Road to Russia (Rumo à Rússia) 2018

o..m...g... what a shame about Ruben Dias.. really wanted to see what he could offer to the NT.

would anyone be surprised if we line up with Pepe/Bruno Alves at CB v Spain?

 

I wouldn't but I sure will be a bit nervous.

 

This definitely sucks to hear about Dias being hurt... what's the injury?

 

He's only injured a couple of weeks, nothing serious.

Coentrao doesnt have anything serious too, in fact he could have played but was playing through pain the past couple matches for Sporting and wanted to rest.

 

Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification Area 51.

 

that is great to hear, im more disapointed about Dias though then Coentrao.

atleast coentrao has a past with the NT, and with some of the possible players that will start come WC time.. he has history with Pepe/Alves/William and Ronaldo.. all players in line or surrounding him.

Dias is the one guy that needs integration.

 

Ya, I wonder if Santos will come him up in May even though he's had zero past games for the Selecao.

He should, if I see Bruno Alves there......

 

I think its too much of a risk taking Coentrao, even if he is okay to play come June. He will break apart somewhere along the line. What has happened to Antunes? Is he injured? Not sure why he wasn't selected.

 

William Carvalho has now been ruled out of these two friendlies. No one was called up to replace him.

http://www.fpf.pt/pt/News/Todas-as-notícias/Notícia/news/15237

Good chance for Ruben Neves to impress, but still a long shot to make the squad for Russia. If healthy, Willam and Danilo will go, for sure.

 

I know. I rate Ruben highly too - sensational passer. And he's the flip-side of the Andre Gomes and Renato sagas - he went to the modest 2nd division in England where he his star, confidence and skills have grown - he's the best player in the Championship and his team is going to win and advance to Premier League. That being said - our MF is stacked and unlikely he can crack it this year.

 

Damn, it's fairly quiet in here, considering we got some friendlies coming up and we're getting that much closer to the World Cup.

What are your thoughts on our upcoming opponents, Egypt & Netherlands?

It will be interesting to see how we line-up against them and wonder if Salah will start.

 

I think playing against Sarah will give us some insight and perhaps a preview of our round of 16 matchup if we win the group and Egypt get 2nd. Also, it may not be a high class friendly as it would’ve been 10 years ago when the Dutch were a world class side, yet could prove useful for us.

 

Well said...

I'm just curious to see if Santos will be testing some younger guys or stick to what may be our actual XI in the World Cup.

It'd be nice to see at which level we are by putting our strongest available XI and then maybe switch it up and give the others a chance in the 2nd game, as an example.

Are we still thinking of partnering up CR7 with AS9 ?

 

Salah***

 

I didn't see anything on him being hurt so that's why I asked in case I missed something.

I also know he is not as good as Guerreiro. Also not to be rude, but Guerreiro was selected, I'm just wondering why Antunes wasn't selected and Mario Rui was. This has nothing to do with Guerreiro.

Guerreiro is not even playing LB anymore he is playing midfield.

 

I think Bruno-bun would be fine playing at CB against Spain since he won't be doing much pacing in that game. The goal will be a draw. He was solid in 2016 when called upon, him and Pepe are fine together (At least for that game)

Plus, the girls like the man-bun these days so it wouldn't hurt having yet another distraction for the women on the pitch.

 

At this point, I would be surprised if Andre Silva does not start along side Ronaldo.

 

Seems like Santos is persisiting with the out of form Joao Mario over Guedes. Don’t agree with his but I gues JM is the incumbent

 

I also agree that Pepe and Bruno are fine together.

That back 4 should be:
Guerreiro Pepe Bruno Cedric/Cancelo

with William in front of them.

 

I'd like to see this line-up as our starting XI:

-----------Cristiano---------A.Silva------------
---------------------B.Silva-----------------------
Guedes--------------------------------Gelson
--------------------William-----------------------
Guerreiro----Pepe---B.Alves-------Cedric
-------------------Rui Patricio------------------

I probably wouldn't use this against a powerhouse but it'd be fun to see this against Egypt and show some offense.