Paul Robinson remains confident that England can win the World Cup [Archive]

adam*

1st of July 2006 (Sat), 19:59

It's quite funny how the Scot's are having a go at England and celebrating because if it was Scotland in the WC and not England then I would definately support them. Don't see the problem- I supported Ireland in '94 whilst my Grandma's home town was getting bombed by the IRA... I hope Andy Murray gets knocked out of Wimbledon now :p

As for tonights game- England were cheated out of the tournament, again. 2004: Campbell get's a perfectly good goal disallowed. 2006: Rooney unjustly gets sent off. Ronaldo manipulates the referee (this should be a bookable offence, they need to make refereeing as it is in Rugby), dives around and just acts like the total idiot that he is! Figo played even though he headbutted somebody last game (shows that the law of the game is obviously wrong).

Oh and I'm not being biased here: England were awful this World Cup but they did not deserve to be knocked out like that.

Anyway, rant over.

Buggbairn

2nd of July 2006 (Sun), 09:14

Paah !

Sour grapes :p

lakiluno

2nd of July 2006 (Sun), 13:56

I swear I posted an answer to this...

anyway - andy murray is a fool, and I have no respect for him

Acc

2nd of July 2006 (Sun), 14:44

woohoo

Ye ye ye :) :) :)

Alb

adam*

2nd of July 2006 (Sun), 19:03

Yeah, sour grapes but with good reason! After seeing it again i'm not as sure as I was before that rooney was innocent but still the referee would NOT have done anything unless Ronaldo urged the referee to, that is manipulation and needs to be outlawed in the game.

sando

2nd of July 2006 (Sun), 20:06

I hate that the rest of the, so-called, UNITED Kingdom always goes against England. FFS, if Ireland, wales OR Scotland were in, I'd watch their games and cheer them on. Im English but they're also our closest neighbours.

As for the WC... as above, IMO Rooney should have had a yellow, not a straight red. Ronaldo then went over to his manager and tipped him a wink, he meant to wind Rooney up. W**ker. (Ronaldo better go to Real or his next year at Man Utd will be hell).
We should have had 2 penalties, once for Lennon and once for the hand-ball.
Carragher was a bit silly for taking his penalty too soon, that fluffed it for his try.

All in all, we played the best we had so far. Shame we couldnt get a single goal though, if we had we would have won.

And anyone who takes the p**s can f-off. I dont think there's many people here who can say they have a team who've won the WC, and got as far as Brazil this year! :lol:

adam*

3rd of July 2006 (Mon), 05:44

I agree sando, I think Lennon's claim was actually a very very good tackle whilst the hand ball was a stonewall penalty. The refereeing at this world cup has been absolutely shocking.

Buggbairn

3rd of July 2006 (Mon), 06:15

England under achieved again, to scrape past Paraguay, T&T and chuck it away agaisnt Sweden has to be seen as not good enough.

Rooney delibarately stamped on the guys nuts which IMO should've been a straight red card, as you say the Refs have made some big mistakes and I think until he pushed Ronaldo he was on his way to just booking Rooney, again...that would've been another refereeing mistake.

Ronanldo played a big part in his eventual sending off which stinks of bad sportsmanship especially to a club team mate, his days in the premiership are most likely numbered, even the Man Utd fans want rid of him.

Can't really comment onthe penalty claims as I was on my way home from work.

And anyone who takes the p**s can f-off. I dont think there's many people here who can say they have a team who've won the WC

Sando mate 1966 was great for you guys but that was 40 years ago, this constant reminder of '66 by the media and others stinks of living of past glories. It gets quite boring after a while.

I love watching the Premiership, most exciting league in the world by far, I'm a season ticket holder with my home team Falkirk (no I don't jump on the Rangers/Celtic bandwaggon) I also follow Spurs when I can and have been to quite a few games.

Away from all this Rooney, Ronaldo, crap Ref stuff, guys like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, David Beckham simply didn't perform, it was only a matter of time before you came up against a good team and got beaten.

The manager made a big mistake with his selections which did play a big part in the teams lack of goals, bad luck with pre-world cup injuries to Owen and Rooney didn't help, these guys were simply not fit.

The press and media in England are diabolical sometimes, sure you had a great team this year but in some of their eyes the world cup was already in the bag, talk about heaping pressure on 11 young men like that, that couldn't have helped.

Your friend north of the border ;)

JMAS

3rd of July 2006 (Mon), 06:31

GO PORTUGAL!!!

