But what a fun ride to liver failure it would be! Hey, if Ted Williams can get a liver replacement, you should be able to get one too. If I'm a tissue match, and we get out of the group, maybe I'll give you some of mine...... I lied.
the way you guys talk about CR7...that you forget there are players even if CR7 is contained players like Pereira love to overlap and find space as does Coentrao. Not to mention William Carvalho is Portugal's next superstar that has Claude Makelele written all over him. Thats like talking about Brazil being just Neymar or Agrentina being just Messi focus on one player at your own peril if the US play like they did in Ukraine then goodluck esp considering the two best US players are past their best Donovan and Dempsey the only US player that I can see starting for Portugal is no doubt Howard
William isn't guaranteed to start, and I doubt Portugal will start two DMs (William and Fernando) agaisnt USA. Containing Cristiano should be the game plan. If Joao pereira or fabio Coentrao are the difference then fine. But if they just attacked, especially Joao Pereira with Quaresma in front of him, Donovan and Fabian can and will exploit that. Portugal is more than CR7, but USA is no pushover. And Bradley starts over Merieles or Veloso in your hypothetical argument. And possibly Fabian Johnson over Joao pereira.
Interesting. CR7 is now almost 30, and we learned from Figo back in 2002 that the grueling Champions League schedule for Real Madrid does take a toll on players. Ronaldo is a massive talent, but it does help that we will probably be facing him at 70%-90% instead of him being at 100%.
Best case scenario, Real and Bayern make the final, giving as many of our opponents as grueling a schedule and as little time to switch gears to international play as possible
Bedoya is starting for Nantes against Monaco today. It will be interesting to see how he does vs Joao moutinho and Ricardo carvalho both of which will be opponents at the world up.
Back in 2011, he supposedly abandoned a training session without permission and he was never called up since. The probable cause was that he was angry for not being a starter in the following match. To be honest, Carvalho was never very clever regarding this kind of situations. Otherwise, he would definitely go to the WC.
Moutinho is nothing special. Just got carded for lacking the speed to control his mark (Gakpe, whose shirt he's been pulling time and again).
Patellar tendinitis can be lingering. Rest is often the only solution. Lets hope Ronaldo requires a long rest and comes back 100 %....sometime after the third week of June.
Too bad that Real Madrid are going to play CR7, and that he has a World Cup to attend. He's not going to get any rest. As I said before, we will be facing Ronaldo at 70-90%. This is not a bad thing.
Ronaldo to miss Copa del Rey final against Barcelona with injury http://www.theguardian.com/football...ldo-injury-copa-del-rey-real-madrid-barcelona
Good that they aren't pushing him through this injury, its a 14/15 day recovery and they haven't forced him to play earlier so far.
Ever injure a hamstring? Sure he can play in 2 weeks, but it's going to be niggling at him for months. CR7 will be in the World Cup, but he won't be 100% for 90 minutes.
Oh I do and don't doubt it. I see it brought up practically every day on these boards so I do not doubt that in the slightest.
yes I have, and 2 weeks was enough for it to dissipate as it wasn't too serious, so long as I warmed up properly and stretched more than usual for the first few games after. Factor in Ronaldo having access to a hyperbaric chamber, and world class medical teams...he should be ok.
I am not homering for the US, but rather I am looking at injuries to other countries players with the same constructive pessimism I use when looking at the USMNT. If Zusi, for example, had a similar hamstring injury, I would be saying the same thing about him. That said, part of me would rather have Ronaldo fully fit. Bring it.
everyone on this board seems to talk about Ronaldo lol that they forget players like Quaresma are gonna run riot
It's understandable, no? He stomped Sweden and Zlatan all by himself. He is the best footballer on the planet. It doesn't matter if he is playing with San Marino. A team with CRon can beat anyone. A team without is potentially beatable. Quaresma, Moutinho, Mireilles, it doesn't matter. Without CRon they're a good side, and would be tough to get any sort of result, but not impossible. With CRon, it would be an outstanding result if we get a point, and a good result if we only lose by 1.