Portugal

Brazil 6-2 Portugal

Luis Fabiano’s hat trick helped lead Brazil to its biggest win over Portugal in a 6-2 spanking this Wednesday.

The Canarinhos had been held scoreless in three consecutive home games in the South American World Cup qualifiers recently.

The game lined up Brazil’s Kaka against Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

Kaka orchestrated many of Brazil’s attacks and Robinho was spectacular. The Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo, did little as his team was humiliated at the new Bezerrao Stadium outside Brasilia.

Portugal gave the home side a scare when Danny scored four minutes in, but Luis Fabiano evened the score four minutes later on a brilliant play by Robinho.

Robinho stole the ball from Portugal’s Brazilian import, Pepe, broke down the left, and dished in an impeccable pass for Luis Fabiano's first of the night.

In the 24th minute the rout began when Kaka escaped two defenders and his right-foot cross was converted again by Luis Fabiano.

Ten minutes into the second half, Maicon made it 3-1 putting the finish on a vintage Brazil move which involved countless different players.

His drive between the left post and goalkeeper Quim was followed two minutes later with Luis Fabiano completing his hat trick; poking home a rebound from a save by Quim.

Simao Sabrosa halved the deficit with Portugal’s second goal, but Elano extended the lead three minutes after that with a superb goal that deceived Quim.

Luis Fabiano was replaced by Adriano, who capped the night by heading in the last goal set up by another substitute, Marcelo.

Pele, who was on hand to receive yet another award celebrating his 1000th goal, kicked the match off and seemed to thoroughly enjoy what he saw.

Many fans had come to see the man the international media were calling the world`s best. They left with an eyeful of Kaka, Robinho, Luis Fabiano, and Adriano.

Equally impressive were Maicon and Thiago Silva who made slight work of a certain media made Portuguese number 7.

Most fans left the Bezerrao asking the question: "Cristiano who?"

The recent acquisition of Manchester City has attracted the headlines for the amount of money the new owners are willing to invest in the club.

For the City fans this goes even beyond fiction. Used to live with small victories, always under the shadow of the big neighbour, City fans are now hopeful of a Golden Era, of a squad full of international superstars, able to defeat any side on the face of the earth.

Robinho seems to be the first of many. Maybe in January or next season at the latest, we might see Man City with the likes of Torres, Ronaldo, and Villa, who knows? 

If football was a science, we just had to put the best players in the world on the same team that results would come. After all, if they were the best...

The problem is, football is not a science and I can think of at least three reasons to actually think that many famous players don't produce a great team.

The Galacticos legacy. It was probably the most ambitious attempt in the history of football to bring together a team full of superstars.

When Florentino Pérez won the elections at Real Madrid and became president of the club, he initiated the Zidanes y Pavones policy in which the team should, from then on, be composed of great international stars (the Zidanes), with the addition of home-grown talent (the Pavones).

On paper this looked a great idea, as it would simultaneously bring famous players to Madrid while at same time continuing to produce world-class local players. The first one to arrive was Figo, followed by Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham, and Michael Owen, among others.

It all went well at the beginning, with a limited number of galacticos (Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo) and a local manager, Vicente Del Bosque, which was able to balance the stars with the rest of the squad.

After 2003, though it all went wrong, with the increasing number of Zidanes and a decreasing number of Pavones. By 2006, Pérez would resign after failing to materialise the financial success of such policy into concrete results. 

Football is a hierarchical team game. For all the Maradonas, Pelés, and Zidanes of this world, you will always need a team that is good enough to support the individual efforts.

Football teams are divided between those that work and those that entertain and score. Stars might do some of the working too, but that's not what they're really paid for. They are there to shine, but if everybody else is there for the same reason, nobody will shine, and nobody will do the 'dirty' work either. A lose-lose situation that you can usually confirm by the score at the end.

Football is not a fair game. In rugby, cricket, basketball, American football, and many other sports, you usually translate your higher quality into points and wins. Not in football.

A good defensive system can guarantee a draw, even if your striker has only one leg. A team can have ball possession for 80% of the time during a match, just concede one shot and still lose 1-0. It is quite common for teams with much low budgets to finish in a good league position or to win a trophy against a much stronger side. 

All of this to conclude that in football there can be something as weird as situations of 'over-investment'.

