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2014 World Cup Qualifying kicks off, Transfer News
Comments(41)
There have been some serious late transfer news involving both the Portugal national team and of course the Liga ZON Sagres. I’m sure you all know by now that FC Porto sold Hulk to Zenit for something like $50 million, and the St. Petersburg club also cashed in on Belgian International and SL Benfica midfielder Axel Witsel also for around $50 million. This is a big blow to both teams as they compete with each other once again for the crown. I think honestly that Benfica will hurt the most from this deal because they also lost Javi Garcia earlier in the week to Manchester City, and these two young midfielders were rock solid in the middle of the park. They now could have to seriously rely on Carlos Martins and Matic as midfielders, and although they show flashes of strength, I feel they can be overrun if not domestically then surely in the Champion’s League. Witsel was a rising star, but I didn’t think Benfica would let him go so soon. I was expecting Gaitan or Aimar to leave first. As for Hulk it was a matter of time. Zenit were obviously one of the only clubs to meet Porto’s high transfer fee demands. I thought for sure he would want to move to England, Spain, or Italy, but Russia? I don’t think their league is very far ahead of the Potuguese League so it is a bit confusing. Porto have a bunch of talented wingers, but very little experienced. Atsu looks a little more promising than Iturbe right now but these are big boots to fill. Look for Varela to get a few starts to se if he can recover his form from a couple years ago. He was very lackadaisical on the ball last year and struggled to take defenders on, but his EURO 2012 campaign proved what game he has. I think Porto should be okay especially since they didn’t lose Moutinho or Rodriquez, but Braga are probably the biggest winner from both of these deals.
Other shocking transfer news is that Zenit also took a serious run at Nani, but his wage demands couldn’t be met. But more alarmingly is that apparently Manchester United agreed to sell him. This could spell a big problem for Nani’s place in the side, but I can’t believe Man U would sell him after just one bad start this year. He came on late as a substitute against Southampton and assisted on one goal and played a part in the other. Sometimes I don’t think Ferguson knows what he’s doing. Nani is way better than Young and is better all around than Valencia. I don’t know what will come of this, but I could see Nani leaving in January. One more transfer to mention is Meireles has moved from Chelsea to Turkish side Fenerbance. Another head scratching move for me. Raul wasn’t getting a lot of minutes, but why Turkey? Nothing has turned out good for our players when they move there and now at the end of his prime, I would think Meireles would want to go to Germany, Italy or even back to Portugal for that matter.
Now for the most important part of this post, the national team. Portugal are set to take on Luxembourg in Luxembourg, and appear to have a full strength squad after some injury worries. Ronaldo has returned to full training and Pepe has recovered from an ankle injury. There is however no Hugo Almeida (YES!!!!!), Carlos Martins, and Manuel Fernandes as they had to drop out due to injury. Pizzi, Eder, and Ruben Amorim got call ups instead. We should handle our business easily against Luxembourg, but it will take something smart to break them down as they will look to park the bus. The earlier we get a goal the better off we’ll be. I would watch to see who Bento selects to start at striker. Will he give Oliveira his first start in a competitive game or will he stick with Postiga. Other than up top we can expect to see the usual starting eleven. I predict a 3-0 vitory. FORCA PORTUGAL!!
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*Miguel’s blog posts
Hey guys, I am taking my final semester before I graduate and I registered for only 3 courses. Therefore I have enough free time if you want me to assist you with the blog. Like Tiago I love/loved this blog but it’s dead now (It’s not your fault Paulo at all I know). So in case you do get a reply to your request don’t hesitate to let me know if you need any help.
you can contact me on twitter (”@ahmadhamdanovic”), or by email (”amh45@mail.aub.edu”).
Take care and Forca Portugal.
Posted from 
Lebanon
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and now Vaz Te looks to be sidelined for up to 12 weeks due to shoulder dislocation. THIS IS JUST FUCKIN DANDY!!
It gets worse: there is a good chance that Ronaldo has a shoulder dislocation as well. :X
Posted from 
Netherlands
No Joao… just heard he got the greenlight so he’s good to go 
Our captain is made of steel!!
Posted from Lebanon
That’s a relief, I saw the el Classico yesterday and it looked really bad. Glad he can play against Russia.
