I would have never felt too bad. Portugal was in a serious prep mode and Nigeria simply didn't seem to care much.
Funny that almost half of the posters that made a prediction chose Switzerland. No disrespect to Switzerland, but I truly have no idea what world y'all live in. It also does go to show you the strange stigma that seems to surround the Portuguese team. Anyway, like I said a while ago, QFs is where things get tricky. If you haven't been paying attention the last 5 years, Morocco is a pretty damn good team.
Aguerd and Saiss are pivotal. Morocco again doesn't have the depth to replace them. Maybe one, but not both...
Be honest. Portugal has historically struggled against teams like Switzerland. People were expecting a surprise win and this was the easy choice.
Ooof another goleada incoming. Ramos could become top scorer of the WC in just two games, maybe even another hattrick.
I don't know if overachived is the right word cause they did it quite enough times to be consistent at it. They are the perfect definition of middle of the pack teams. Not strong enough to be contenders but also don't weak enough to be the bottom of the barrel. Although Mexico seems to be trending down but I wouldn't be surprised if they do good at 2026 with host advantage
No team has scored against Morocco in some 1000 minutes of football and you are expecting floodgates? Spain couldn't even beat Bono once of spot kicks. Come on!
Spain has no weight inside the box, Portugal has Ramos. This will be him next game (he should get the haircut done now):
Yeah but so have been Switzerland. Remember, they knocked out France in the Euros and just went out on penalties to Spain. They also topped Italy's group in qualifying, and drew Brazil in the last world cup. They also made the nation's league eliminating Belgium I remember. They are regularly qualifying and getting into the knockout stages of tournaments, so to be honest I'd say Switzerland have been even more impressive than Morocco in the last 5 years. To me there were 4 round of 16 matches that looked pretty straight forward. England-Senegal, France-Poland, Brazil-S.Korea, and Argentina-Australia. The other 4 all had potential upsets in my opinion. Morocco pulled off their upset as almost did Japan, only difference is they didn't do it in the shootout. USA had their moments but were tactically naive vs Netherlands. While I didn't "expect" Switzerland to beat Portugal, I did expect this game to be a lot closer. But I guess that says more about Portugal's quality and ruthlessness that they were able to thrash a pretty decent team like this. Portugal will have the added advantage of having been able to rest players for their final group game and having an easier game tonight than Morocco. However, Morocco have been solid this tournament and will be virtually at home so anything can happen. Anyway, I'll be at that match so hopefully it's a good one...
Congrats to Portugal. I really underestimated your squad but I had to pick some upsets in my brackets lol. Let's see how you can do against Morocco now. They played you very tough last time around and this time they will be the 'Home team".
Actually the idea of the Nigeria test was for Santos trying to introduce a new way of playing after the 1:0 defeat to Spain in Portugal, playing with more midfielders and more rotation. It's crucial to play better on this way to have Felix, Bruno, Bernardo and Otávio on the same eleven, and obviously Ramos or even André Silva stick better to their number 9 role than Ronaldo does. Having said that, while we all saw the team is better without Ronaldo, and probably after Russia 2018 he should have retired from the NT, I am reading and listening many people rewriting his performances for the NT. Between 2010 and 2015 there wasn't no one even close to him on the team, he could win matches alone by himself, or course he isn't more that type of player, and he should have accepted this before.
I watched that match in Portugal. Santos aimed for one point, something that was suitable for Portugal. But Spain scored in the 80's.
Actually in Euro 2012 with a peak Cristiano, Pepe, Nani and Moutinho we were the only team who caused real problems to prime Spain under Del Bosque, but you won't read about that on the international media. And we were managed by Paulo Bento, the now former South Korea coach.
EURO 2004, World Cup 2006 were also amazing for Portugal. Excellent combination of youth and experience. Figo, Rui Costa, Pauleta, Ronaldo, Costinha together.
Mod note: @Gilbertsson I'm going to ask you to stop with the posting of your ethnicity-based desire for national teams. There is a long list of players who can contradict your post(s), but it will detract from this thread. Also, I am going to ask all other posters to not respond. Further, said posts are under review.
Find it hilarious Mexico always gets thrown in as if they were the originators of that curse. You can add Japan to this list too, the Asian Mexico. R16 exiteers. At least it's much better than being persistent three and out Group Stagers. Making the knockouts is always a decent achievement for a prospective side like the Swiss no matter what happens after. Still they were truly dreadful today, but they should hold their heads up high in avoiding conceding a 7th to avoid the dreaded "7-1" scoreline that is forever immortalized in footballers' hearts.
Ronaldo should accept that he is 37 and an impact substitute for the last 20 minutes. It's best for him and Portugal.
Mexico was damaged against Argentina, World Cup 2010. Carlos Tevez scored from evident offside. 2:00 minute. The curse doesn't exist, only lack of luck, bad referees. Interesting, in VAR era they stuck in the Group Stage. But they have much weaker players, no more key players in European clubs, like Marquez, Vela for example. Two times, Mexico ended in quarterfinals. In 1970, 1986. Both times they were hosts. So, in 2026 Mexico will break this "curse". Maybe they were pushed as the hosts, so the curse was born?
Mod note: Reopened thread for match discussion. Do not continue, in this thread or any further thread, the discussion of ethnicity, heritage, nationality, or any similar origins as it relates to football/soccer national teams.
I think the win today shows Portugal is still one of the top 10 teams in the world. I am not going to say they will win the WC but I do think they have the quality to beat any of the remaining teams. The questions are how Santos manage the team and will the players be able deal with other line up changes (chemistry-wise) in the next match. At this point, I still have a France and Brazil final.
I think it depends on which lineup Santos goes with. If he goes with Ronaldo to start, no question France. If he stick with Ramos, I'm gonna favor Portugal, though I could see a 4-3 win either way v. France. (Unless France dissolves v. England).
He will never accept it. That’s one of the major reason he left Man United. I do not think Erik ten Hag was being disrespectful for standing up to him because United was clearly the better team without him. Now it’s evident that Portugal plays much better with Ronaldo in the bench.