There is only so much that an owner can invest in order to make the team win. The rest is up to how the players adapt to each other, how the manager handles the team, how the other teams react to your own team, and yes, it is also about luck, about that ball that hits the bar and bounces in, about the shot that is deflected and shaves the post, about the goalkeeper that has a bad day.

That is why football is the beautiful game.  

So, if I was a City fan, I would certainly be happy to see some international stars playing for the team, but hopefully not too many. 

After beating Malta 4-0, Portugal put its qualification for the next World Cup at risk by losing at home against Denmark 3-2, in what was a great football match for the neutral (and Danish) fans.

This all came after leading the score twice, squandering four open-goal chances, and conceding two of the three goals in the last five minutes of the match.

The absence of Cristiano Ronaldo is not really a justification for the defeat, as Portugal didn't lose for a lack quality amongst its ranks. The same can't be said about the choice for the new national coach, Carlos Queiroz. 

Wednesday's defeat was Portugal's first home defeat in a qualifying match in 15 years, and in 1993 the national coach was... Carlos Queiroz. 

Carlos Queiroz became known to the Portuguese after leading the Under-21 national side to two consecutive World Cup titles, in 1989 and 1991. It was the beginning of the Golden Generation, with the likes of João Pinto, Rui Costa, Luís Figo, Fernando Couto, Vitor Baía and Paulo Sousa showing their talent to world for the first time.

Queiroz was then upgraded to the senior team in order to lead the talents that he had "created" to the World Cup. He failed miserably after draws against Scotland, Norway, and Switzerland and two defeats against Italy.

Portugal wouldn't go to the US and Queiroz moved on, finding a new job at Sporting, where he had a very talented side waiting for him. With players such as Figo, Paulo Sousa, and Balakov, Sporting had all the odds in its favour to win the Portuguese title. Again, Queiroz failed, only managing to win a Portuguese Cup, the following year. 

After short spells in the US, Japan, UAE, and South Africa (where he managed to lose against Lesotho), he finally arrived in 2002 at Manchester United as an assistant coach, helping the Red Devils claiming the Premier League title.

In 2003 Real Madrid called and Queiroz accepted the challenge. With only a Supercup to show, despite having a team full of stars, he would be sacked in 2004, and returned to Manchester.

Since then he stayed in Manchester, helping the Red Devils to win several titles, including last year's Premier League and Champions League. Until this July. After Luiz Felipe Scolari's departure, the Portuguese FA board saw Queiroz as the right man for the job, and Queiroz couldn't say no.

His understanding of the basics of the game and his capacity to structure and organise youth development programmes are among the best in the world. The fact that Alex Ferguson didn't want to let him go shows how important he was for Manchester United.

The same can't be said of his coaching record. As a manager he has a very poor record indeed, failing to win when presented with great squads to coach. He doesn't have the communication skills an international manager needs to have in order to deal with the press, and his teams, despite playing attractive football, clearly miss in terms of effort, dedication and concentration.

Which leads us to conclusion that he doesn't have the capacity to build a winning mentality in his teams.

Managing a national side, particularly one with the responsibility to win, where players are only together for less than a week every two months or so, is not so much about adopting the right practice methods or even tactics, but about making the players focus, and give everything they have for their national side.

This is the case even if some of them are playing together for the first time, or others are told by their clubs to be careful with injuries.

It is not a job for any manager; it is not a job for Carlos Queiroz.   

Chelsea’s gain in recruiting Luiz Felipe Scolari as their new manager has spelt pain for Manchester United—at least in the short term.  

Carlos Queiroz’s departure from United to take over from Scolari as Portugal coach means that Chelsea have inadvertently inflicted an early blow on their Old Trafford rivals ahead of the new season.  

Besides acquiring a World Cup-winning coach in Scolari, they also set in motion a chain of events which has cost Sir Alex Ferguson his trusted right-hand man.  

Queiroz played a vital role as Ferguson’s number two, overseeing much of the squad’s work on the training ground and playing an influential role in the team’s tactical development from a traditional 4-4-2 formation to a more flexible approach.  

Ferguson once said to reporters that Queiroz had helped to “widen our horizons” and the fact the Scot welcomed him back with open arms in 2004, 12 months after his defection to Real Madrid, underlines how much the manager valued him.   

The 55-year-old’s contacts book also helped United acquire young Portuguese-speaking talents like Nani, Anderson and Manucho, and his departure will do little to help the club’s prospects of holding on to Cristiano Ronaldo.  