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

:p

adam*

3rd of July 2006 (Mon), 09:23

I'm still not sure if it was deliberate- he wasn't looking so how did he know where he was? But then again it is the kind of thing he would do and whilst England were probably a better team than Portugal (probably the most unprofessional team of the tournament) we in no way deserve to win the World Cup. Lampard and Beckham were bad, Robinson looked shaky (although that never cost us) and Gerrard wasn't at his best (more down to tactics). The squad selection was ridiculas, with Defoe and Bent rather than Walcott/Jenas it would of been alot better and we WOULD have progressed.

Citizensmith

3rd of July 2006 (Mon), 14:02

I was just upset when my hopes for a Ghana Ukraine final were dashed. :)

Balliolman

3rd of July 2006 (Mon), 14:14

..... Good luck to the other three teams in the semi-finals!

philpereira

3rd of July 2006 (Mon), 17:33

i really think portugal has been given a bad rap as a result of that netherlands game. both sides are to blame for the mess of a game that was, although the ref was probably the most responsible for allowing the tension to escalate. they played a clean game against england, and i think the notion of a player having any sort of say in a ref's decision is somewhat ridiculous, and if a ref really did take a player's statements into consideration, well he shouldn't be officiating anymore.

adam*

3rd of July 2006 (Mon), 19:01

I think that's the problem- the referees have been terrible and it's obvious that he did take Ronaldo's gesture/comment into consideration. It's a shame because they've made this WC pretty poor.

sando

3rd of July 2006 (Mon), 19:45

Sando mate 1966 was great for you guys but that was 40 years ago, this constant reminder of '66 by the media and others stinks of living of past glories. It gets quite boring after a while.

The press and media in England are diabolical sometimes, sure you had a great team this year but in some of their eyes the world cup was already in the bag, talk about heaping pressure on 11 young men like that, that couldn't have helped.

Your friend north of the border ;) Yeah, we won the WC and true, it was 40 years ago (almost to the day....) but the fact is that England gets a bum-rap from the UK in general, if it isnt getting on our backs for having a better football team (which we all know is afcat, like it or not), it's dragging up events from 400 years ago... But that's besides the point. We do go on about '66 too much... But I'm proud of England, Im proud of the people, I'm proud of our (rapidly depelting) culture and everything that is, and was, England. If YOU won the WC... I'm sure you'd feel happy to mention it, and not appreciate people trying to say that because it's 40 years ago, it doesnt 'count' anymore. We still have a star on our shirts today.

The media in general do pi55 me off too... they're the ones responsible for geeing up the masses and building us all up to something that we may all have the wool pulled all over our eyes.

Funny that being here in Oz at this time, lets you appreciate the game for the game without having The Sun or The Mirror spouting bull all the time, along with all the other English media. What a refreshing change!

Your friend South of the Border (and equator!)

:) :) :)

I like discussions like this!

JMAS

4th of July 2006 (Tue), 12:23

...and England haven't beat Portugal for at least 42 years now...
You can check it - http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/results/resultsdetails.html

:p :p :p

FIFA ranking- http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index.html
Portugal- 7th
France - 8th
Argentina- 9th
England- 10th

Game statistics (from BBC): http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/5122648.stm
Possesion : England 49% - Portugal 51% (Eurosport says England 45% - Portugal 55%)
Shots on target: England 7 - Portugal 15
Shots off target: England 4 - Portugal 11
Corners: England 6 - Portugal 4
Fouls: England 18 - Portugal 10 :rolleyes:

This one from Eurosport is even more detailled:
http://www.eurosport.com/football/worldcup/2006/statsmatch_mtc110919.shtml

The Times
"The fact is that Rooney lost control. He lost his temper on the pitch and got sent off."

I saw the game and also all the replays on TV. Rooney applied pressure with the foot on the portuguese player who was on the ground. That's not fairplay. To say that Cristiano influenced the referee is just non-sense.

In all fairness, I must congratulate the English team for the second half of the game, where the players excelled and never allowed Portugal to profit from the advantage given by Rooney's sent off.
If Peter Crouch had played from the start, I don't know if we had got to the penalties.
But then on the penalties, Ricardo was the King:)

As for the bad rap that the portuguese team has had since the game with the Netherlands, that's the power of the press. The referee in that game was to blame mostly for both sides reactions.

