National Team Update

August 7th, 2011 | by: Paulo |

ng1039217 With the upcoming friendly match for the senior national team coming up on Wedensday against minnow Luxembourg at Algarve, Paulo Bento has recalled Braga’s Nuno Gomes as well as goalkeeper Quim to the squad. This is the first game back for Nuno since early 2010 World Cup qualifying and if he gets the chance to play, he will definitely have something to prove. Look for a quick preview coming up soon, but here is the rest of the squad:

Goalkeepers: Eduardo (Benfica), Rui Patricio (Sporting), Quim (Braga)

Defenders: Bruno Alves (Zenit), Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid), Joao Pereira (Sporting), Pepe (Real Madrid), Ricardo Carvalho (Real Madrid), Silvio (Atletico Madrid)

Midfielders: Castro (FC Porto), Andre Santos (Sporting), Joao Moutinho (FC Porto), Raul Meireles (Liverpool), Ruben Micael (FC Porto)

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Danny (Zenit), Hugo Almeida (Besiktas), Postiga (Sporting), Nani (Manchester United), Nuno Gomes (Braga), Varela (FC Porto)

Also last weekend was the 2014 World Cup Draw in Brazil. Portugal was drawn into Group F alongside Russia, Northern Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, and Azerbaijan. Overall, I am pretty happy with the draw. Every group has two or three top of the line teams, and we got away with just having Russia. Northern Ireland and Isreal are no push overs by any means, but we were the only team to make it to South Africa in 2010 from the group so you have to like our chances. (Plus we dodged the Danes at last!!)

The Portugal U-20’s have represented well, winning their group without losing a match. Portugal has advanced to the knockout stage and play Guatemala which is a very winnable game. I haven’t gotten the chance to watch all of the games (I plan to) but from what I see we have some rock solid defenders as well as some great finishers up front.

Today in a highly entertaining FA Community Shield between Manchester United and Manchester City, Nani stole the show. City jumped out to an early 2-0 lead until United got a goal from Smalling, and then a fabulous build up for Nani’s first goal and then in stoppage time, great pressure by Nani saw him win the ball at the half way line and take it all the way for a cool finish. The second goal was a masterpiece!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyYqRal77EM&feature=player_embedded

I think that Nani has really matured and grown into himself over the last year and offseason. After he was left out of the lineup in the Champs League Final and when United signed Ashley Young, the old Nani probably would have moaned and asked for a transfer and take the easy way out. But, he has vowed to stay and fight for a starting spot on a top tier club, and he looks more motivated than ever. I am really excited for Nani, and I think the best is yet to come from him.

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Comments

By Tiago | August 8th, 2011 at 2:50 am

Awaiting your preview for the game Paulo! Great post!

By João | August 8th, 2011 at 7:09 am

Luxembourgian national team got robbed in Algarve. *face palm*

Posted from Netherlands

By Ivan | August 8th, 2011 at 10:08 am

Yeah, that was stupid. A shame how a bunch of individuals are ruining Portugal’s reputation of hospitality.

At least FPF’s helping out the luxembourguese.

Posted from Portugal

By ahmad | August 8th, 2011 at 1:35 pm

ummmm what matters to me is nuno gomes’s performance during this friendly…. i am very excited to see how will he perform, he was one of those who played in euro 2004 when i officially became a portuguese fan. I dnt expect much, but it’s a friendly so i wont nag a lot.

i haven’t watched a single U-20 game yet but can someone tell me how are our youngsters doing? i can see we are winning by the slimmest of margins but are we convincing or not? and are there any future prospects to watch out for in this young team?

P.S: I agree with you Paulo on what u said about nani, that guy can really do the difference in our qualifications and hopefully in the upcoming tournament….. let’s not forget a hungry ronaldo, i love how he always wants to score no matter what. But the real magic should be in the midfield….. my money is on mutinho and co. i hope Bento can choose them wisely.

Posted from France

By Ivan | August 8th, 2011 at 2:56 pm

Based on what I watched from the U20 with New Zealand and heard from other people, Portugal has a decent team, with a solid defense, but the attack is yet again the weak point of Portugal. Plus I have heard that with both Cameroon and New Zealand Portugal was suffering in the late parts of the match due to the opponents wanting to equalize, something that is much more likely to occur with top-flight NTs, like Spain, Argentina, France and Brazil. What worries me the most is that it happened also with New Zealand, since Portugal could and should have sealed the match until the 60th-70th minute marc, but instead only one moment of brilliance of Mário Rui was the difference with the Oceania team. Oh well.

In short, this team looks like can go further than round of 16 (which were my first expectations), but they haven’t faced yet a convincing team. I certainly hope Guatemala isn’t one of them because they scored only 1 goal and conceded 11 in the group stage, which is pretty terrible, if you ask me. Unless the attack steps up big time, our defense will be the break or make the tournament for us. And if we beat Guatemala, we’ll be able to see how really good is the U20s defense.

With that said, I still have low expectations, since the team still hasn’t impressed me much.

Posted from Portugal

By ahmad | August 9th, 2011 at 9:04 pm

another 1-0 win, but congrats for our youngsters on reaching the QF’s …. i couldn’t watch the game though, hoping for a review on the match soon

FORCA PORTUGAL

By João | August 10th, 2011 at 3:44 am

Considerings it’s only U-20 plus the time difference makes it highly unlikely we’ll get a review.

From the sound of it, it’s another unimpressive 1-0 win. I doubt it that they’ll be able to beat Argentina.

Still QF is a good result.

Posted from Netherlands

By Ivan | August 10th, 2011 at 5:15 am

Very uninspiring game from the U20s. They could barely beat a side with the worst goal difference of those that reached the round of 16, with the only goal coming early in the game, from a penalty.

We’ll see the true Portugal in the quarter-finals against Argentina at last. Can’t say I’m optimistic, in fact I’m preparing for the worst.

In other news, the U21s drew in Estoril against Slovakia 1-1.

Posted from Portugal

By Tiago | August 10th, 2011 at 5:21 am

The game was absolutely horrendous. The game was a snooze fest and nobody played to their full potential. Maybe they were taking it easy because it was Guatemala? Who knows, we will have to see what this U-20 can really do against Argentina.

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