Queiroz is known to be close to Ronaldo and helped to persuade him to stay in Manchester after the fall-out from England’s 2006 World Cup defeat by Portugal. Indeed, the winger has described Queiroz as a father figure.  

It is hard not to conclude that finding a replacement for Queiroz—multilingual and tactically astute—will not be easy.  

That is the task facing Ferguson as he begins the search for the sixth assistant of his long reign—a decision he may well need to get right if United are to keep Scolari’s Chelsea in their slipstream in the season ahead.

Well, that didn't go so well, now did it? After managing to pick five or the eight quarter finalists in my group stages predictions, I immediately went back to work and put up a goose egg in the quarter finals.

That's right, none of my picks worked out the way I saw. Germany kicked over Portugal's sandcastle, the Turks' miracle run continued, Russia shocked the footballing world, and today Spain got the monkey of penalties off their collective backs.

So where does that leave us? With a very interesting set of semi finals, that's where.

Germany, who looked sharp against Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. are playing very well at the moment, but Turkey is looking like the team of destiny. And Russia looks to continue their surprising run and avenge a loss in group play to the Spaniards, who for their part are trying to shake their reputations of international choke artists.

In Wednesday's match, I think Turkey will take the game against the Deustchlanders. Germany looked really crisp against Portugal, and I wouldn't be shocked at all if they won, but if we learned anything from Greece in 2004 it's that picking against an apparent team of destiny is playing with fire.

Turkey has had so many improbably comebacks this tournament already, been left for dead on so many occasions, and yet here they are—move over and make a spot for me on their bandwagon.

For the second game, I'm going to take the Spanish. Spain is simply too loaded offensively to be held scoreless again—the clean sheet the Italians posted against them was primarily due to poor finishing and a few lucky breaks—and I don't think Russia has the firepower to keep up.

They could load up the back and try and hit on the counterattack, but with the likes of Puyol and Sergio Ramos in the back for the Spaniards I think Russia would be lucky to break through.

Guus Hiddink's men will put up a valiant resistance, but all for naught in the end. So although it might still be folly to pick the Spanish, given their previous reputation, I'm damning the torpedoes and going for it.

Its no secret that the Portuguese lack in the department of strikers.

Since the departure of the wonderful Pauleta, the Portuguese soft spot has been left exposed once again. Since the days of Luis Figo and Rui Costa, the Portuguese have depended on their midfielders to come up with the goals.

The last great striker to have come out of Portugal was Eusebio. And that was in 1960s. Since then the team has depended on below-par strikers to score goals.

Last night's match clearly showed that the Portuguese strikers were just not good enough. A lot of headers were missed and lot of good balls were of no use. Nuno Gomes did score a good goal, albeit with a huge deflection.

But the likes of Gomes and Postiga have never looked classy enough to match the likes of Miroslav Klose, Ruud van Nistelrooy or Alessandro Del Piero.

The team tends to miss a world class striker and their dependance on their midfielders tends to let them down.

In the match against the Germans, their dependence on Cristiano Ronaldo and Deco proved to be decisive, as the Germans effectively kept both at a safe distance from goal.

They severely missed a goal scorer like Pauleta. This is one department that the Portuguese U-19 coach must work upon. He must train and breed strikers from a very young age so that they can be useful to the senior squad at an older age.

Carlos Queiroz is largely credited with bringing up talents such as Figo when he was still playing for the Portuguese youth team. He is identified as the man who brought upon the Portuguese "golden generation".

Someone form the Portuguese FA must take a leaf out of his book and start searching for young striking talent, or else all these brilliant midfielders will be wasted without a good striker to complement them.

The only upcoming star in the striking department for Portugal has been Hugo Almeida. But he too has looked like a very amateurish player and nowhere close to the class of Pauleta.

This striker drought of the Portuguese makes them a very easy team to beat, even though they might have the best midfielders in the world.

If Portuguese football wishes to win trophies in the future they must find a striker who can score goals. Or else another generation of talented footballers will go trophy-less.

As much as I hate to admit it, Cristiano Ronaldo is a pretty good player.  He's done very well for himself at age 23, with a few Premier League championships, a Champions League title, and a few other cups.

However, the one thing he's never done is win a major tournament with the Portuguese national team, the best result being a runner's-up medal in Euro 2004.