Well, looking forward to a Germany vs Portugal final on Sunday! ;)

adam*

4th of July 2006 (Tue), 18:22

Diving, play-acting, influencing the referee... well I guess the continental viewpoint is that they are all part of the game. Lets remember Porto's very undeserved victory vs. Celtic in the UEFA Cup final a few years ago, all of these were evident. It's only the English players that think that you should play fairly rather than do 'everything' you can to win, and thats probably half the reason they've been so unsucessfull (86- Maradona cheated: they won, 98- simeone cheated: they won, 2004- perfectly good goal disallowed (campbell vs portugal): they won, 2006- ronaldo 'cheated': they won). Oh well I guess thats football and you need a bit of luck to win (something we havn't got!!). And I admit England did NOT deserve to win the WC.

Buggbairn

4th of July 2006 (Tue), 18:43

Totally agree about the behaviors of some of the Portugeese players, your mention of the Porto v Celtic game is a very good example of an acceptable means of creating an advantage during a game of football, in other words, Diving, play acting and general dishonesty.

I watch Serie A, La Liga it goes on all the time and it's souring football.

It's even creeping into the british game through foreign signings and easily influenced youngsters. And it stinks.

Things have to improve at the top and worked down to grass roots, if they can use video evidence to prosecute offenders then why not use it to punish cheaters, it's not rocket science, have a board of ex players, coaches and referees look over evidence and react accordingly.

Also get video cameras on the goal lines to stop Linesmen giving dodgy goal decisions

Like Pedro Mendes's goal against Man Utd :evil:

And England's 3rd in 1966 :p :p :p

JMAS

4th of July 2006 (Tue), 19:40

sando

4th of July 2006 (Tue), 19:59

Ah... the beautiful game.

it IS beautiful, isnt it! isnt it? Well, most of the time.

I LOVE football, I love everything about it. The way grown men can argue about whether a ball went over the line 40 years ago and whether someone did a bit of play-acting years later than that... Seriously, I may sound cynical but I DO love it. I love it all.

Come on, admit it, if they installed cameras on the goal line and had a 'real' 4th official that reviewed the game from afar and then radio'd into the Ref and said whether 'so-and-so' deserved a red card or not we all know that that would be the death of the beautiful game. There would be no more controversial desicions and no more worrying about whether the ball did go out of play or not and whether he was off-side or not - we all say we hate it when it happens, but then we spend weeks afterwards putting the game to rights and re-writing the rules on FIIFA's behalf!

We love it, admit it! We love it all - we love our team winning, we love our country winning, we love our country losing and we love our team losing, we love it when our opponent dives and gets a free-kick to score the match winning goal, we love it when we get a dubious penalty and we say "Yeah, course he was fouled" all the time you and I know it was a dive, we love it ALL. That's football.

rachel_ashling

4th of July 2006 (Tue), 20:45

Yeah, footie's great and all but I feel sorry for those whose lives revolve around it to the extent that they get upset and depressed when their team loses or start fights over it. That's just plain stupid and, I have to admit, English people are some of the worst for it. People tend to forget that it IS, after all, just a game. That's my two-cents-worth.

sando

4th of July 2006 (Tue), 20:57

Yes, it IS a game.... but it's a good game. :)

philpereira

4th of July 2006 (Tue), 22:40

I have to agree on everything you say about Porto.
That's why Chelsea got Mourinho, isn't it??? ;)
...and I'm a Benfica fan. :):)

Come on, it was fair and plain to see. Do not believe what the media is selling in the UK. And remember Sven is a tremendous trainner. I still hope he returns to Benfica, where he served 4 years.

I'm a Porto fan (being from the north and all), so it's clear I'm not going to get any love in this thread either way lol

I think players need to lighten up on the supposed intensity of their injuries, but it's just about everyone that is doing it nowadays, the Portuguese certainly did not invent the concept. If I were playing, I would not my best not to fall, even if the hit was legitimate. By continuing to run there may be just as much as an advantage as taking a free kick.

And I can relate to the pain of losing, I followed the Boston Red Sox, the very definition of falling short just until a couple of years ago :)

JMAS

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 03:43

I'm a Porto fan (being from the north and all), so it's clear I'm not going to get any love in this thread either way lol

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Nah, we still love you Phil! This year ;) Porto won with all justice.
BTW, did you know that Benfica's fan comunity in the North is bigger than Porto's?;) But this season Rui Costa will be back at our team!:twisted:

Yeah, footie's great and all but I feel sorry for those whose lives revolve around it to the extent that they get upset and depressed when their team loses or start fights over it. That's just plain stupid and, I have to admit, English people are some of the worst for it. People tend to forget that it IS, after all, just a game. That's my two-cents-worth.
Yes, it IS a game.... but it's a good game. :smile:

I agree with both. ...It is a great game!!!

edited:_ oh, now the final will be against Italy. ;)

sando

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 03:50

JMAS

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 03:58

adam*

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 05:27

I would be VERY surprised if Portugal win, they will get shown up by a good french side. Whist Portugal have a great midfield their attack just won't be good enough.

