I was surprised he was not taken out at half. He clearly wasn't fit, and down 3 goals, it seems a substitution to A) protect him from further injury, and B) shore up defense so it doesn't get more embarrassing; would have been the move. True, he didn't end up getting injured, but he played 45 more minutes of soccer than was necessary, in less than ideal conditions, and now has to travel into the rainforest.
Here's hoping that Bradley and the rest of the team pick it up a bit with the passing and the ball possession vs. Portugal. We won't go far without some improvement there...
If USA is smart enough, then they should go through. It is really easy to draw against this team. I thought they had the maturity they showed in Euro 2012 but it seems that's not the case.
Mourinho analyzes Pepe red card: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/pepe-red-card-difficult-accept-222846204.html
So, I know we saw this before the first game and it came to nothing, but, uh, the BBC just reported… http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27914694
It seems there is still no clear indication from the Portugal camp as to who will take over in goal: Beto or Eduardo. http://www.abola.pt/nnh/ver.aspx?id=484433
Pepe punished with only a 1-game suspension for his red card, so he'll be available to face Ghana: Pepe punido com um jogo
Until Portugal announces CR7 is out, I am assuming he is fully fit for Sunday. No way am I getting hopes up on his being out.
Grant Wahl tweeted the following this afternoon: "Pretty straightforward: Expect Cristiano Ronaldo to play vs. USA on Sunday. Don't expect Altidore to be ready to play." So apparently icing your knee doesn't mean your leg needs to be amputated, thank goodness.
Pepe's real first name is 'Képler,' which is pretty cool. Also, Mourinho says that Pepe isn't really Portuguese, so he should have behaved better. It's not clear what principle he has in mind.
No one was saying that, I don't know why you're being so hostile and sarcastic and arguing against things no one has said..
Or on the verge of clinching qualification with wins vs. USA and GHA. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves; there is still everything to play for in Group G.
So anyway! I'm late to this party, would someone who is reasonable please share with me the info on the likely replacements for Portugal's players who are out for the game?
Exactly. I'm fine with an ailing CR7 playing against the US. Given how out-of-sorts he looked against Germany, they might just be a better team without him.
I think probably Neto for Pepe, Andre Almeida for Coentrao, Eder for Hugo Almeida, and, just a guess, Beto for Rui Patricio.
Veloso shifted to LB, Neto from Zenit to replace Pepe most likely, a very good CB but not world class (started key qualifier vs Russia and shut down Dzgoev, kerzakov, and kokorin)...maybe the two very talented young players in William Carvalho and Rafa will play in midfield....but who knows. Bento might stick to his tried and tested veterans. Unfortunately.
Just heard on Univision Deportes, I'm not sure if its posted already but apparently CR7's personal doctors have seriously recommended to CR7 trhat he should quit playing for atleast 2 months or he is in serious danger of damaging his knee.
Again, the doctor who apparently was quoted came out and said he never talked to El Confidential, where all this started.
Just for context, shutting out Russia in Portugal became a little less impressive after South Korea, of all teams, managed to hold Russia to one goal on a neutral field in Brazil with their dire defense.
I didn't see this posted above--Mourinho says it was dumb to broadcast Portugal training and he takes about every position possible regarding CR's knee. http://www.espnfc.com/fifa-world-cu...-broadcasting-cristiano-ronaldo-training-woes This whole thing is starting to look like a disinformation campaign to keep us guessing. The invasion's in Normandy, the invasion's in Calais, no, really it's in Calais. That's a kind of progress for the USA. In the old days, no one would have bothered.
Knowing what I know, it looks more like some people were truly incompetent while preparing this WC, but of course it's easy to criticize after things go wrong. As far as I know, Mourinho has no real interest in helping the NT right now. There are many parallels with 2002. Again, many of us were taken by the hype.