SelecçãoCaneira e Maniche fora das opções de ScolariJá são conhecidos os 23 eleitos para representar Portugal no Euro-2008. Luiz Felipe Scolari não reservou qualquer surpresa, destacando-se, no entanto, as ausências de Caneira e Maniche. Em sentido contrário, Jorge Ribeiro e Miguel Veloso estão no lote de convocados. ASF Havia 21 jogadores com lugar reservado, mas, tal como A BOLA há muito revelara, subsistiam dúvidas relativamente a quatro nomes para duas posições. Scolari optou, então, por incluir Jorge Ribeiro e Miguel Veloso em detrimento de Caneira e Maniche. Guarda-redes: Ricardo (Betis, Esp) Quim (Benfica) Rui Patrício (Sporting) Defesas: Bosingwa (FC Porto) Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea, Ing) Miguel (Valência, Esp) Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea, Ing) Pepe (Real Madrid, Esp) Bruno Alves (FC Porto) Fernando Meira (Estugarda, Ale) Jorge Ribeiro (Boavista) Médios: Miguel Veloso (Sporting) Petit (Benfica) Raul Meireles (FC Porto) Deco (Barcelona) João Moutinho (Sporting) Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Ing) Nani (Manchester United, Ing) Quaresma (FC Porto) Simão (Atlético Madrid, Esp) Avançados: Nuno Gomes (Benfica) Hélder Postiga (Panathinaikos, Gre) Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen, Ale)
Scolari never ceases to amaze me. I guess his 2 or 3 surprises were not of the inclusion of young stars or an old great but the exclusion of 2 proven players. 1 - Maniche, the tireless engine of the past 2 tournaments. Even if he's not 100% I would prefer him at least to be on the bench instead of Moutinho or Meireles. 2 - Caneira, the best defensive left back we have. He's not great offensively but he's a great defensive replacement to have on the bench. So we'll have Ribeiro & Ferreira for left back. Neither is better defensively and only Ribeiro is better offensively and he hasnt played at left back all year I think. Would have liked to see Pele make the squad...
Wow. He can call Petit on hope, but then leave Maku off and replace him with Postiga. Ugh.... 4 - 4 - 2. It has to be a 4 - 4 - 2. Because the midfield is no longer our strongest asset. Bosingwa -- Pepe -- Carvalho -- Miguel Nani ----- Veloso ------ Deco--- Simao ------- Ronaldo ------ Almeida -------
Maniche I wish I would have seen. I'm glad Caneira has stayed home. Considering hes right footed, and makes more mistakes then Ferreira, I like the Ribeiro pick. What just popped into my mind is that Scolari has ideas of playing Meira at that DM spot......
I still prefer having Caneira just because he's the best defensively. If I play him it would be for defensive matters, not to have him attack. I don't like Meira in the DM either, prefer the 2006 WC combo of Carvalho and Meira.
Joelzinho..why do you think Scolari only picked 5 midfielders? Veloso can move to centre mid if needed, and Meira can cover D-mid..my God, horrible Our midfield is a national disaster..this isnt going to be pretty. Petit needs to be injured during training, and Rui Costa needs to come back to the subs bench to save us like in euro 2004
Meira was horrid there in the friendly. Please, I think Scolari should seriously think about discarding the 4 - 5 - 1 at this point. The midfield really does look atrocious when compared to Italy, France, Spain and Germany.
I don't see where are the news in this roaster...apart probably from J. Ribeiro... Petit sucks immensely...
Only way he should discard the 4-5-1 is for the bigger teams where a defensive minded 4-3-3 could be beneficial. ----------------Quim--------------- Bosingwa--Pepe--Carvalho--Whoever ----Meireles---Veloso---Petit----- ----Nani-----Ronaldo---Simao---- Veloso as the main distributer, Petit as the runner and Meireles adds depth in physical strength. Both Nani and Simao will track back to defend and cover gaps and Ronaldo will place pressure on the back line. Having all of Almeida, Gomes and Postiga is what seems like excess waste to me.
Quaresma will absolutly murder players when he comes off the bench, him and Nani could be super subs..if we're in trouble we can switch to 4-4-2 with ronaldo in a free role alongside a striker. Our defence isnt so bad..im only mad about meira whose been horrible for Stuttgart all season..and in attack we're ok..but our midfield is garbage..I've never remembered a midfield so weak..except in world cup 2002..and look how well we did
Joel, Portugal playing with a 4-4-2 in a knockout competition could be a disaster. The defense had enough problems as it was with their seeming lack of composure during the qualifying. Also, I would not be surprised if both Carvalho and Pepe pick up injuries prior to or during the competition.