Rachel: Don't worry it's just friendly banter, I'm really not that bothered that England lost because most of us expected it to happen sometime... it's just a fun subject to debate about :p

Buggbairn

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 06:36

Italy Vs. France - should be fun.

No offence anyone, but I hope Portugal get thrashed, have 5 players sent off, Ronaldo has both legs broken (...and I'm a man utd fan) and Scolari has a heart attack (but does survive and recovers in hospital)

:) Have a good evening...

I wouldn't wish either of these on anyone, tut tut sando !!

After all it's just a game ;)

Although I'm a season ticket holder I don't get as animated as my friends and family during the game, sure if the Ref is having a stinker I'll let him know in my best English ;) But what happens during 90 minutes does not affect my mood afterwards, supporting my team wouild have me on Suicide watch if I let things get to me too much :lol:

In respect to Phil's suggestion that the cheating goes on everywhere I have to say that is does creep into our domestic game, the fact is though that 95% of the time it's foreign imports who are rolling around like someones hacked off their leg.

If you were to badly hurt a Scotsman, chances are he'd take a mental note of the players number and make sure he got it back twice as sore, not very friendly I know but IMO better than rolling around the grass crying like a little kid, if you can give it out you have to take it back as they say.

philpereira

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 07:36

BTW, did you know that Benfica's fan comunity in the North is bigger than Porto's?

I'm not surprised and know of Benfiquistas in my own extended family in Tras-os-Montes. Plus, my hometown here in the states has a lot of people for the Azores who support Benfica and Sporting (mainly Benfica). It'll be interesting to see what Rui Costa can do for the team.

Being here in the middle of America, I don't get too passionate about anything soccer related, mainly because there isn't much fanfare and press. Basically all I get are the games and not much subplot as to how players relate to each other in their domestic leagues. So I'm a bit oblivious to things like what Ronaldo does in England and why people don't like him (which seems to be the case across the board). The US press doesn't really delve into such matters (they suck at soccer coverage really), or if they do, I wouldn't know, since MLS is such a boring league.

tiziano

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 07:59

I dont think there's many people here who can say they have a team who've won the WC, and got as far as Brazil this year! :lol:

HEM HEM....
There is at least one... ;)

primoz

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 08:31

Gee this is fun reading :) Every single England fan blames Ronaldo for losing this game, and every single one complains how can he do that if he plays in Man. united.
So before I start... I'm really completely unbiased in this. First I really don't like football and second I couldn't care less who will win this. So let's start :p First he didn't play there for his club but for his country. Second... between race or match there's no friends, especially not from opposite team. I was in top level sport long enough, that I know this pretty good... from personal experience. You can be best friend after or before race, but between race you don't have friends. And last... Ronaldo didn't make England lose, England did it on their own. If they would play better they would win ;) And if some idiot is stupid enough that goes and smashes someone's nuts 1m infront of referee, he really doesn't deserver anything else then red one... sorry.

adam*

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 10:15

The referee was going to let the players play on, until Ronaldo started chatting to him. Hmm, sounds like more that a coincidence! Anyway, it's over now and I couldn't really care less. He cheated in the WC as he cheats in the Premier League and he's probably going to have to leave Man. United (even though Real Madrid probably don't want him lol).

JMAS

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 10:16

And last... Ronaldo didn't make England lose, England did it on their own. If they would play better they would win ;) And if some idiot is stupid enough that goes and smashes someone's nuts 1m infront of referee, he really doesn't deserver anything else then red one... sorry.

That's right!
and if someone must be blamed for our victory, here it is below:

Warning - the photo is not mine. And as it reached me through a PPS I don't know who to give credit to.

peacock

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 11:23

Gee this is fun reading :) Every single England fan blames Ronaldo for losing this game, and every single one complains how can he do that if he plays in Man. united.

