Hey all, So, firstly i want to say thank you to everyone on these forums who have made the World Cup and the build up to the tournament so enjoyable on the forums. Some of you are very thought ful, and some are idiots lol, but we all contribute and its what makes it special. We are all Portuguese.. we must support our brothers and sisters moving forward and respect one another.. not shit on each other. In regards to the tournament? Leading up to WC 18.. deep in my heart, i believed we had the team to win it, the coach, the mentality, everything! unfortunately, this was not the case and we all fell short of our dreams.. both us and the players.. The tournament was interesting in the sense that we really didnt play that well.. and yet we were achieving the results needed to get out of the group, in some ways it felt like Euro 16 was happening all over again.. and then ofcourse, everything got flipped up side down when two VAR reviews occured at the same moment, both to the demise of Portugal sending them to the much stronger side of the bracket. Would we have beat Russia? who knows.. we never will.. but, i would have fancied our chances v Russia over a team that finished 2nd in South America WC qualifying.. and continues to be overlooked. If i am being honest, Fernando Santos must take the blame. It is hard to sit here and talk shit about him now when while using the same tactics he brought us our 1st trophy at the senior level... at the end of the day though, multiple players were out of position, the tactics failed to adapt, and changes took to long to take place. Joao Mario is not a LW.. we see his ability to dominate when playing centraly (v Algeria.. v Uruguay when Adrien was removed) Goncalo Guedes is not a striker and needs to stop being used there. While discussing tactics, i also have failed to understand and likely never will the decision to drop Cedric for the game v Uruguay. Originally, i thought Caceres (the weakest link in the Uruguay D line) was a LB, and thought Ricardo + Bernardo could cause a lot of problems, and Ricardo offers more offensively then Cedric would have), then i realized Caceres is not a LB, and my confusion towards the move rose immensely. This team is going to look very different in 2 years, even more so in 4 when the WC rolls around again. I expect the following to retire/not get called up again: Jose Fonte Bruno Alves Adrien Silva Joao Moutinho Ricardo Quaresma Cristiano Ronaldo ?????????? and depending on form/health.. potentially Rui Patricio and Pepe Not sure what direction Santos takes this team in, if we continue to play defensively or open up a bit.. and its absolutely pointless to even discuss the possibilites of what our team will look like, but for the sake of curiosity: -----------------------CR7---------A.Silva Jota ---Bruma---------J.Mario--------William-------------B.Silva G.Guedes B.Fernandes Danilo Gelson R.Lopes R.Neves R.Sanches A.Gomes -Guerreiro-------Dias-----------?????---------------Cedric Pereira Semedo Cancelo Again, thank you to everyone, stay safe, Portuguese love to all..
Bruma will be our savior, they won't see him coming, if we are really moving on from CR, mix it up! Caveleiro/Silva Bruma/Jota-Guedes Jota can play forward too, like his speed. Gotta get better schemes, tactically we should have more flair. With CR as a super sub.
Just finished watching the Ruben Neves highlight reel and my f*cking god. What an absolute stud he is. I think the future of this midfield will sit squarely on this dude's shoulders. He's easily one of the most talented midfielders we have. Can't help but think, I know it's just The Championship, but should this dude have gotten a call-up for the World Cup?
He just signed a new deal. https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/07/0...d-new-5-year-deal-ahead-premier-league-return We have too much depth, that's why. But who knew BS/Guedes/AS would struggle? I didn't. Inexperience could be the factor. Ex: look st Belgium, the golden generation, with prime players! Wolverhampton is a team to watch... Young talented players on their roster. Could be our little farm team for development. Haha!
Belgium are pretenders. Name me one Big team they have beaten in the last 5 years?...no wait 10...no wait 15 years, name me one. They worked the fifa rankings to get favorable draws and hammer minnows. I was more concerned about Wales than Belgium when they played their quarterfinal at the Euro.
Did you just delete my post where i was advocating for a South American manager? What kind of bizarre privilege abuse was that?
I didnt see your post, but am now aware of it.. curious... why would you suggest a S.American manager? for us to play a 'sexy' style of soccer? all out attack minded game? we can find that within Portugal.. afterall, we did do that for essentially the entire history of our program prior to the Queiroz experiment after which we al of a sudden became this small minded team who is ok with conceding possession to inferior opponents.. I believe F.Santos will be given the Euro, a chance out of respect and loyalty to defend the title, and if that tournament is a massive failure, i can see him being replaced and/or stepping down, but it would be completely disrespectful to remove him before giving him a chance to defend the title.
