yah but doesnt mean querioz will start him. like vs albania, he played danny on the wing with quaresma and nani on the bench and played 3 CM's instead. if danny played in the hole it could have made a difference
If I remember correctly, Danny & Ronaldo started on the wings but for most of the 55 minutes that Danny was in there, Ronaldo was up front with Almeida and Danny was roaming around behind them. And the 3 CM's only lasted 55 minutes, then you had Nani & Quaresma on the wings and Ronaldo and Almeida up front for about 40 minutes.
Given the fact that CQ only called one striker (Almeida) I suspect he's considering putting Ronaldo and Almeida up front. Alternatively, he'll play the usual 4-5-1 and have Ronaldo move to sole striker when Almeida is subbed for some other winger. Either way, it's a disaster. We have zero evidence - zero - that Ronaldo can play up front, alone or a support striker. In fact, we have plenty of evidence that he doesn't know how to play the position - in addition to the times we have tried it on the NT, all you have to do is check out the 1st half of Man. United's last game defeat against Fulham where he was paired up with Berbatov to see how much less effective he becomes as a striker. I've said it before and I'll say it again - people want to make Ronaldo into a striker, but he's not one. Not yet at least. If coaches are so keen to make him into a striker, he should spend the off-season playing and learning the position somewhere else. At this point in the competition, we really can't afford these kinds of learn-on-the-job experiments. -Alex
Completely agree. Let Cristiano Ronaldo play where he know how to plays, where he became the best of the world
See the tricky thing is Ronaldo became the best in the world in a free role, he had no tactical responsibilities. This year is Man U is shaped up slightly different so he has stuck to his flanks more then last year. Also Ronaldo is best in the transition, the quick counters where he gets isolated 1v1, this is another thing that we don't do well on the NT, I can still see Queiroz saying "rapido, pa rapido, tenha de que ser MAIS RAPIDO!"
Ronaldo needs to be played in his right damn position. He is NOT a striker. I think if we can handle Ibra we can win the game. Don't concede goals and bombard the hell out of their net.
I think he'll sub in Edinho for Almeida in the second half, Edinho is supposed to be quick and he can finish
Im willing to try any striker other than Almeida. It's worth a shot. Your right hes not a striker and he plays much better as a RW. But the fact is. if you can use Ronaldo as a ST and still have an excellent player to play as RW (Quaresma or Simao since he can play either side), might as well go for it if you dont have a decent striker. Ronaldo never seems to perform well with the NT regardless, even at the RW position. 2 words... Thank God! Im confident Portugal will get the win, but it most likely won be pretty at all. then again, the points are what matter at this point. Sweden without Ibra is well, pretty bland. Portugal has to come out with an offensive lineup. There wont be much of an offensive threat from Sweden since Ibra is the threat and creativity of the team, but that doesn't mean we can sleep on them. One counter-attack goal and we're screwed. 1-0, maybe 2-0.
I think you guys are underestimating Sweden here. They still have a number of good players and offensive threats. Yes there's no one on Sweden like Ibra, but they still have... Larsson, hes old, but hes clinical. Elmander, very much an offensive threat, Svensson, and a very good midfielder in Källström.
Yep! I pick Sweden to win 2-0. Portugal are not an elite team and they'll underestimate the Swedes, you can bet on that!
I think Portugal will underestimate them, but I do not think we will lose 2 - 0. However, the key to this game is who scores first. I say again, Portugal must score 1st. If we accomplish that, we will win the game.
"Deco recuperado e Nani confiante" http://abola.pt/nnh/ver.aspx?id=161188 http://goal.com/en-us/news/1956/eur...portuguese-doctor-declares-deco-is-good-to-go Edinho + Nani Interview http://ww1.rtp.pt/desporto/index.php?headline=37&visual=17&article=181207&tema=21 Don't know how to take this. I wanted to see Danny. I like Deco, but he nerves me sometimes. When hes playing well, generally the entire team does. When he is off, the team struggles, and we often are hesitant to take him out... I guess this means that we won't see Danny in the starting lineup though.