Not quite right , some of us England fans are:lol: laughing at the hypocrisy of the other England fans , some of whom blame and admonish Ronaldo for "alledged" unsporting conduct , while at the same time turning a blind eye to one of their "own" stamping on a mans goolies:lol:

primoz

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 14:05

Eh... I guess it's useless but anyway. He cheated because he told referee about this and maybe, but just maybe, influenced his decission? Ok if that's cheating fine. But once again... during match there's no friends. You need to win and stuff like this is allowed. If referee let players influence his decissions, he's bad referee and shouldn't be there in first place. So even if this happend it's still referee to blame, not player... one or another.

Buggbairn

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 16:09

Dear Dear, Portugal in diving their way through world cup Semi final Shocker :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I counted at least 5 dives in that game, maybe they should spend 30 minutes after each training session practising diving as the quality of their theatrics is getting as bad as their overall play :p

Primoz I have to disagree with you on one matter my friend, the referee should be left alone to make his decisions, players should not be in his face waving as if to get players booked, I can't think of any other sport where this sort of poor sportsmanship is tolerated and I for one would like it stamped out of football, it's simply not on.

adam*

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 16:11

Portugal just got laughed at for their diving tonight, good riddance they've gone. If Scolari leaves they will fade away and not be seen at the top for quite a while.

JMAS

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 17:57

The game against France was terrible and the refferee had a clear double standard. France never made it to the goal and if it wasn't the penalty at the start, the story could be different.
But I agree we did not play enough to justify winning tonight, so I wish France a good game against Italy. I don't have a favorite there, though I'm a bit partial to Italy and specialy to the italian ladies which are incredibly beautiful. :o But wait, I digress...;)

Portugal just got laughed at for their diving tonight, good riddance they've gone. If Scolari leaves they will fade away and not be seen at the top for quite a while.
Hmmm...I see... so who will have to play for the 4th and 3rd place on Saturday???

Oh, wait! It's Portugal and Germany. I better call Scolari to wait a bit. Ahh, that's the cost of passing to the semi-finals. We loose a game and still have to endure another. Not a strait flight into oblivium :rolleyes::D;)

Just don't get your hopes up about us fading away any time soon... Scolari will stay I'm sure, but do you know who already expressed his interest in trainning our team in the future?:razz:
That's right... José Mourinho.:twisted::twisted::twisted::p:lol::lol::l ol:

Euro 2008, just arround the corner.:cool::cool::cool:

On a more serious note, I sincerely hope we are on better terms with England by then. Always had a soft spot for the English team, anyway.;)

adam*

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 18:33

Hehe, im not sure about you getting Jose that quickly- perhaps 2010 world cup. Double standards?... nope I think it was a very good show of refereeing and I'm not being biased, portugal just dived around like idiots and there was no doubt about the penalty- carvalho caught henry's foot so it had to be one (and he didn't get a card which was correct). The two semi-final ref's have been the best in the tournament. I don't really care who wins the WC, I just hope its a great game!

philpereira

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 18:34

Portugal just got laughed at for their diving tonight, good riddance they've gone. If Scolari leaves they will fade away and not be seen at the top for quite a while.

I have to disagree with that statement, Portugal has been putting together quality teams for quite some time now, at least with a lot of individual talent. They do historically fall short though. Today's game was a bit ridiculous in terms of the diving, I noticed it a lot more and I'm a bit ashamed that they were trying to press their luck. I think that reputation will hurt them down the line in games. I watched the game on a cheap broadline connection at work, but the penalty that France seemed questionable to me, but Portugal has had it both ways, so I shouldn't complain. Portugal always had problems putting the ball in the net this tournament, which is typical of them. Anyway, it was a good run, I won't complain.

sando

5th of July 2006 (Wed), 19:21

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

That's all I have to say on this matter... :)

P.S. JMAS: Loved the picture... How you like these ones?

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41852000/jpg/_41852512_peno416.jpg

My favourite:
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41852000/jpg/_41852654_ronaldotears416.jpg

And Mourinho going to Portugal? P**s off mate, you're dreaming. Surely he'd want to go to a decent country? :lol:

primoz

6th of July 2006 (Thu), 01:15

Primoz I have to disagree with you on one matter my friend, the referee should be left alone to make his decisions, players should not be in his face waving as if to get players booked, I can't think of any other sport where this sort of poor sportsmanship is tolerated and I for one would like it stamped out of football, it's simply not on. Yes I agree. Referee should be left alone, but this just doesn't happen. I spend quite some time on sidelines (yes with camera, but you still get idea about what's happening around) and I can tell you in every single team sport referees are not left alone. They should be, but they are not. In basketball and handball trainers (and rest of bench) are yelling to referees trying to influence their decission. Players on court are trying to do same thing too. So this is not something so special, but it might feel so for some of you, since this "poor sportsmanship" is suppose to made you lose (which I still don't really believe).
PS: Did every English player quietly accepted all referees decissions and never said anything back? ;) Did they never dive for nothing trying to force referee to give them free kick, penalty shoot or yellow card to opponent player? And please don't say they never do that. In every single match I saw, and with every single team I ever saw this things happen. And with football it's part of game. Personally I don't like football just because of this, since players "cry" for every single gentle touch, laying on grass for hours since "it hurts so much". Gee take a look handball (even women handball) and you get idea what hurts, not to mention ice hockey.

