Ronaldo would’ve passed 100 national team goals for sure if he got to take in the Croatia that showed Cup today. Too bad. I wonder where he stuck his toe for it to get infected.
This was a fun game to watch. Should have been 5 or 6 goals but a win is a win. Our attacking options are looking really good, can't wait to see how they do vs France.
That mexican dude makes me want to vote for Trump, seriously. He thinks he's commentating for his paisas in the barrio.
Solid performance all around. Danilo was a good surprise. All were great, except for João Félix who got lucky to be on the score sheet. One more time I notice Portugal plays a lot better without CR7 than with him. It's true that Croatia is sometimes very good, but sometimes also very bad. I'll let decide which they were today.
Dominant performance from beginning to end. We hit 4 posts on top of the 4 goals but realistically Croatia can make the excuse Modric, Subasic, Rakitic didn't play and that Peresic only subbed in after 2-0. Roll on to Sweden.
That's why Barisic, Vida, Jedvaj, Vlasic, Brekalo play in weaker clubs. Bigger clubs would buy them much earlier. Lovren went out from Liverpool in Zenit. Getting older, slower. Coaches are also weak: Dalic, Olic. Very weak performance, connection of 3 passes was impossible. France seems in bad shape also. They are testing the new generation, not many good options: solid goalkeeper, maybe Brekalo, Petkovic end as good solutions.
Well, hard to Play worse, we Will see how the France game goes, could be just a WC hangover for both, I remember we beat Spain 4-0 just after they won the WC.
Yes, this is also true. Croatia was 3rd in France 1998 and they missed Euro 2000. They thought, it would be easy. 11 September 2018, Spain 6–0 Croatia After being 2nd in Russia 2018, the same happened. Rakitic skipped Portugal, France, because he had problems in Barcelona, signed for Sevilla. Modric said that he wants to enter in good shape for Real Madrid, for sure his last season there. Subasic, Mandzukic retired in national team anyway. So, they thought to bring some new players. The good shape of Pasalic in Atalanta didn't transferred in national team. Not sure, how can Kovacic play in Chelsea. He never had any decent match on higher level. Team needs at least 14 great players: first eleven, 3 replacements. Portugal has 2 great GK's: Patricio, Lopes, 5 great defenders, 4 great central player, 5 great attackers. So, at least 16. I didn't included Pepe, Fonte, because they are older. Plus great coach, old school, but with authority. Vrsaljko was not ready for these 2 matches, he also had Covid 19. They all relaxed without club matches, typical southern lifestyle. Croatia had problems in 2019 during EURO 2020 qualifications: 1-1 against Azerbaijan, 1-1 against Wales, defeat against Hungary 2-1 away. They qualified, but it wasn't so smooth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2020_qualifying_Group_E France had problems with Turkey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2020_qualifying_Group_H They behave more serious, responsible approach. Sweden is solid, they use their capacities after Ibrahimovic. Steady shape, not easy to win. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2020_qualifying_Group_F They wanted to help Norway? 3-3, 1-1? They did that with Denmark at Euro 2004, 2-2 result. Referee in match Sweden - Norway... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavko_Vinčić This Nations League seems nice, especially A League, it's better to be in good shape. Portugal did great against Switzerland, Netherlands in last edition.
There was a shot from Jota in the first half that was saved by the goalie and the Mexican commentator said it was saved "by Anthony Lopes". My dad said "Este comentarista é retarded".
Would not go as far as to say we have 16 great players, but most of them are at top or reasonable sides like Wolves and we have options, our coach still has many critics even after delivering Portugal s first two titles. You did fine in the qualifiers, not everyone is Spain or Germany. Looks like Iceland undid Turkey as one on one Turkey beat France. I am expect the normal from Sweden which is a tough contest. A 0-1 away win Will do nicely. I think it is much better than friendlies, it is like the League Cup, after WC and EC. We got lucky we were playing Home, then we got two sides we have excellent records against (Netherlands for decades and England in competitive matches after 1986, though we faced Switzerland which we have a so so Record against), so it all fell in place, plus the final was at Porto (their new stadium) where we only have lost once which was our first game there, a Lisbon final would bring back thoughts of the Greece nightmare in the EC final 2004. Would be great to win a final there too in due time, and a Benfica European final win, we just lost the Youth League final for the third time....
Getting in the excuses early for when we beat France. Already discrediting the win before Portugal even gets it
Portugal will win against France. Santos picked better players. I like that, when he removes stars who are not in good shape: Eder, Joao Mario.
Observe their clubs... Lyon, very solid Wolverhampton, Dortmund, Lille, Porto, Benfica, Man. City, Barcelona, Napoli, Man. Utd., Juventus, Atletico Madrid. Trincao would not be in Barcelona, if he isn't great. Jota will end in stronger club also. The game style changed with Santos. He cares for results much more. Portugal had more dynamic style at EURO 2004, WC 2006, EURO 2000, WC 2002..but it wasn't enough for titles. Substitutes were weaker before. We always saw Costinha, Figo, Rui Costa, Petit for example. Now, there are much more options. Before, Fernando Couto could end in conflicts, red cards, now this is more responsible. Pepe can crack sometimes. Options are bigger now, bigger competition...even Ronaldo might think will he take his position in Qatar for example. Sweden always play responsible, rational, they can play for 0-0 entire match, not so talented like France, Portugal, but they can provide panic, if you don't score early. They were 7h in Russia. 1-1 with Spain 2019. Lindelof, Forsberg are strong. Croatia has never won against Portugal, France...this says something...30 years passed. Yes, people say that Benfica is cursed back in 60's, dark story, so their Luz stadium might be the same. Silly that we talk about bogeyman. Portugal might win WC in Qatar. In Europe, Portugal has few teams as stronger opponents: Belgium, France, England, Netherlands...with others similar or better.
Croatia wasn’t good and missing its biggest stars, but those guys aren’t exactly in their primes anymore as it is. That was the most dominant Portugal performance against a legitimate performance in ages. Easy to be excited about the future watching that and the youth teams as well. Just loaded with talent at this point. Felix, Trincao, Andre, Cancelo, Bernardo, Bruno, Raph, Dias and Jota are all between 20 and 26 years old. Pepe and Moutinho were the only 30-somethings who played last night.
https://sport.news.am/eng/news/1144...lay-against-sweden-portugal-manager-says.html Did Ronaldo’s toe really got sting by a bee or did Santos just wanted to test the new crop of talent? I mean, he’s wearing he’s freaking shoes with a bee sting infected toe watching the game.
Missed a wide open sitter, missed another open sitter on the far post by a Pepe header. Andre Silva came in and got the same amount of production in 5 minutes than Felix did in 90.