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!
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.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
I always thought a ponta de lança was more of a withdrawn creative forward. The equivalent of the Italian fantasista.
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.
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
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.
When I wrote withdrawn I was referring to position not movement, i.e. a second striker instead of a false nine.
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.
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)?
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).
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 .
depende do tipo de meia. Central midfielder, box-to-box midfielder, defensive midfilder (volante), attacking-midfielder/mid (nosso meia).
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''