Almost nobody was including Moutinho in their predictions instead thinking Maniche would get the call. Now everyone is pretending that it's not a surprise when he's included. Come on.
People who believe in 'jinxes' generally do not have a strong grasp on reality. No offense to you as I'm sure you feel the same and will agree that if they are injured, it will be due to their proneness to injury as proven in recent years.
It didn't seem that way when I was going through peoples lists in the other thread and kept reading long shot names such as Manuel Fernandes while Moutinho was strangely left out of many. As for myself, I made a long shot prediction that Pele would be Scolari's surprise young inclusion and I blame that solely on thinking that Moutinho was already a lock.
Comparison 2008 to 2006 - 2008 Guarda-Redes (3): Quim (SL Benfica) Ricardo (Real Bétis) Rui Patrício (Sporting CP) Defesas (8): Fernando Meira (Estugarda) Miguel (Valencia) Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea FC) Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea FC) Jorge Ribeiro (Boavista FC) Bruno Alves (FC Porto) Pepe (Real Madrid) Bosingwa (FC Porto) Médios (5): Deco (FC Barcelona) Petit (SL Benfica) João Moutinho (Sporting CP) Miguel Veloso (Sporting CP) Raul Meireles (FC Porto) Avançados (7): Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) Hélder Postiga (Panathinaikos) Nuno Gomes (SL Benfica) Simão Sabrosa (Atlético de Madrid) Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen) Nani (Manchester United) Ricardo Quaresma (FC Porto) 2006 Guarda-Redes (3): Quim – SL Benfica Ricardo – Sporting CP Paulo Santos – SC de Braga Defesas (7): Fernando Meira – VfB Stuttgart Miguel – Valência CF Paulo Ferreira – Chelsea FC Ricardo Carvalho – Chelsea FC Marco Caneira – Sporting CP Nuno Valente – Everton FC Ricardo Costa – FC Porto Médios (6): Deco – FC Barcelona Petit – SL Benfica Costinha – Dínamo de Moscovo Hugo Viana – Valência CF Maniche – Chelsea FC Tiago – Olyimpique Lyonnais Avançados (7): Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United FC Hélder Postiga – AS Saint-Etienne Nuno Gomes – SL Benfica Simão Sabrosa – SL Benfica Luís Boa Morte – Fulham FC Luís Figo – FC Internazionale Pauleta - Paris St. Germain Our midfield does look weaker, especially without Maniche. I dont get the point in bringing 3 strikers when we all know that if Portugal is behind and needs to score Ronaldo will play up front.
at the end of the day the only real surprise was maniche not being called. as much as i was hoping to see a fernandes or pele on the list, i was realistic enough to know that scolari wasn't going to call players who've not been part of his groups for the qualifying or previous tournaments. he's called on players who he feels will play specific rolls. this would explain why petit is there when everyone knows his play did not warrant a call. he'll be called at the 85th minute when it doesn't matter if he gets a yellow to protect a lead. his midfield will be consist of meireles and veloso behind deco. i wish i could say this was good or bad as i've only watched a hand full of games with these guys playing. you guys would know better than I if they're going to suck big time. bottom line is we're going to need to find a way to play as a team so our weaknesses aren't over exposed. Deco is going to need to play like he played for Barcelona two years ago. Ronaldo is going to continue to score like he's done for Man U. pepe and carvalho HAVE to be healthy. if and i stress "IF", eveyone is healthy and playing at their best, I trully believe we have enough talent to go far.
The only change I would make is Maniche for Moutinho. That selection was done not based by on field performances but rather politics. No secret Maniche and Scolari don't get along and Moutinho is the most overrated player. I wish he would go to any other team in the world so that he could be benched accordingly and never heard from again a la Carlos Martins. With that said the squad looks about how it should. Veloso is a great choice and can fill in Maniche's role albeit in a more controlled less determined fashion. I hope Veloso gets the nod but I suspect a Petit-Meira DM combo. Meireles would be a decent sub but I'm sure Moutinho will get to "play" and by that I mean do nothing and receive praise. Gotta say our winger options are amazing I would hope Ronaldo gets to play a free role so we could have 3 of the 4 on.
Maniche for Moutinho I completely agree with you (for a change,lol!!). I completely forgot C. Martins!!! I would have liked to see him there instead of one of the forwards, he's the only other 10 besides Deco we have.