I hadn't thought of that, and seeing as we don't really have any outstanding strikers that might be a valid way to do it. All we need is someone who can finish. Spain has Torres, England has Rooney, German has Klose and Podolski, and yet all we seem to have are wingers.
I don't know about you guys but I am a whole lot less confident about this game than Nani. Why? This is our starting line-up: A mix of players who are: a) injured b) semi-injured c) just-returned-from-injury - hardly played in the last month d) off-form - not a starter on his team e) off-form - starter but negative contribution and/or team in a low. Eduardo: e Bosingwa: e RCarvalho: c Pepe: b Duda: b Ronaldo: e Maniche: d Meireles: Maybe the only guy who is 100% - will he be a starter? Simao: e + personal issues Deco: a Almeida: e Alternates: Nani: d Quaresma: d Tiago: ? Danny: e? form questionable (just started his season) I mean, almost everybody is either injured, partly injured and/or played poorly in teams that have played poorly in recent weeks. Added to that, these players have yet to play well as a group, they will be nervous (do or die game), and coach is nervous (by temperament and for his job). I don't remember how Dragao has been for the NT in previous games. I am hoping the home crowd will be positive, supportive, even if things are going badly. I hope I'm wrong, but the team is in shambles. CQ better pull a rabbit out of his hat for this game or he's done.
This doesn't make sense. We lose a lot more by playing him out of position, even if that brings Quaresma into the picture. Bottom line: Our biggest weapon is Ronaldo in a free-roaming wing position. Moving him to striker totally neutralizes that. He becomes average at best. He hardly touches the ball and he becomes frustrated. Meanwhile, we'd have Quaresma on the wing - "excellent"?! In potential only. In reality, Quaresma is a streaky, nervous kid whose performances are completely unpredictable. When he plays well it's all good, but when he plays badly, wow, it's a freaking horror show. He just gets more and more nervous until he can't hit a cross if his life depended on it. So, I have an idea - we have a bunch of mediocre strikers - they can do as well as Ronaldo up top. Put them there and hope they can bundle in a rebound when Ronaldo does what he does best - from the wing. To use a baseball analogy - if you're going to get beat, at least don't let it be on your third best pitch...
amen to that brother. put simao on one wing and ronaldo on the other, and i guess hugo up front considering nuno isn't even on the roster. i really dont like hugo at all but what else does portugal have, orlando sa will be good comin in at about thirty to twenty mins left but i don't think he can preform well the entire game, considering he rarely gets that chance in barga. put danny behind the striker and that should be enough attack to score a couple goals.
----------------Eduardo------------------- ---------Carvalho------Alves--------------- Bosingwa-------------------------------Duda ---------Pepe---------Maniche--------------- Ronaldo--------Deco------------------simao --------------Almeida----------------------- Thats our lineup. I wish Andrade never got injured..Alves is good, but quickness exposes him and with Andrade we had the best of both worlds. Nothing would have ever gotten past the Carvalho-Pepe-Andrade triangle defensivly.
Well, to whatever guy that was in Porto by tomorrow wanting to watch the game...the cheapest ticket is 10 euros behind one of the goalies. My friend was supposed to buy me one yesterday but idk if he was successful though Off Note: And tonight is Boavista - Benfica, a friendly game sponsored by Portugal Telecom that bought all seats for the game and is selling 2 euros each in return. Obviously, this is meant to financially help Boavista. I'm there! The game will be aired by BenficaTV. http://www.ojogo.pt/Directo/Noticia...utboavistaslbjogoantecipado_200309_119891.asp
The game is on at 4:45 eastern time. The times are always on the TV thread on the main Portugal forum page.
I am glad that we will see Duda at that LB spot. I am a little unsure about Deco, Pepe, and Alves, and the respective positions that they will be playing in. Goal.com has predicted we lose 1 - 0, conceding from a set piece.