I lost a lot of respect for this guy over this tournament. His antics looked even worse when compared to those of his team mates who for the most part played honest football. I was expecting him to transfer that Porto form to this tournament.. how disappointing.
He was one of the better Portugese, but he has committed a lot of fouls... only to blame it on others with that puppy eyes of his. I do not like that overmuch either...
He had a couple of incredible, blatant dives in the final. Good job the referee could see past his cheating, I was only surprised that he didn't get a yellow card for it.
Yes, "Hit the Deco" was up to his usual antics yesterday. It's a shame really because he obviously has incredible skill...so unnecessary.
When you see the big stars complaining about many matches in the season and that's why they sucked, being very tired, like raul, beckham, etc.. Deco has like 10-15 more matches in his legs than they do. He did good vs Russia and Spain, and kept going down, every game getting more and more tired.
If you are referring to Beckham, I believe he said the Real Madrid fitness training was crap esp the end of the season, thats why he wasnt fit and good for the euros. His comments were slammed by the ex-coach (cant spell his name so i wont try) and Figo. The coach blasted beckham as an uncommitted player in the end of the season often missing training sessions. As for Deco I was hoping they replace him with gomez, I thought he over dribbled and dived too much in the final, too much of an individual and not enough as a team player in that final match
He's an incredible player. He's also an excessive flopper which makes him a total punk@ss. The refs have a very difficult job controlling dangerous physical play and penalizing flopping but I'd like to see more cards for the likes of Deco.
You guys act like this only happened in the final, I've been watching him do this all tourney, its just disgraceful. I love that "Hit the Deco", hahahah Thats great.
Not just this tournament. I watched him do it all UEFA Cup when they beat Celtic and this years Champions League.....he's rubbish.
Deco and the boys from Porto put on a diving show against Celtic, and ManU for that matter. Its the Portuguese way. For some reason, Big Phil got them to tone it down for Euro 2004, except for Deco.
I am sure that after signing him for 4 years, Barcelona will declare the contract invalid, after reading all the enlightned comments made in this thread.
I believe Deco was the WORST "portuguese" player on the pitch in that final. He was unable to produce anything, almost never completed a single pass. His diving was horrible and I was hoping he would get taken off. What a disgrace.
Portugal vs Greece -» entered in the 2nd half and the diference was visible. Portugal started to atack a lot, and even more with ronaldo too. Portugal vs Russia -» man of the match together with maniche, but maniche scored 1 goal so.. Still great performance. Portugal vs Spain -» considered the man of the match. Great ball distribution, dangerous passes, dribles, all over the pitch. Securing the ball in the last 10m. Portugal vs England -» the turnout. Had to play as a right defender until the late 120, both atacking and defending the whole match. We won the match but lost Deco, utterly tired after this match. Semi finals -» Tired Final -» Tired If Scolari took Deco off at least once or twice to rest him for a while... But no, beside the 100 games in the last 2 seasons, playing all the championship, all the cup, all the 12 uefa cup matches, and all the 13 champions league matches.
Deco was the worst player for Portugal throughout the tournament. He is utter shiit and completely overrated. Add the fact that he is a cheat as well and it's almost unbelievable how much teams are willing to pay for this sack of crap.
If Barca buying Deco ==> Deco's wonderful and doesn't trip on his shoelaces then what did it mean when Barca sold Figo a few years ago?
So Deco gets the tired excuse while the rest of Portugal doesn't? And what about the Greeks who went 115 against the Czechs?
.................................................................................. Deco is the main reason Portugal lost in the final. Selfish pr!ck,he only played for himself,he lost 80% of the balls, including 2 free kicks from 35 yards,which he decided to shoot at the goal(even Roberto Carlos would've just crossed it) ,the ball went into..Portugal Airspace! The other reason,is ..Scolari!!That 'idiot' insisted that Portugal play in..10 men, by putting Pauletta in the team again,after 5 desastruous games by him!! oh, and there is a ...third: Greece played very smart football. to win!!
He comes from a long line of cheating Porto players. Chelsea under their new coach will be taking diving lessons on a regular basis I fear. Robben should fit in nicely....
They didnt play 7 cup matches, 13 champions league matches, 1 european supercup, one portuguese supercup and 34 league games.
In addition to his obvious dives, I think Deco also plays too much with his elbow up. I have been surprised by how much the refs allow him to get away with this tactic.
Frankly, he deserves no sympathy whatsoever. I hope he goes over to the premiership so some disgruntled english players can really give him a reason to scream. That said, he has a lot of skill. Cheating bastard.
its funny to see that most of these comments come from manutd/celtic fans... in portugal, we call it "dores de cotovelo"