Brazilian Positions Translation

Discussion in 'Brazil' started by schwuppe, Dec 8, 2012.

  1. schwuppe

    schwuppe Member+

    Sep 17, 2009
    Club:
    FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih
    Could anyone tell me what following positions are in English?

    Beque-Central
    Ponta-Direita
    Ponta-De-Lanca
    Quarto-Zagueiro
    Medio-Volante
    Meia-Armador
    Centroavante
    Ponta-Esquerda

    Thanks!
     
  2. Bakaman

    Bakaman Member

    May 8, 2008
    São Paulo, Brazil
    Club:
    Santos FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
     
    Lucas... and schwuppe repped this.
  3. schwuppe

    schwuppe Member+

    Sep 17, 2009
    Club:
    FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih
    Ponta-De-Lanca is more like 'Forward' and Centroavante like 'Striker' or is there no difference?
     
  4. Bakaman

    Bakaman Member

    May 8, 2008
    São Paulo, Brazil
    Club:
    Santos FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Nah "forward" as in a generic position in attack is called simply "atacante" here. I suppose it's safe to say that Ponta de Lança = Centroavante, personally I don't know the difference... Though I could infer that the term used depends on the formation. "Lança" in portuguese means spear, so "ponta de lança" would be the sharp end of the weapon. If you imagine the front three of a 4-3-3 as a trident ( which is a kind of a spear, somewhat), it makes sense that the LWF is called "Ponta esquerda" ("Left tip"), RWF is called "Ponta Direita" ( "Right tip"), and the CF is the "Ponta de Lança", the longest part of the weapon which is somewhat isolated from the others, that will hit the enemy first when the weapon is thrust... While in a 4-2-2-2 such analogy wouldn't fit, so Centroavante would be the proper term.

    But again, this is only conjecture.
     
  5. schwuppe

    schwuppe Member+

    Sep 17, 2009
    Club:
    FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih
    Interesting.
    The reason I asked is because I'm reading old newspapers in which Rivelino, Zico and Socrates were classified as 'Ponta de Lança', so I was a bit confused that it supposedly means 'Centerforward #9'.
     
  6. Bakaman

    Bakaman Member

    May 8, 2008
    São Paulo, Brazil
    Club:
    Santos FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    This is confusing indeed. Rivelino, Zico and Socrates were midfielders that charged in the box constantly. This is the role of a "meia atacante", they roam between midfield and attack... While "Centro avantes" or number 9s tend to stay in the box as long as possible. It seems like there is a meaning to "ponta de lança" that I don't know, let's hope that someone else around here can clarify this to us.
     
  7. celito

    celito Moderator
    Staff Member

    Palmeiras
    Brazil
    Feb 28, 2005
    USA
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Exactly. Meia atacantes didn't really have much defensive responsibilities. Obviously that has changed over time. I remember an interview with Tele in 90s saying he had to teach Rai how to defend and tackle because the game was changing and he couldn't be an attacking midfielder with no defensive responsibilities anymore.
     
  8. OnTheWayOfDamascus

    Oct 26, 2010
    seria melhor um thread em portugues...

     
    Rivelino87 repped this.
  9. Catracho_Azul

    Catracho_Azul Member+

    Jun 16, 2008
    New Orleans
    Club:
    Corinthians Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Honduras
    disgusting
     
  10. OnTheWayOfDamascus

    Oct 26, 2010
    de gustibus non disputandum est.
     
  11. Rivelino87

    Rivelino87 Member

    Aug 10, 2008
    Boston, Ma
    Club:
    Atletico Belo Horizonte
    Bakaman did a good job answering your question. In my post, I try to answer some of the confusion that popped up in your discussion. Hope this helps.

    Beque-Central - Center-back (ex: Thiago Silva).
    Ponta-Direita - Right wing forward (ex: Affellay, Martens).
    Ponta-De-Lanca- Striker or target man (depending on how far back you go). This position is the same as the Centroavante.
    Quarto-Zagueiro - Libero in a 4 man defense. He sweeps up after his partner, and is the CB with more freedom to join the attack. He is usually the more mobile and skillful of the CB partnership. (ex: David Luiz)
    Medio-Volante - Holding midfielder/DM but olden days the position required greater passing range than it does today with Gerson being an example then, and Busquets a modern day one.
    Meia-Armador - Number 10. Playmaker, Trequartista, Enganche, (ex: Gaston Ramirez, Ganso)
    Centroavante - Striker, (ex: Fernando llorente).
    Ponta-Esquerda - Left wing forward (ex: Robben, Hulk).

    In a more general way, albeit a confusing, you could refer to a ponta-esquerda or a ponta-direita as a ponta de lança, which would explain why Riva and Zico could be referred to as such.

