PortuGOAL player ratings are so dumb. Meirles was absolutely awful, terrible. And Pepe/Coentrao were the best players on the field. As far as Patricio, he is young but hasn't faced that much adversity.
Varela & Nelo have been huge contributors. Custodio & Rolando are good late options off the bench when leading by a goal. Lopes, it wouldn't be the end of the world if he had to start over JP due to cards, but I prefer JP. Viana, we probably won't see him at all. Surprised we haven't seen Almeida or Micael though. I'm not disappointed about that either though! Quaresma is horrible.
Que grande orgulho. Que grande guerreiros verdadeiros. E melhor do que isso e ouvir as palavras dos jogadores que ja no apito final estavam a falar do proximo jogo. Força Portugal ate ser campeao!
Meireles was bad in offensive efforts, but he tracks back to defend and does a heck of a job. Viana is FAR too offensive and doesn't care to track back.. We can't afford that, because our wingers aren't know for their tracking abilities. Moutinho & Meireles work so well together because they pick up the defending where Ronaldo & Nani do not. Viana does not fit the system, and should never start over Meireles. At MOST, he can be the 3rd offensive option off the bench after Nelo & Varela. If the game is tied and we need a replacement for Meireles (nor offensive or defensive), I guarantee you Bento would turn to Micael over Viana.
Ronaldo is definitely in his own head. He brought up Messi in press conference after game without getting facts straight. Just leave Messi alone and concentrate on task at hand!!
To be honest it does get annoying after a while. EVERYWHERE he goes he has to put up with those chants and to be fair...many of the greatest player (ie Zidane) didn`t play well until later on in the competition(s). That said I would be raging mad...particularly at him had we lost the game. But we didn`t so I`ll let it go. We`ll see how he plays Sunday.
Based on his past, he has a pretty solid record of picking up his play after controversy....we will see how it works.
i wont even begin to try and break down the tie breakers, because everywhere i turn it confuses me more. Bottom line, Portugal doesnt even control there own destiny, and every result could either get them advanced or eliminated..crazy! Having said that, i really wouldn't want to advance to QF's with anything other than a victory or draw against Holland (it just wouldn't seem right to actually advance losing to Holland) Safe to say though, last thing Portugal needs is Denmark to get a win against Germany.
I'm sure it does get annoying but only because he feeds into it. There's no need to discuss Messi during the Euros. It's obviously on his mind and it shouldn't be. What should be? Wining and scoring, yes, in that order
Someone posted this earlier. Makes things a lot easier. http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/em/startseite/europameisterschaft/2012/1/tabellenrechner.html
Group B is the most interesting group. So many scenarios can happen. And Germany will play to win, they could be eliminated as well.
I have no idea where Ronaldo's head must be at. He already deals with immense pressure, and these past few games (including Real Madrid) have been very out of norm. Misses PK in Champions League against Bayern, then PK miss against Turkey in last friendly, and now today!? Those two chances today are 95% gimmies for Ronny on a normal day. I was blown away with the efforts. A simlple lift of the ball over the keeper on the first chance, and 9 out of 10 times he goes around goalie on the second chance, or just easily slots it home. To miss that net completely (and by a good margin at that) is mind boggling ... You know this performance will be talked about all the way up to game time against Holland (rightfully so, or not). How Ronaldo comes back from this will unfortunately be a pretty defining moment in his NT career.
Ronaldo was a donkey in the press conference and fell right into the press' trap about the messi chants. He should of just said he didn't hear anything and brush off any other messi questions.
I saw that as well, you just know the fact that if he has a poor Euro 2012 meaning Messi might win the Golden Ball over him is running through Ronaldo's mind right now.
Well, the good news is that between Messi's hat-trick against Brasil and Ronaldo's game today - he can forget about the Golden Ball. Today was an embarrassment. Let's hope he responds like he has in the past after bad games...
So if Portugal win, we can only be kicked out if Germany lose by one goal, but scores at least 2 goals (e.g. 3-2, 4-3, etc.)? Is there another scenario? Edit - And if it's 4-3 in the other game, we are out regardless of what we do. If it's 3-2 and we win 1-0 or 2-1 we are still out.
Just a couple of points: 1) Defensively our midfield played well again. Veloso stuck to his man and Denmark never threatened through the center. His distribution was good again too. Meireles and Moutinho did fine defensively too but Meireles' passing seems to be in Liverpool still. Meireles is killing our counters... 2) Bento shares the blame for the 2nd half defensive debacle. Coentrao was exposed time and again b/c Ronaldo was not tracking back (ironically he did track back when we were up 2-0...). We only solidified that flank when Nelo (of all people?!) went to play left-mid but by then we had blown the 2-1 lead. That was a mess and can't happen again against Holland. It was also NOT a problem against Germany - Ronaldo was far more disciplined. This suggests to me some lack of respect by Bento for Denmark ability to break down that flank - a huge gamble (he says as much in an interview) Ahhh... Just saved myself some time. Just remembered Zonal Marking - this guy is almost always on the ball and he agrees with my analysis: http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/06...d-rommedahl-means-goals-come-from-that-flank/ He's right on about the 1st game too. He basically suggests Coentrao was our best player - had the most work to do defensively and was a part of all our goals. Other fun facts: Nani had 6 steals while CR... 0. Not exactly surprising. But that is where Bento got it right - protect the more fragile FB (JP) with the better defensive winger. But, Jesus, I hope Coentrao is earning double what everyone else is getting...
Portugal should have won this 3 - 0, or 4 - 2... 2 goals would have been so much better. This group is a mess regardless, 2 very good teams will be out before they should. Group 1 is a joke, I still can't get over that lol. Yet, I work again on Sunday, so I'll miss that game and think positive like I did today at work. I really thought they would have won 3 - 1 or 3 - 2. That defense is so fragile without Cavalho, it makes me mad! Weither they win or lose, at least they made it interesting. To think a team can advanced with 2 loses and 1 win is crazy. I don't think I've ever seen that, not since I've been watching tournaments. Holland shouldn't make it though, they lost badly to teams Portugal dead well againts. Go Portugal!
Yup, Bento should of taken out Ronaldo for another player to help out on defense. Nani was always helping out JP. Also, nelo offers a lot more than just a big lumpy striker, the guy is quick and could even be used as a makeshift winger.
one more comment about Ronaldo: It drives me nuts that his contributions somehow have to define Portugal as a National Team. Ronaldo seems large than life, and he always ends up being the story! If he wasn't such a goal scoring machine, and was more a Luis Figo type winger, this kind of press would almost certainly never occur. Ronaldo is a victim of his own enormous success, as unfortunate as that is. It actually sounds stupid to even say, or suggest such a thing, and its a huge shame. Its impossible to get through people's heads that Ronaldo is not even an actual direct striker, or supposed to be scoring at such a ridiculous pace. He is just so damn elite, that pundits expect him to be the sole source of every damn goal at club level, and especially on the world stage for his country. If goals dont come every game, or in bunches, its immediately presumed he's struggling and not a legitimate contributor. Unfortunately he'll never shed this, but just food for thought..
Holland is in shambles. Robbed went nuts van der vast is upset and they lost confidence in their coach. Knowing Portugal though, it will be another cardiac arrest type game. My hear still hurts and I lost my voice on that varela goal.