Road to Russia (Rumo à Rússia) 2018

I wouldn’t call 5 goals in 18 league games taking the mick

 

Surely Rony Lopes will get picked to go to the WC? the kid is on fire while Andre Silva hasn't scored in the league

 

Rony Lopes has Guedes, Gelson Martins, Quaresma as competition.

Andre Silva is our only pure striker and scored 8/9 goals in qualification...ya he's had a poor season at AC Milan but our only other option is Eder who has been invisible since being possessed by Eusebio that fateful night in July.

Maybe Diego Jota will get a shot as striker beside Ronaldo...he and Ruben Neves have been unreal at Wolves.

 

Good point, sorry I assumed he was a pure striker but watching some more of him he looks like a winger?

He's a great finisher

 

To Dear Portuguese fans:

Do you guys think who was the best coach of Portugal national team from World cup Qualifiers 1998 to 2018? Who was the worst one? I cannot remember any football match before 1997 due to my age. That is why I said from start of WCQs 1998 to 2018.

 

Easy questions:
Best: Fernando Santos (by a mile)
Worst: Carlos Queiroz (in my opinion also by a mile)

 

x2

 

Best: Fernando Santos - He has no club biased (benfica/sporting/porto), he isnt afraid to try out younger players and is true to the idea of the best will play.

Worse: Carlos Queiroz followed by Paulo Bento although Queiroz wins, he refused to look at unproven players, and remained TO loyal to the aging players, and had absolutely no ability to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of that specific team. For example, playing counter attack with an older slower midfield who couldnt play that style successfully if their lives depended on it.

 

Honorable mention to Humberto Coelho, didn't win any titles but his team played the best football I've seen in my lifetime from a Portuguese national team.

The players seemed to love him too, he got the best out of all of them, and when you think about some of the players that played, the squad wasn't THAT great.

 

Euro 2000 made Portugal one of my favorite teams. That was my favorite Portugal team.

 

Best: My prediction was Fernando Santos or Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Worst: I knew that Carlos Queiroz is going to be among top 3 worst but I thought he was not worse than your World Cup Qualifiers 1998 and World Cup 2002 coaches.

Anyway thank you friends.

 

I’d like to throw in an honourable mention for worst to Antonio Oliveira too.

His player management and tactics turned the 2002 WC campaign into a huge failure.

 

So has Helder Costa

 

Oliveira was great up until the WC 2002.

The qualification stage was amazing, they played great football to qualify and were one of the favourites at the cup.

It all fell apart as soon as they arrived though. Not sure it was all his fault, Figo was injured for example, and many of the players just played badly.

 

I’m new here to the forum, but I’d like to know what do you guys think of Maicon representing A Seleção at the World Cup, since he is able to represent Portugal through the naturalization rule. I know a lot of people that I’ve talked to have opposed it, I’d like to know your take! Saúde!

 

who? Maicon Douglas Sisenando 36 years old no chance in hell

 

Maicon Pereira Roque, the CB at Galatasaray that used to play for Porto.

 

He's pretty average. If he was above average, then we would probably cap him. There has been this same rumor going on with Jardel from Benfica, but he is also pretty average.

 

I just honestly don’t know who could potentially replace Jose Fonte if he is not fit. I know Alves has put in good shifts when he’s with A Seleção, but that might drop off soon since he’s playing in a league that’s very below par the international stage. I understand that Carriço is recovering or just getting back from an injury, but surely he offers more than Fonte at this stage, being the captain for Sevilla.

 

Fonte is moving to China. I personally think this rules him out