Back then the Portuguese NT sucked ass....we couldn't qualify for a WC not even if we were hosting it. I am sure if we were a dominating force his choice might have been different.
JLR made a good point so let me add to it by asking this question: We all know Portugal lacks firepower up front. Pauleta is good but we could use some help up front. So here we have Liedson, who as far as i know has never played for Brazil. How would u feel if he became portuguese citizen this summer and Scolari called him up for the Euro 2008 qualifying games and left Pauleta out?
Pauleta is not Portuguese, He's ACOREANO ! .....HAHAHAHAHAHHAH My continental friends will know what i am talking about, Paulets is only portuguese when he does well , otherwise he suffers from the BEN JOHNSON syndrome that originated here in canada, before testing positive he was CANADIAN ! after he got caught he was 100 % jamaican ..... just teasing , but i think there is a grain of truth in that statement.....and no, i don't have an AZOREAN inferiority complex ....mind you, Pauleta is all class, the way he carrys himself , sportsmanship , etc....and his teammates seem to really respect him, especially figo...geez, he ain't the greatest player in the world but he sure is a good ambassador for us of azorean descent....seems to be a cool, humble , dude !
That's so true, but not just in Canada!!! I wonder what people in Portugal would say if deco ever missed a penalty kick in a game against Brazil????
That's when we suffred from the "I need 40 shots to score 1 goal complex" Thank god we can score now.
Well i am not sure about that but if you say so, however i used the Pires case to state a different view about the subject.
WOW !...someone mentioned something earlier in this thread regarding the media and what appears to be it's apparent neagtive bias towards the portuguese team ( i think the portuguese people in general, but that's another matter )....usually i don't agree with this kind of 'victim' talk because many times it is skewed and is a bunch of bullshit and is not really objective or impartial BUT in this case i gotta agree, THE MEDIA HATES THE PORTUGUSE TEAM....from the local papers here in toronto which i read every morning and from which i can pick up the negative biases they have towards us a mile away , to their snide comments, to the tv coverage from tsn. sportnset, univision, espn, etc....man, this in my mind cannot be argued, they are blatantly anti - portugal...this carries over to the common guy on the street too, i can't count the number of times at work etc where i can just see it in people's faces that they are dyeing for portugal to fall flat on their face....I think it has alot to do with the ( i admit this part is overboard at times ) over exuberant celebrations by the portuguese fans each time we win a game.....Man, i think we would be honking and hooting if we beat the faroe islands or aziberjaan ....and this does not go over too well with people, they want to see results, us actually winning something before we act they way we do, and to a certain extent i see their point, add to this some of the absolute MORONS we have in our community who do not know when to draw the line with celebrating, taunting, drinking and i think this is the reason why the LOCAL media dislikes us....As for the international media, i think it is because they always have this impression of what the portuguese should de , docile, moustachioed , do as your told types, who are pushovers in economics, politics, and sport..... and THEY HATE THE FACT WE ACTAULLY have a good team that beats them ( This is especially for the BBC in england ) .....anywya, i don;t know if anyone else agrees with me and i know i am rambling on here but it's true...THE MEDIA HAS GOT IT IN FOR US ! ...only one way to shut them up, if not win this thing than go out an play our asses off and show the skill we have...man, nothing would disappoint me more than leaving this tournamnet without showing the true calibre of play we are capable of, win or lose !
I don´t go with that globalization story, if you born in a nation you are entitled to play for that same nation, if you get there w at young age no problem for me but to me doesn´t make sense seeing Mexican naturalising Brazilians, Spain doing the same and so on, its no about the legal issues they have the same rights, its about changing the concept of national teams, whats the point of having national team football if there are a bunch of nations hiring mercenaries to play and represent them? I am not questioning the love of Deco by Portugal probably he is more portuguese than many of the ppl i know but in the end he is playing with us just because he couldn´t play by his beloved nation... Brazil.
Amen!!!! That's what i am saying!!!! Do you guys think if alex, Deco, Zinha, the list goes on, if they could play for Brazil they would chose not too??? You are wrong.......their current nations are not there n1 choice, but there only choice of showcasing there talent in the World Cup!!!