So the stage was set for Portugal this year.  CR was at the top of his game and the rest of the squad had big years, especially the Chelsea contingent and Pepe with Real Madrid.

They romped through their first two group games before resting nine starters for the loss against Switzerland.  While Germany clearly would not have been their first choice in opponents, you play the cards you're dealt.

However, the German squad was in perfect harmony today, defeating the Portuguese 3-2.  The German goals were all quality strikes, although Ballack's winner wasn't without dispute due to his push off Ferreira.

The first Portuguese goal was opportunistic, led by a great run by CR and finished by Gomes.  The second, scored by Postiga, was made possible by the hard running of Nani, another one of my targets for disdain.

The thing that struck me about the game was that Ronaldo seemed absent for large parts of it.  Sure, he had the run that led to the first goal, but his usual great service was missing, and his set pieces were appalling.

After Gomes came out and handed CR the captain's armband, he seemed to just fade into the field, with no good chances and a lack of all those things that make him so popular with Manchester fans.

So, what now?  For his legacy to be cemented as an all-time great, I'd argue that CR has to lead his country to at least one title.  They've come close, but second place never made a legend.  Would Gerd Muller be as big a German hero if they had never won a tournament?  Doubt it.

Also, will he move to Real Madrid?  Seems to me that the only person who actually knows is CR.  The offseason will be an interesting one.

Luiz Scolari knows what it feels like to be a winner, but it has been a long time since he last had the opportunity to hold a major international trophy over his head.  In fact, that was way back at the 2002 World Cup when he was coaching Brazil.

Now he is hopeful that his Portuguese squad can give him another crack at the big time, after they came devastatingly close to making the World Cup final in 2006.

Ironically, the team they must beat to have a chance is none other than Germany, who rubbed salt into Portugal's wounds by beating them for third place at the World Cup.

Scolari believes that the answer may lie in shutting down the Germans' not-so-secret weapon, Michael Ballack.  "He is one of the great players of the tournament," Scolari said.  "He deserves special attention."

Germany is a very high class team.  They possess outstanding technical skills, and when they are at the top of their game, they can really be a devastating force.

But in favor of Portugal, the Germans are not showing their usual form in this year's Euro competition.  They started with an uninspired win against Poland, were soundly defeated by Croatia, then only just scraped home against the much weaker Austrian team, and that was due to a free kick!

Clearly then, unless the Germans can turn their game around, there may not be much hope for them to serve up a repeat of the World Cup consolation final.

Portugal, on the other hand, has been playing exceptionally well.  They easily defeated Turkey and the Czech Republic, and then rested key players when going under to Switzerland by 2-0. 

That decision to rest players could be crucial to tonight's result, as Germany were not afforded a similar opportunity.

If there is one fault in Scolari's logic, it may be in putting all his eggs in one basket.  Ballack is not the only threat to his side, and players such as Podolski, Klose, and Schweinsteiger can certainly cause him grief, if they are given too much freedom.

The result is far from certain, either way.  But of one thing we can be sure: we are in for a spectacle!

What to look for: The German team has a clear height advantage. They will be trying to get the ball in the air to make use of that advantage.

Who's hot: Cristiano Ronaldo has been on fire, and that's about as hot as you can get.  Having been able to take it easy last week, he'll be tough to beat in today's game.

Who's not: Astoundingly, I will have to say Michael Ballack.  His successful free kick may have saved Germany's hopes for one more round, but he has yet to show his real form.  Many of his shots have been too rushed, and he's making mistakes.  He needs to slow it down a bit and think before putting toe to ball.

What will probably happen: Portugal has fresh legs, and they will most likely put pressure on the German defense early, in hopes of grinding them down.  Scolari may then use strategic substitutions to press home that advantage late in the game when the Germans are getting tired.

Lest we forget: Miroslav Klose was a major force during the World Cup. If Portugal focuses too much attention on Ballack, it could backfire on them badly.

Sucks to be them: Germany not only has to contend with backing up from a tough game to face a relatively fresh opponent, they will also have to do without assistance from their coach, who is serving a ban for losing his cool during the game against Austria.

I got this idea from the Sunday Tribune section, which once a month publishes the big games scores via the PS3. So here's my take on Euro 2008 via my PS3.

Welcome to my living room, where the scene is set for the Opening Ceremony of Euro 2008. The Doritos packets are scattered over the floor and two litre bottles of water are within arm's reach.