Also for a just in case friendly reminded the match on Friday starts earlier than usual (17:00 CEST or 16:00 Lisbon time)
Posted from Netherlands
But the thing is, Russia will be tough to beat even if we have the best player in the world on our side. I can’t see us winning convincingly to be honest, perhaps a narrow 2-1 victory at best.
A draw is the best result we’ll most likely can get. In fact Portugal has never managed to beat their biggest rivals away during the group qualification for a tournament. :\
Posted from Netherlands
now that’s a sad fact!!! I hope we can pull off a win… if we do I ensure that we’ll top the group.
Posted from Lebanon
HT: Russia v Portugal 1-0. ;(
Another play-offs here we come.
Posted from Netherlands
Forget how the players played… this was a demonstration of how Capello is a much smarter coach than Bento (unfortunately) … tactically we were poor compared to a defensively strong Russia guided by Capello. Nothing is over (yet) they still have to come to Portugal. Let’s take a deep breath and wait for Tuesday. Must win.
HT: Portugal vs N.Ireland 0-1
Nothing good to say about the match, absolutely nothing.
Posted from Netherlands
What is this I don’t even.
Echo a repeat of September 2010’s disappointment! I have a feeling this is going to be like Euro 2012’s qualifiers, but one thing is for sure: Portugal can kiss the 1st place goodbye. Yes, I’m saying this after 40% of the way is complete. You know that’s what’s going to happen. Can’t have a typical Portugal’s qualifiers without this biennial routine.
Wow… I haven’t even realized how cynical I’ve become in writing. I’m just not surprised at these horrific stumbles in qualifiers anymore. Just don’t be sure this is what Portugal is going to be like in the rest of qualifiers… even though we were horrible in 3 out of 4 games. And don’t count that possibility out as well.
Just saying: we have never scored against Russia or USSR when playing away. And we never scored more than 1 goal when playing at home in Northern Ireland. Old habits die hard.
*against Northern Ireland
Fuck this!!! I have been a supporter of this team for 10 years now and I can easily say this is the shittiest Portugal team I have ever watched. Bento has lost his touch. zero understanding, zero chemistry!!
Ronaldo CANNOT do magic on his own!! no one can!! We used to rely on other players before but now I’m starting to believe that Portugal are a “pass it to Ronaldo” team and it sucks to play that way! We ended up allowing Ronaldo to be targeted by 3 men, and we lost our main attacking force and what do we do about it? Nothing! Nani, Moutinho and Postiga were absolutely SHIT!! Nani forgot how to cross, Moutinho forgot how to pass, and Postiga forgot how to be a threat in the box. Don’t be fooled by his goal today, he was comical to watch really.
as for the conceded goal, we did the exact same mistake we did against Russia. I swear to God it was a carbon copy! Bento did not do his research well and we ended up humiliated!! Yes humiliated!! 3rd in a group which we should easily be first! Russia are not a WC worthy team neither is pathetic Israel and now we have to act cool and wait for the play-offs. I fucking can’t stand another play-offs anymore, it’s not fair!
Let’s not kid ourselves here, our squad is packed with average players who are lucky to even be called to the national team, let alone play in it. I hope Bento finds an answer soon.
and just for those who are saying “it’s okay we’ll bounce back” i’d like to remind you that N.Ireland is ranked 117 in the world. 117th for God’s sake!!! There’s a country named New Caledonia that is ranked above N.Ireland. Shame!
Xys1fd Major thankies for the blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
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Well Tiago I am very busy and I am doing my best with the posts. I am currently working and going to school on top of other things. I know and appreciate the fact that there still are some of you around that expect the blog to be updated consistently. I enjoy writing on the blog when I have time and that is why I have tried to stick with it as long as possible. I hope that you guys enjoy my posts as well, although I strongly disagree with you Tiago that they are rushed and sloppy. I contacted the site moderators a few months ago about getting someone on here with me to write some posts as well, but they haven’t gotten back to me. In fact I haven’t heard from anyone from this site in about 8 months ever since the ownership changed. If it even is possible to get someone else on this blog then I would openly accept that, but I’m pretty sure they abandoned this site along with most of the other bloggers. Which is why it is unbelievably awesome that you guys still come to this site and comment on my blog. If I continue to be really late on my posts then I will surely pass on the duties of this blog, but then again I don’t know if that is even possible.
I know how you feel, because I felt the same way towards the end of Miguel.Thanks guys and my apologies on the lack of posts, I will try to be more on top of it.