Maybe that was a bad example, let me use Ricardo Lets say Helton becomes portuguese, and he gets called up instead of Ricardo.....how would all the sportem fans feel??
Liedson on Portugal National Team!?? Are you all freaken Ciganos? This guy is the future of the Portugal attack!
That was embarrassing, even here in London after the win over Angola, there's a few hundred people celebrating in the streets as if we'd won the world cup. I don't know about T.O but here everybody loves the chops, especially the cakes....heck i've even had a few of my buddies tell me they were Portuguese!
Azorean actually makes a good point, until we defeat a decent team, we can't get over ourselves, I'm not asking to defeat a good team, just a decent team, aka tipo Ivory Coast... Mexico is a good start, If we beat Mexico, we should have something to celebrate over, but then again media can critizise all they want because I don't think Portugal will be celebrating much longer, what day is our 1st eliminatory match?
Yes, Portista i agree, this , ahem, hatred may be too harsh . but this dislike of the portuguese in general may be limited to the gta as i have headed down to London and other locales many a time and i can see the difference in which the portuguese are regarded, maybe it is because it is a smaller community or maybe it is because there is not so much mean spirtited taunting , especially the italians of course, between communities in other places BUT i am sure i am not mistaken when i say this....If there was a general poll taken here in toronto where you had to vote for a team, other than your own origin of course, that you would most like to win / do well that Portugal would come in dead last or close to it.....Does'nt overly bother me,but what bothers me most is i know we are good people and people misjudge us over our over exuberance.....
Your wrong, first off the Brazilians are cheering for us, second there are alot of people who go for Portugal that are of asian, african, Middle eastern and Latin American desent. Only real animosity is from the I-Ties. but who the hell cares about them?
Who cares what others say, Portugal will let the scoreboard do the talkng. Solid defence and no goals allowed so far!
Well, i may be wrong GoodDead but i don't think so, i got a pretty good handle on this and my job offers me the opportunity to talk with / meet alot of people around the city ( many do not know i am portuguese at first ) and trust me man, they don't think too highly of us when it comes to wishing our soccer team well. Hey, i am the biggest portuguese soccer fan out there but the fact is outside of our community and in a few pockets of people of other communities like you mentioned not many want us to do well....i don't know why, i offered up a couple possible reaosns why in my earlier post but i don't know really what it is.....Like stevearedas said, we shoudl'nt relaly care and for the most part i don't , just telling it like it is man.....i ain't got blinders on. and another thing, if we are last in that poll i mentioned erlier the italians are close behind or more hated than us ......i woudl have to say 1 people/team that crosses etnic boundaries and is appealign to all and who would finish first is brasil and not just because everyone likes winner BUT it is something in their nature / play/ partying that people find appealing everywhere....Heck they can win every world cup from now til kingdom come and people will still cheer for them which is rare nowadays because everyone is always gunning for numero uno.
I see alot of people wanting Portugal to fail not only italians but mostly europeans fans want to see our team fail infact a few times dumb ppl have told me "I hope Portugal loses" and I say "why" and they say "blah blah I hate Portuguese people" stupid crap like that but these are only morons I bump into and then tell to FK off. this is a good sign because they are scared of our team because they know we are a strong team and our players are skillful and they like to talk smack about players like Ronaldo and Figo but they wish they were on their team. I agree with most of wat Azorean says, and yes I did celebreate even our wins against Angola and Iran because I only saw Portugal compete in 2 WC's in my life and 2002 was a disaster so I am happy we made it to the next round but Portugal has to play hard in the next round because we will be playing Argentina or Holland two strong teams and most people expect Portugal to lose in the next round but I hope our team proves once again, never underestimate Portugal.
i've only felt welcome from the portuguese. having been on the forums, though less often in the recent past, i can see that portuguese are a robust and kind-hearted nation. truly enthusiastic nationalists, but not cocky or overbearing as, say...the italians or greeks. ...you guys have a suave attitude that says, 'hey, i'm portuguese'. indians have it too, but indians tend to be condescending and generally keep to themselves and their shrewd society.
if you are talking about North,Central, or South American "Indians", please do not use this term. They are called Native Americans. Indians is a term that they were mistaken for because Colombo was a little confused.