Paulo Bento's Callup for Cyprus Qualifier

Paulo Bento has announced the Portugal squad for September 2nd, 2011 Euro 2012 qualifier in Cyprus. Portugal will be looking for revenge after a 4-4 draw in Portugal to open the Euro campaign.

Squad:

Goalies- Eduardo (Benfica), Rui Patricio (Sporting), Quim (Braga)

Defense- Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid), Pepe (Real Madrid), Silvio (Atletico Madrid), Joao Pereira (Sporting), Ricardo Carvalho (Real Madrid), Bruno Alves (Zenit), Rolando (FC Porto)

Midfielders- Joao Moutinho (FC Porto), Miguel Veloso (Genoa), Raul Meireles (Liverpool), Paulo Machado (Toulouse), Eliseu (Malaga), Ruben Micael (Zaragoza), Andre Santos (Sporting)

Forwards- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Nani (Man United), Hugo Almeida (Besiktas), Helder Postiga (Sporting), Varela (FC Porto), Danny (Zenit)

Surely Raul Meireles will be replaced in the coming days as he's out two weeks with injury.

Thoughts

-Defense looks good but was hoping for a Bosingwa call-up instead of Silvio as Bos seems back in good form. Not a big deal as he'd probably sit the bench anyways while Pereira starts at RB.

Veloso, Eliseu & Machado find there way back into the squad. Castro & Martins left off the roster. I don't mind seeing Veloso back. Not sure what to expect from Eliseu. I was really hoping Machado would never be called up again lol. He's looked absolutely awful in every call up attempt.

The forwards are exactly what I expect.

Projected XI

------------------Patricio-------------
----Pereira---Pepe--Carvalho----Coentrao----
-----------------Santos----------------------
-------------Moutinho-----Micael------------
-----Nani---------Postiga------Ronaldo------

I expect to see this exact XI. Only possible changes I could see are Alves for Carvalho or Veloso for Micael.

where is Vieirinha? He deserves a call-up more than Veloso, Machado or Eliseu.

Bosingwa is healthy now and playing consistently, he should have gotten a look as well.

He scored a gorgeous goal today. I think he'll get called up for the next games. Bento just a little slow on his reaction to this one

In form I think bosingwa is better than periera and silvio and should start. I still remember when he completely kept messi in his back pocket a couple of seasons ago in the CL.

Amen.

Oh, and how awesome is it to have Carvalho, Pepe, Coentrao and Ronaldo playing together day in and day out with Mourinho at RM?!? That means 3/4 of our NT defense practicing and playing together (though, tbf, of course Coentrao is now playing at CM). I've raved about him for 2 years, but even I am surprised how well he's playing. He's already cracked the starting team and he is getting MOTM votes in a game he didn't score in or get an assist in?! RM fans are starting to say he might have been a bargain at $30 mil!! AHAH. Mourinho is an insane genious.

Anyway, the next step is for Mourinho to steal Bos from Chelsea and it'll be practically as if Mourinho is coaching the NT... ;-)

Are you sure about that? I thought I saw Khedira on the bench suited up. Anyway, their characteristics are totally different. Fabio is faster and can press relentlessly which is something Mourinho was desperate to pick up - mainly to disrupt Barca's dominance in the middle. And, lo and behold, Real Madrid has had far more of the ball in their first two games against Barcelona with Fabio playing big parts of those games.... Fabio can also be dangerous going forward b/c of his off-the-ball movement and good passing. The real surprise is how quickly he developed a chemistry with the rest of the team, especially with his "competition" at left back, Marcelo. His versatility is a huge asset for Mourinho, and in developing it, he's only helping the NT as well.

Real Madrid fans are rapidly forgetting Kheidra exists. The Boss on form would be a welcome re entry. Machado?

No word on Meireles replacement?

I'll answer my own question lol. Apparently his injury isn't as bad as first feared and he's good to go. That's a huge plus for our midfield. Surely him and Moutinho will start. That third spot will likely go to either Micael or Santos while Veloso has an outside shot.

If it's Santos, he'll play DM with Moutinho & Meireles being able to attack more. If it's Micael, Meireles will play DM. I'm hoping it's Santos because I want to see Meireles play more of an attacking role with us like he does for Liverpool.

Cool. He's still better than Periera and Silvio.

Another vote for Boss to return to RB.

A must win here.

I'd still like to see Portugal try Pepe at DM. We have a serious problem at that position right now, either playing Meireles there out of position or an unproven Santos. Meanwhile, Pepe has proven to be a BEAST at DM with Real Madrid and we have so much depth at CB anyways. Put Alves next to Carvalho and you still have an extremely solid backup CB in Rolando.

With Pepe at DM, you don't need him to do anything offensively. Let Moutinho & Meireles feel comfortable going forward handling the midfield offense. I think we'd be a better team in this situation.

if santos played in a fugly blue and white shirt im sure he would be "proven" to you

I like Santos. A lot actually. He has fantastic potential but he hasn't proven himself just yet. Surely you can't argue he's a better player than Pepe or Alves at this point.

I'm not biased, just logical.

Having Pepe at DM give me nightmares of the 2010 world cup. Different coach back then though.

It wouldn't be as bad. Queiroz was very defensive minded. And he also had Mendes starting with Pepe I believe. Meireles & Moutinho going forward handling the attack with Pepe at DM wouldn't be as bad. We missed Moutinho at the World Cup.

Also Pepe was coming off an injury, he missed our first two games and played the last two; he was banged up, not all the way in form.

Thinking of the future, I would want to see Santos play DM for us because he looked good before and he's got a lot of potential as well as a great shot on him. Pepe may be the better option against bigger teams but for now I want Santos to have a shot.

Regarding Coentrao, I like his new position, he is still very defensive minded and he does fill in at left back when Marcelo goes forward and he can get forward himself when Alonso and Marcelo stay back to cover him. Madrid have a real nice system with their players constantly moving around and covering each other. Khedira is not injured either, he just hasn't been very impressive and Coentrao is keeping him out of the line up.

lol @ wanting to play pepe in midfield against fkin cyprus

I could care less about doing it vs. Cyprus.. It's about going forward to the Euro 12..

And Cyprus scored 4 goals on us last time, genius.

LOL even harder at bringing up results from failroz's tenure.

Pepe sucks in midfield. Cant pass a ball for shit. And you play different tactics against different teams. We arent fkin barca where we can play the same tactic in every match. If we are playing a shit country like cyrpus you put out a more attacking lineup

You don't need him to be offensively talented. He does at Real Madrid fantastically, so why not Portugal? Are we a "bigger" team than Real Madrid? No..

Moutinho & Meireles are all the offense we need from the midfield if Pepe is at DM

When hes used at madrid in the midfield its usually when they park the bus and usually results in them getting a 0-0 tie against barca or losing narrowly.

In last two barca games mourinho put him back as a cb he didnt play mid. Why not just play a midfield three of coentrao + moutinho + meireles friday? I think that would own cyprus. If we were playing argentina or something then id be ok with him in midfield