They might have created a problem themselves as a major part of the selection, including their star striker Alireza Jahanbakhsh, have spoken out against the murder of that Iranian woman by the decency police and the subsequent killing of protesters against that murder. If they are banned from the selection, they might as well not show up.
We're criticizing LvG for his odd choices, like the geriatric Blind. Anyway Portugal has enough seasoned players on the pitch to change tactics if the coach doesnot. I think Ronaldo has seen enough to be able to tell the rest of the players to do things differently.
Different team now , Rui Patricio was dropped for one. Also Portugal has a long history of finishing behind teams in qualifying and then beating them in the tournament and going far , and that’s what I expect to happen again. We have a tournament mentality.
As good as Serbia are if they face Portugal again I'd put my money on Portugal to win. That decisive game in qualfying was one year ago. Portugal have made leaps since ever they missed out on direct qualufication. I also think that pedigree will come into play.
Portugal has never been known for being strong qualifiers and we win the euros after finishing third in the group. It’s the type of team that only shows up when it really matters.
Even if Portugal is playing bad how many teams can bring on Rafael Leao or Joao Felix ? People need to accept that Portugal has a stacked team and if they play to their potential they are easily semi finalists at minimum
Japan over Germany seems a pretty popular pick of a surprise. At this point it seems a lot of people are doubting Germany. Let's see how it turns out. Jamal Musiala will be Germany's (only) bright spot. If he's in form and starts he could change a thing or two for Germany. It remains still a very risky pick to not pick Germany.
And if the disallowed goal in Serbia had not been chalked off Portugal would of finished 1st in the group, even losing that last game at home we would of been 1st
Agree. The importance of having a good #9 cannot be underestimated in this day and age. Serbia has two of them! Mitrovic has been a very late bloomer but no longer can we just say that he is in good form. He's just good! Six goals in 8 EPL matches this season and his stats last season were just ridiculous: 51 goals in 54 games, club + country. Of course, Portugal has a good striker but there's only so much Jota can do from the bench .
I can see why people don't rate Germany this time. Still no great striker since Klose. Havert, Werner are not good enough. Muller hasn't been good since 2014 world cup for Germany NT, Sane is too inconsistent, Gnabry is finished in 2020. Only Neuer, Kimmich and Musiala are reliable. But Germany always turn thing around.
How good is Uruguay under the new coach? Also Suarez and Cavani are aging and aren’t the same as before, especially Cavani. Are they still performing well? Godin also appears to be aging. I’m just wondering, how have Uruguay been looking recently? Are they stronger or weaker than Uruguay 2018? I’m confident that Uruguay and Portugal advance, but which one first and which one second? I’m still greatly debating. And if Uruguay vs Serbia is a Round of 16 match, who would be favorites?
Godin won't start unless both Gimenez and Araujo are out. Coates is their 3rd choice of CB. Suarez is absolutely finished, he can't play more than 25-30 minutes. Cavani is not the same as he used to but he's still fit for elite level, at least more than Suarez. It will be Nuñez and one of them upfront. Uruguay has better midfield than in 2018, in attack and defense they look slightly worse. Portugal is favorite but Uruguay beating them wouldn't be a shock, with Serbia is a 50/50 imo.
What really? I’m surprised about Suárez. I thought he was still elite. Oh well. Thanks for the explanation.
South Americans seem to be on their way to bring the cup back there to be fair. Now, biggest favourites are rarely the winners in the end Rarely, but it happened! Knowing all that I’d still pick Brasil to win it all, not really an original pick, but my own gut feeling haha.
Despite my respect for Portuguese team, I can’t fail to notice that its supporters seem to be very dismissive of Serbian squad and very sore about not topping the group (one even shamelessly wrote “they can’t afford VAR in Serbia”). They did score that goal in Belgrade, no doubt about it, but guess what? Serbian team had been shafted by poor refereeing time and again and nobody is crying about it. A case in point is two Swiss defenders literally pulling Mitrovic down in their penalty area during World Cup 2018 and nobody is flinching about the fact that VAR was not used when it should have been. I’m sorry guys but you need to move on and perhaps show that alleged Portuguese superiority on the field instead of whining at every opportunity.
I remember this very clearly and was extremely upset by that call. Honestly that’s the only call I remember that was completely wrong in that whole World Cup, although I had doubts about France’s penalty against Australia as well, but Mitrovic being denied a penalty was terrible. Should’ve been a clear penalty to Serbia. I remember, supporting Sweden against Switzerland very highly just because Switzerland shouldn’t have beaten Serbia, if not for that non-call.
I strongly believe we are looking at an all Latin/Roman final. I'm pretty confident Brazil will make it back to the World Cup final after 2002. My bold prediction is that they might even walk into the final. From the other side of the bracket I see one of Portugal, Spain or France as finalist. If Denmark reach the semi-finals I think they'll lose to any big team they come up against. A couple of months ago also Brazil - England would have been a serious option for me but not anymore.
The Netherlands's stock has risen for me personally after the last month. Winning Belgium for another time was the confirmation of them being a Top 6 side entering Qatar. I'm not ruling out anymore that the Dutch can reach the semi-finals and take home bronze.
Just heard some stats about Brazil Only 1 defeat in years and that was against Argentina who are on something like a 45 match unbeaten run .. Since that one defeat Brazil haven’t lost since .. scoring 43 whilst conceding just 5 goals ! They played Tunisia recently .. Tunisia hadn’t conceded a goal in the previous 7 games but were 4 goals down by halftime .. Brasil eased off in the second half and won 5:1 .
I doubt England is third favorite any more. Yes, it was just Nations League games, but they've looked absolutely dreadful.