Our unity and mental strength have seemingly come out of nowhere. It certainly wasn't there during our warm ups. I almost don't believe my eyes. Veloso has been a pleasant surprise, but is not #1. Nani should be higher. We left multiple men completely unmarked at the back post more than once. I was like WTF! If Pepe and Bruno are in the middle someone else has to mark those guys. I don't remember--where were Postiga and Ronaldo on those set pieces?
That was what I wanted Ronaldo to do all this tourney... show up the haters! What a performance. And this team really is playing with confidence every since that germany game. Let's keep this going...
My dad said it from the begining. One of these days Portugal will get things going their way. Still a lot of game left though. All we needed was to put it all together... Spain did it. They were underachievers and they managed to put it together. What impresses me the most is we've had to comeback in games, and the depth of this team is showing. Bento has done a good job. Only gripe: Postiga. I really can't stand him.
Agreed. I think we've dominated ever game thus far, tbh. We could have been up 5-1 in this game, even in the Germany game.
Before the game, all I kept telling myself was for Portugal to give 150% and I would and of course they would be proud of themselves. I was at work, and I was giving 150% all day. I didn't want to know the score... Man was I nervous but thinking positive throughout the day. I told myself on June 17, C.Ronaldo former number "17" for Portugal will have a great game to prove the world someting. Well, I got home at 8pm+ and still didn't want to know the score, that's how nervous I was. I actually went to bed, considering I did not sleep since 11pm on Saturday night. Well I just got up and finally got the guts to see the scores. I first go to facebook and see messages of my cousins, but no one is saying that they won. I do see Forca Portugal! and it was 9 hours ago... So I finally go to the sport site and to my surprise they WON and it's exactly what I wanted from group b. I go to twitter and a lot of haters of C.Ronaldo say... "In a game that featured so many stars it was scary to see how much better Ronaldo was than the rest. Tremendous player. Congrats Portugal" And that was 1 of a lot other positive messages. Needless to say, I am proud of Portugal and happy for all the fans, anything can happen now, I see something special happening. I know, I could be tough at times, but when I speak, I speak the truth. This team has C.Ronaldo, and they need to exploit that every game. And I noticed they are getting better and better as the tournament rolls out, and this is a great thing. They already proved everyone wrong by passing through group b, and Portugal advances to their 4th straight Euro playoff round. That is pretty amazing, considering only a handfull of other Countries have done this. Happy Father's day to all father's out there and especially the Portuguese ones, Enjoy yor gift! Lets go Portugal!
5th straight , 6th overall Portugal Has never been eliminate in the group rounds which is impressive considering how tough euro cup groups can be
I really have to agree with you about Patricio. We kept his workload to a bare minimum and somehow he's got alot of goals against. I know much couldn't be expected out of a GK through the goals that were scored on us so far, but it would of been nice to see a huge save from him to spark peoples confidence about him. Everytime the ball goes near our net i just look down.
Patricio has been good. He has gobbled up long range shots without spilling the ball and he has looked good on dead balls. He has even good on outlet passes - especially to Coentrao over the top of the striker/winger (shh, don't tell the opponents...). Anyway. can't ask for much more. You can't ask him for a big save if there was none to be had. He simply has had no chance on the goals. The 2nd Danish goal was the only one he had a chance on but it was a point-blank header - little a goalie can do - see Denmark's goal against Germany for example). Simply said, Patricio has played well and looks confident. No worries there (or at least no more than any other goalie).
Wow what a performance! This truly is a TEAM and I'm loving every second of it.. Bento is awesome! We played a HELL of a match, definitely one of the best we've ever played (up there with some of the '04 & '06 greats). Patricio - 7/10. Didn't have a chance on the goal and once again, oddly enough, was never really forced into a great save.. Not that I'm complaining we haven't needed him to come up big.. Pereira - 7.5/10. Attacked well, gorgeous assist on CR7's first goal. Defended better than usual. Coentrao - 7.5/10. Almost scored, defended quite decently vs Robben.. Alves - 7.5/10. Shut down Huntelaar completely, cleared a ton of balls with headers.. Pepe - 8/10. Was his usual awesome self, all over the field breaking up attacks. Veloso - 8/10. Our unsung hero thus far. Broke up attack after attack.. Moutinho - 8/10. His usual self, tireless in both defending & attacking. Beautiful passing.. Meireles - 7/10. Hasn't offered anything in attack all tournament, but defended well again.. Nani - 8.5/10. Was phenomenal, time & time again beating dutch defenders & feeding good balls.. Ronald0 - 10/10. What can you say? His best performance in a Portugal shirt, ever. Postiga - 6/10. Did well to get involved but certainly should have finished a chance or 2. Oliveira came in and didn't look great. Looked nervous & inexperienced. I LOVE this kid, but Bento may be right in the sense that he's not ready to start. Custodio replaced Meireles well, offering a ton in defense. Rolando was a nice extra defensive sub. Shocked we haven't seen Micael, Quaresma or Almeida.. But I'm quite happy about that, Bento's subs are CLASS. Bring on the Czech's!
The Goal.....The Radio Call....Classic Xutos .....PRICELESS ! http://videos.sapo.pt/zMneeTFA86no0vlZZN9m