Road to Russia (Rumo à Rússia) 2018

The combo of B.Silva, A.Silva and CR7 should scare the living sh*t out of any team.

 

https://instagram.com/p/BaHSGcwHKsq/


First Nike team to win a Euro, baby!

 

Can't stand the USMNT, went out last night and there were a bunch of people watching. Just cause I'm an American, why should I root for those losers? I was glad they lost. The women's team has way more personality.

You should hear the idiotic comments people make as they watch. I've liked Portugal since 97, people think I'm strange.

 

As a Portuguese American, I hope for the best for the USA team. I just hate when people shame me for caring about Portugal more.

USA has countless of champions and gold medalists from various of Sports. I rather have Portugal get the World Cup trophy because they don't have as much as America does, and also because Portuguese people are more passionate about soccer than the Americans. Portuguese people would actually cry if their team wins the World Cup, while Americans would probably forget about it the next month. Americans don't even give a damn about soccer. I had asked many Americans of what they thought about America not advancing to the World Cup. Most of them just shrugged and told me that they never really cared about soccer.

 

i cried my my eyes out like a baby when we won the Euro last year, oh man if we ever won the world cup

 

We played a really good, solid game. I felt we were good, but not "great" overall. We had spurts of great play due to William, Joao Mario, and Bernardo Silva having their best performances wearing the jersey, but we weren't consistent over 90 minutes. Then again with Santos it will probably always be this way.

William was sensational, this is the William that first appeared on the scene at Sporting and who has been missing in the past. His ability to beat the first man on the press, skill on the ball, and passing range is vital to this team. His speed of thought matches that of Joao Mario and Bernardo Silva, and he can find Ronaldo in space for the few seconds he's isolated before someone marks him. West Ham? Don't make me ********ing laugh, he is ready for a jump to a far bigger team.

This is why he must start and not Danilo. Danilo is strong defensively, but has no ability to think and pass forward, and struggles when under immediate pressure. He should honestly be our CB beside Pepe imho.

Moutinho had an average first half, but in that second half he really raised his level of play and was more reminiscent of the Moutinho we knew circa 2012-2015. He really fit in and helped elevate our midfield quartet of Mario-William-Bernardo-Moutinho into playing some fluid dynamic footy.

Pepe was flawless, maybe playing in Turkey will help him as with less matches overall but he will be far fresher for the World Cup at his age. He is INTEGRAL to our team and the defensive organization and quality Santos implements.

Cedric gets picked because he is a known quantity and solid in our half but when we attack he really punishes us, hopefully Nelson Semedo can get an opportunity and grab it with both hands. Cancelo is probably the best out of all of them from an attacking standpoint but let's see how well he performs art Inter.

Eliseu is average, but has a good delivery, yet we all know we wont win a Word Cup with him starting. Gurreiro is already back training for Dortmund and factor in Coentrao continuing his plan back to full fitness and we will have a great duo on the left to pick from.

We played some really good stuff in the second half, the best I've seen from us in a long time, and I hope this goes to show Santos that can he take the shackles off the talent we have and play a far more dominant attacking style that better suits our team.

With the players we have and overall depth in midfield/attack we can really go far in the World Cup (if Pepe stays healthy). Germany, France, Spain, and Brazil are the favourites, but we're right behind them alongside Argentina, Italy, Belguim, England.

I'm interested to see what happens now when Nani comes back from injury and Bruma getting more and more momentum for Liepzig, because then Santos will have huge decisions to make in his selection...I honestly think Nani/Quaresma can't both go to the World Cup, we need the energy and skill of Gelson/Bruma off the bench or starting in games where we are playing a very inferior opponent. Quaresma is good off the bench but he hasnt had a good performance when starting for a while, and Nani hasn't been dangerous and showcasing quality for a long time.

Andre Gomes is really struggling right now, as is Renato Sanches, with Adrien not playing until January I also worry about our reserves at CM behind Moutinho.

