him.

As for BoaMorte, I think what he is doing is, he doesn’t want to play a player and give him the offensive mid role where he wouldn’t normally do so, therefore Tiago plays a two way role as he would play if he started, and by default he plays BM in Deco’s role.

Posted from Canada

By Matthew | June 10th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

Thanks for picking up the Portugal World Cup blog, Miguel. I look forward to reading more of your posts and to more of the discussion here.

I’ve followed Portugal closely since the 2002 World Cup, but the recent match against Albania was the first WC 2010 qualifier I managed to see here from the States. Portugal’s qualification campaign thus far has been extremely disappointing, but I think we’re simply seeing the main problems that have plagued Portugal for the past few years finally catch up with them, specifically:

(1) the lack of a dependable striker and general inability to score no matter how well the team plays overall

(2) the lack of a natural leader for the team since Figo’s departure (not to mention Scolari’s)

I don’t know much about the new coach, other than his dismal performance thus far. I think the lack of a natural leader on the field, combined with a new coach who doesn’t seem to be taking on a strong leadership position, is hurting Portugal’s chances.

Boa Morte should be dropped from the squad – he didn’t bring anything to the Albania game.

Eduardo looked shaky … or maybe it was just my nerves …

I haven’t been following the players during their club seasons but it sounds like Maniche is out of shape. That’s too bad because he really seems to play well on the national team and I’d like to see him brought back and given a chance.

It’s going to be a long wait until the Denmark game in September!

Posted from United States

By Toodles | June 10th, 2009 at 4:22 pm

Anyone see the Estonia game??

Did it end 0-0?

Posted from United Kingdom

By Helena | June 10th, 2009 at 4:50 pm

0:0

Let’s just say we are pretty happy here:) Our team did a really good job, more clear passes and more opportunities than I can remember from any game of ours. Actually it looked like a victory since it began but well. Draw against Portugal is also good. You could honestly have thought Estonians and Portugese had changed their shirts…

Anyway, I hope Estonia will be as good in August when playing against Brasil, too.

By OGrandeTrinco | June 10th, 2009 at 5:14 pm

I heard the broadcast, but the Portuguese announcers thought only Beto played well throughout, with Nani also playing well early. They said criticised an unimaginative attack, poor movement, shaky defence, and lack of ambition in the 2nd half. Basically nothing good came of this game other than BETO having a great game and probably earning the start for the next “final” game vs. Denmark.

Posted from Canada

By Toodles | June 10th, 2009 at 6:37 pm

So nothing out of the norm as of late, eh ‘OGrandeTrinco’?

We been playing like that for some time nooww

Posted from United Kingdom

By karl | June 12th, 2009 at 3:09 pm

hehe 0:0 XXDDD…damn i’m happy.well, can’t be better end to career…RESPECT Mart Poom

Comments are closed