    If you the newspaper you were reading is available online, could you please provide a link? I love reading old match reviews and the like.
     
  12. Socratinho

    Socratinho Member

    Jun 3, 2009
    Club:
    Santos FC
    I always thought a ponta de lança was more of a withdrawn creative forward. The equivalent of the Italian fantasista.
     
  13. AcesHigh

    AcesHigh Member+

    Nov 30, 2005
    Novo Hamburgo
    Club:
    Gremio Porto Alegre
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    ponta-de-lança literally means spearhead. Therefore, he wont be "withdrawn". He is the one that will thrust forward and "perforate" the enemy defense and goal.





    and the usual translation of "lateral" to english is "fullback", however, its obvious that "lateral" (a word that exists in english) are players who play at the sides, which kinda answers why brazilian fullbacks dont have that many defensive responsabilities! Their position, in portuguese, is NOT a defensive position in nature... although yes, they help with defense.
     
  14. JamesBH11

    JamesBH11 Member+

    Sep 17, 2004
    I think you're both right ...

    Ponta de lanca meant the spearhead (key ) center forward, a la Ronaldo/Romario - they could play withdrawn as well depends on situation to link with midfield (like Ronaldo did in 96-98 : he was almost everywhere deep center to wide on either flank)

    I don;t underwstand why Placar in the 80's LABELED Zico, Socrates and Rivelino as "ponta de lance" ?? They were clearly meia armador or meia avance
     
  15. Bakaman

    Bakaman Member

    May 8, 2008
    São Paulo, Brazil
    Club:
    Santos FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Well I just asked a much more experienced football fan, and he confirmed to me that "Ponta de Lança" is the most offensive midfielder in a team. So classifying Rivelino, Zico, even Pelé sometimes, as a "Ponta de Lança" makes sense now... Just don't ask the meaning of the name though, like I said "spearhead" would make much more sense if it was the number 9.
     
  16. Socratinho

    Socratinho Member

    Jun 3, 2009
    Club:
    Santos FC
    When I wrote withdrawn I was referring to position not movement, i.e. a second striker instead of a false nine.
     
  17. Rivelino87

    Rivelino87 Member

    Aug 10, 2008
    Boston, Ma
    Club:
    Atletico Belo Horizonte
    Agreed. See the end of my post about the confusion. It's probably a given that they are speaking about a trident (tridente) because the old formation had 3 pronged attack, so without knowing that much right away it can be confusing because a player could be "um ponta de lança" (wingers/inside forward/midfielder) like Patito Rodriguez or Felipe Anderson without being "o ponta de lança" like Bill (had to :) )/Miralles/Andre.
     
  18. NotreDameFlamengo

    Jul 25, 2011
    Raleigh, NC
    Club:
    Flamengo Rio Janeiro
    Jorge Ben has a track called "ponta de lance" about football.
     
  19. JamesBH11

    JamesBH11 Member+

    Sep 17, 2004
    Agree that makes sense if it's the case ... but then dictionary online or Wiki should be revised?
    Another note that they did not call Pele as "ponta de lanca" or that term might not exists in those years (60's)?
     
  20. Lucas...

    Lucas... Member+

    Dec 18, 2012
    I thought ponta-de-lança fit more on the characteristics of a Romario and Ronaldo. My whole life I thought that was it. But not long ago (before reading this thread) i read a good explanation saying that ponta-de-lança was midfielder who came to attack, knew scoring, offensive zone play on that (like Zico and Maradona).
     
  21. samuel_clemens

    Dec 20, 2005
    Los Angeles CA
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Ponta de Lança is historically the name given to the most offensive player in the midfield. First time I've ever seen CF called Ponta de Lança was playing Championship Manager back in the day when it was only available in Portuguese from Portugal .
     
  22. Lucas...

    Lucas... Member+

    Dec 18, 2012
    Como se diz ''meio-de-campo'' em inglês? half? central line?
     
  23. axxess mundi

    axxess mundi Member

    Feb 4, 2013
  24. Rivelino87

    Rivelino87 Member

    Aug 10, 2008
    Boston, Ma
    Club:
    Atletico Belo Horizonte
    depende do tipo de meia. Central midfielder, box-to-box midfielder, defensive midfilder (volante), attacking-midfielder/mid (nosso meia).
     
  25. Lucas...

    Lucas... Member+

    Dec 18, 2012
    Valeu, mas como se fala meio de campo, o setor? Exemplo: ''O time dominou completamente o meio-de-campo'' ou ''o jogador é importante para fazer a transição entre a defesa e o meio-campo''
     

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