Rui Patricio is 30 years old. At that age, goalkeepers are basically in the thick of their prime. He's not someone whose form needs to be closely monitored in order for him to merit a spot; he's the starting keeper through Euro 2020 if he wants to be. Other than that, I think you're right about who's likely to not keep their spot on the team, at least not for much longer. Cristiano can play as long as he wants, though, he's not done until he wants to be. I also think Adrien Silva plays a useful role he can continue playing at this level for a couple more years if the younger guys don't surpass him. The Nations League offers a perfect opportunity to transition to a younger core and see who really is going to take a spot on the team and not let it go. They're real matches against quality opponents, but even if Portugal lost all four this fall it'd only really impact seeding coefficients down the road. It's a chance to establish some of the young, fringe guys before Euro 2020 qualifying.
I am glad things went the way they did in terms of what side of the bracket we landed on. It meant we had a real test ahead of us, and if we made it through it meant that the team had it in them to go far. Had we went the Russia side, we would have benefited of facing weaker sides, but there was sill no guarantee that we would have gone any future than the R16. Plus, we would have been labeled as having an easy path to the final. I hope Ronaldo retires from international play, and failing that, that he's only called upon as a substitute for striker. He's in good form, but it's time to move on and reorganize this team. We need clinical finishers, so my hope is that Andre Silva continues to improve, and players like Bernardo, Sanchez and Ruben Neves get included in the future of this team. In he case of Bernardo, he needs more freedom.
I was just checking the groups in the League A for the Nations League and noticed Belgium is in the "easiest" group with Iceland and Switzerland. SMH.
Why give a damn if we would be labeled as having a easy path to the final? You think Croatians are going to care about that if they win the World Cup? Absolutely not.
I beleive Portugal would have beaten Russia and reach the final if they beat Iran and topped the group
Portugal plays really well against all of those teams on the other side of the bracket. Ironically it was a Portuguese manager that stoped us from reaching there. And no, I’m not talking about Santos.
Reviews are made at the discretion of the referee, who consults with the VAR team and linesmen. Nobody else has a say, though a weak-minded ref can let himself be bullied into a make-up call (though none were necessary considering he got previous calls/reviews correct), and that may have been the case.
If we aren't AT LEAST using our best fullbacks come this fall, i am off the Santos train. Put our best team together. If he didn't win the EURO, he would have almost certainly been sacked by now. What a cagao by him in this World Cup. From selections all the way to tactics. Borderline unforgivable.
📝 DEAL DONE: Juventus have signed João Cancelo from Valencia for €40m. He's joined on a 5-year contract. (Source: @JuventusFC) pic.twitter.com/0cuIex6Hs0— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) June 27, 2018
should be the team going forward ---------------------patricio cancelo------pepe-----dias--------rui ---------william--neves/mario---------------- guedes-------bernardo----------Lopes/gelson ---------------ronaldo----------------------- If dalot takes the starting spot at united this season id put him at lb. No more guerreiro, His "performances" at the world cup was one of the worst iv ever seen in a Portugal jersey. No more of this william adrien, william moutinho ultra defensive bullshit. And no more more slow shitty partners for pepe Dalot is good with both feet so could potentially be the lb for Portugal if we want to utilize our options best since we are so stacked at rb. Will Felix have a meteoric rise and be on this euro 2020 roster?? The team will be stacked for next euro so long as pepe and ronaldo are still top level. Just need a partner for pepe and for Dalot and Cancelo to breakthrough. I wouldnt be suprised to see diogo queiros in the mix, this may be his season along with Jorge Fernandes. Two cbs iv been keeping an eye on for the past year. Imagine the above team with a bench of quality players like Danilo, Semedo, Jota, Felix, A.silva (if he stops sucking)
I disagree. Guerreiro didn’t have a good tournament, but was trying to play his way back into form after hardly playing this season due to multiple injuries. Prior he had been one of our best players (if not our 2nd best player), and best left backs on the international stage. His attacking ability can be invaluable up that left side. For me he is still the LB of the present and future.
The issue is that he is not a lb. At dortmund he plays left wing when hes not injured. Doing this consistently its no wonder his lb skills are becoming worse and worse. The left side of the field was disgusting at the wc. Spain and bums from Iran and Morocco were infiltrating that side with ease.. How will he improve as a lb if he doesnt play there for dortmund anymore I rewatched some of the games and Guerreiro looked lost. I paid attention to his mannerisms and demeanor while off the ball and he looked scared. These are traits i usually only notice at u19 level and its definitely something he needs to shackle and be more confident. I havent rewatched the uruguay match yet, i plan too once the loss settles in but from memory he was pretty bad that game going forward