Bruno Fernandes will surely deserve an opportunity if he maintains his level of play but where I once felt confident in almost any player who gets selected at CM I worry when I see Renato Sanches playing with little confident and in a shell...and Andre Gomes still not making headway at Barcelona...he had some awful touches yesterday.

Put in Nelson semedo/Cancelo at RB and Gurreiro at LB with Coentrao his backup, and that lineup yesterday is our best XI right now.

If Santos takes both Quaresma and Nani to Russia and still brings Gelson, Eder might not go

 

When are the next friendlies and against who?

I read at the Madrid forums that Portugal might face Spain in Spain.

 

I don't think there's anything officially scheduled yet in terms of friendlies but I'd imagine they're setting up a schedule of games and we will hear something in the next few weeks

 

Always nice seeing the most anti-CR7 country not qualify.

BigSoccer creaters = cagao.

Instead of having a picture of CR7 crying during his Euro 2004 Finals loss, they should change the BigSoccer error page to this:

 

I like the william-joao mario- Bernardo axis.

Reminds me of the u21 euro a couple years back, those 3 got serious chemistry. It worked well in this match.

Play them with Moutinho or Adrien and I think that's generally our best midfield. Sanches or Bruno Fernandes super sub depending on opponent and needs.

 

If Ronaldo was black USA would love him and say how athletic he is etc jumps high etc

 

The Americans would also love him if he was a British guy with blond hair and blue eyes.

Ronaldo's swarthy good looks pisses off all the angry white men

 

Yeah the CB scare me... They will be almost another year older by the WC starts and we really dont have any young prospects that look promising at the moment. I dont know of any of the young guys that are ready to step up if called upon. This could be Portugals down fall if they are dealing with fitness issues at CB. Let's hope Pepe being at full health and pace when the WC starts.

 

Talent wise they are definitely right there with the top teams. But in the past they always seem to be unlucky and lose those close games during the knock out stages. Maybe it will be much different after winning the Euro but I just have that wierd feeling something that will happen. I really hope they prove me wrong though. Last year was so awesome if they won the WC... Man I dont know what I will do. I dont think I will be able to control myself.

 

Yeah forsure, J.Mario and William are both sexy animals as well. William in form is a thing of beauty. Actually I like the entire team with my main question coming at LB and hoping Semedo can take over RB. The CB issue will be more a factor after the next WC.

 

10 years ago.

 

Portugal have arranged two friendlies for next month.
According to the Portuguese Football Federation, we will play Saudi Arabia on November 10th in Leiria and the United States on November 14th at the Estadio Algarve.


http://www.fpf.pt/pt/News/Todas-as-notícias/Notícia/news/13617

 

Have we ever played Saudi Arabia before?

 

http://www.fifa.com/fifa-tournaments/teams/compare.html

Looks like they only have played against each other once in a friendly on March 1st 2006. 3-0 win for Portugal.

 

I remember that game from 2006 well.

C Ronaldo went through almost the entire Saudi Arabian team on a dribble.

I'm pretty sure Santos will give a lot of time to fringe players.

 

I came across a couple leaked Portugal jackets as well as the supposed pre-match top for next summer. Assuming the leaked jerseys are real, these likely are too:

 

Whoever OK'd the seismograph/wave thing as Nike's signature design element for next summer needs a stern talking to. I don't mind it on a jacket or training top, but it looks bad on the sleeves in the leaked tops. Also, if you're giving a team their new every-other-year look, why mess with the badge? Portugal's badge is beautiful, it doesn't need to be tweaked to blend into an ugly shirt/jacket, etc.

If these leaks are any indication, I may skip the new line of gear entirely. The stuff I got in 2016 is aging just fine.

 

Those middle eastern teams are better now. They are soccer crazy. Beating them in a blowout is no longer reality.

Saudia Arabia is pretty much equal in skill to an Australia.

 

Red jacket looks like it came straight out of a long day on the construction site LOL!