Second time I'm watching these kid play, and his something, first time he played on the LF position, today his playing more as a striker and his doing a fantastick job his also looks like his very physical his on loan from Sporting to Casa Pia
Let's not put too much pressure on these youngsters! They have a long way to go before making an impact on any descent club!
Here, Here! We beat Luxembourg. Hardly a France, Italy, or Brazil for that matter. But a win is a win nonetheless. With saying that I think it was a good victory...but with that comes lots of talk, and consequently lots of pressure! People comparing Varela to Drogba, Filipe Oliveira to Robben, Danny to Joao Pinto, Valdir to Miguel, etc., etc., etc. I wish they become as good or better then the aforementioned. But we have to be realistic. There's alot that has to take place for that to happen...playing time, a good coaching staff, team successs, maturation, practice, etc. That's alot to live up to. How about we let the Viana's, Custodio's, Almeida's, Quaresma's, Manuel Fernandes', Raul Meireles', Castro's, Morais', Marcelino's, be themselves.
Wow, our NT future is looking solid, and so is SCP in th next few years - until these kids turn 20 then they are off to Italy or England or Spain
Varela does remind me of a Drogba. But we will see I would like to see him play vs some bigger teams like Spain, Italy or England before we can call him another Drogba.
The future does look bright. However, we tend to overhype young players around here. I think the emergence of Ronaldo has given us a false sense of reality when it comes to future prospects. Guys like Ronaldo don't come around very often. The first matter importance for the NT is qualifying for the WC2006. More than likely, none of the above players will be counted on to participate at the WC. We are talking E2008 at the earliest. Even so, it will be more and more difficult to land a spot on the NT in the upcoming years. With the likes of Carvalho, Deco, Ronaldo, Maniche, Miguel, Ferreira and Andrade you are not likely to see many changes in the too near future other than at striker, but even that is not a certainty as there is still hope for the Postiga, Pauleta Gomes combo, albeit a slim hope. Plus we already have quaresma, tiago, mendes, fernandes and almeida knocking on the door. Verela and Oliveira still have a long way to go before we can start labelling them superstars and comparing them to Drogba and Robben. I'm not saying they don't look promising, but they are really just kids. Let's not expect too much. Figo's return and a few goals from Ronaldo, Quaresma, Simao and hopefully a few from someone other than Pauleta are the keys to any chance at a World Cup Championship in 2006. After that we can start worrying about the next wave of players....
I agree! Above all, people do not compare Varela (19 years old) to Drogba when he was 19...but with the Chelsea player at 25 (Not sure!). And that's what brings pressure on them, IMO.
Despite the fact we were playing against Luxembourg, Varela made a great game, who would have tought that was only his second game in the u-21? He have a bright future, its strange how kids like this have to go to the 2 divison B to get play time... while we have tons of foreigners in teams of the Superliga and Liga de Honra...
Good point, but I hope they look at Dani, Quaresma, Viana, and Sabrosa. These guys left early and all came back. They need to follow Figo's example he was a bit older and more mature when he left for Barca. Another example is Boa Morte, left a bit to young for Arsenal and ends up playing at Fulham. Not that this is a bad thing, but it is not Arsenal.
It's funny you bring up Drogba, in an article today at www.record.pt they make the same claim. By the way he still has one year left on his contract with SCP and another option year. After these couple of performances I don't see SCP parting with him too soon.