A few words from Martin Tyler and Andy Gray about the history of this tournament. The history of the hosts? Wrong.

In my eyes, it's being played in Ireland, in my living room on my television. Sorry Austria/Switzerland.

Round 1 from Group A

Switzerland v Czech Republic

The should-be hosts kick us off and the game slips into a cagey affair with very few mistakes. Frei and Baros go close for both sides and just before the whistle, Frei slips Yakin through and he clips the ball past Cech. 1-0

The second half sees the Czech's return more determined than the previous 45 minutes. Baros, Koller, and Rozenhal all go close, with the former striking the post. Within minutes of Rozenhal's miss, the giant Koller is tugged down inside the area and Baros converts on 67 minutes. 1-1

The Czech's are barely done celebrating as Yakin retrieves the ball on 70 minutes and launches it to Frei. His knockdown reaches Gelson Fernandez who lashes the loose ball past Cech. 2-1

The Swiss sit back and invite Czech pressure, but the hosts are in no mood to concede again and see out the remaining time to win the first Euro 2008 match 2-1.

Portugal v Turkey

Neither of these sides would accept a loss as tough assignments await, but it is the Turks who start the brighter, nullifying the threat of Ronaldo. The first chance, however, falls to Deco, who breaks from deep and fails to hit the target.

The game hinges when Quaresma cuts in from the left and is taken down by Emre Gungor. The ref automatically gives a penalty, but Turkey are furious with the decision. Who else steps up but Ronaldo; he duly obliges and hits it straight down the middle. 1-0

Turkey's bright start has been undone and they don't look like coming back into this game as the midfield triumvirate of Deco, Quaresma, and Ronaldo begin to pull the strings. Portugal score again, this time from Carvalho, who heads home a certain CR7's corner kick on 67 minutes. 2-0

Just as Turkey begin to show some attacking threat, Deco robs possession and feeds Simao, who beats two Turkish defenders and smashes the ball home. The last kick of the game, so it finishes 3-0.

Final Scores

Switzerland 2-1 Czech Republic

Portugal 3-0 Turkey

Join me tomorrow as Group B kicks off with Germany, Croatia, Poland, and Austria all in action.

We have reached the end of the first day of Euro 2008. I must say it wasn't a start i shall remember. But it is a start and a good one for Portugal and Czech Republic.

The first game was Switzerland vs. Czech Republic

After a boring first half, Switzerland's main man was injured after a crunching tackle. The football started to pick up. With more of a battle between the two teams it looked like 0-0 draw. This was until the 71st minute when Switzerland's opening day party was crushed by Czech substitute Václav Svěrkoš. Switzerland nearly saved it from a powerful shot off the underside of the crossbar from Jonathon Vonthalen.

Switzerland
1	Diego Benaglio
3	Ludovic Magnin
4	Philippe Senderos
5	Stephan Lichtsteiner
8	Gökhan Inler
9	Alexander Frei
11	Marco Streller
15	Gelson Fernandes
16	Tranquillo Barnetta
19	Valon Behrami
20	Patrick Müller

 

Czech Republic
1	Petr Čech
2	Zdeněk Grygera
3	Jan Polák
4	Tomáš Galásek
6	Marek Jankulovski
7	Libor Sionko
9	Jan Koller
14	David Jarolím
20	Jaroslav Plašil
21	Tomáš Ujfaluši
22	David Rozehnal

The second game saw Turkey take on Portugal. This game also picked up in the second half with a much more of a midfield battle. Turkey did put up a fight but Portugal were too strong and won the game by two goals by Pepe and a late goal by Raul Meireles. Portugal have shown they are in form and have put out a powerful statement to the rest of the teams in Euro 2008.

 

Portugal
1	Ricardo
2	Paulo Ferreira
4	Bosingwa
7	Cristiano Ronaldo
8	Petit
10	João Moutinho
11	Simão
15	Pepe
16	Ricardo Carvalho
20	Deco
21	Nuno Gomes

Turkey
23	Volkan Demirel
2	Servet Çetin
3	Hakan Balta
4	Gökhan Zan
5	Emre Belözoğlu
7	Mehmet Aurélio
8	Nihat Kahveci
17	Tuncay Şanlı
18	Kazım Kazım
21	Mevlüt Erdinç
22	Hamit Altıntop