sando

6th of July 2006 (Thu), 01:30

You must be a big fan of football to come to that conclusion...

I agree, to a point. Football has suffered from a lot of diving and play-acting recently. It's been getting worse and I dont think anyone would say it will ever go away, that's just part of the game. But honestly, when you look at some of the mainland European national and club teams and then compared them to the English national team... You'd really see the difference. The only sad thing is that the great Premiership is suffering sue to the amount of mainland Europeans playing in our leagues.

All through this tournament, the English players have set a good example of what should and should not be done on-field. Look at the way Lennon was hacked down in the box. Did he go and cry to ref? No. Did he glance up at the ref once he'd realised he should have had a penalty? Yes... and that was as far as his reaction went. He got up, brushed himself off and carried on. Look at some English players when they were tackled... How many times did they roll over and over with a look of anguish on their faces? Zero. Then have a look at the Portugese and and the rest of the teams doing that then getting up 4 seconds later when the foul wasnt given and running on without so much as a limp. The only players for England that look hurt from a tackle is when they're actually hurt and then subsequently go off then or about 10 minutes later when the realise that the injury is impeding them.

adam*

6th of July 2006 (Thu), 05:37

primoz

6th of July 2006 (Thu), 06:02

As I said before I'm pretty unbiased when it comes to this, because I couldn't care less who would win. But when writting about such comments it might look like I'm leaning toward Portugal, even though I'm not. :)
Portugal do have some decent players but until they have a decent striker they won't win anything
It might be, but if I remember right they did beat England :p

JMAS

6th of July 2006 (Thu), 06:21

Portugal do have some decent players but until they have a decent striker they won't win anything (and a defence that can DEFEND as well as attack!)- besides carvalho. I don't have a clue how Pauleta has scored so many- it certainly wasn't in big games- was it 0 goals in Euro'04 and 1 in this WC? The good players they do have however: Ronaldo, Miguel, Maniche, Carvalho. Losing Figo will be a big loss as he was one of your players of the tournament.

I generaly agree with that, Adam, but on the attack we do have Nuno Gomes, which unfortunately was left in the bench for most of the WC, even thouh he is way better than Pauleta. Scolari can be stuburn... also Quaresma (Sporting) was left out of the WC and on the defense, we have been using a lot of Brazilian players in our League, which undermines the chances of preparing a Portuguese defense system for the National team... We basically used Porto's defense (they all played together in past).

As far as good players go, we also have Deco, but I'm afraid he wasn't himself yesterday, and that's our main problem now, how to replace Deco without Figo playing. That will be the main issue to solve, but we'll have some time for that, in the preparation of Euro 2008.

It might be, but if I remember right they did beat England :p

Ohh, you're right, Primoz! In the WC and Euro2004 ;) :D :D :D and over 40 years never losing to England.:p

adam*

6th of July 2006 (Thu), 06:49

Oh yeah I forgot Deco, your best player!

True you have beaten England, shame the last two were under such dodgy circumstances. (especially sol campbell's goal in 2004!!)

Hopefully next time England will take a good squad and have more luck with injuries: With Owen and Rooney fit (not half injured) i'm sure we would of won, but that's all if's and but's... Oh we could have brought on Darren Bent or Defoe, actually wait- Sven's an idiot!

I used to enjoy watching Nuno Gomes, I've hardly seen him play for you over the last few years though.

philpereira

6th of July 2006 (Thu), 08:02

Yeah, I wanted to see Nuno Gomes come off the bench and work some magic, he has a lot of talent being wasted on the bench. It's been clear that Pauleta isn't the answer as a forward, he has yet to perform in a major competition, while Nuno was a major contributor in the Euro 2000 campaign, which he was able to parlay into a move to Serie A. I'm have little to no understanding of the technical aspect of formations, but I'm not so sure going with a single striker was a good idea for Portugal. Granted, all the talent is in the midfield, but if they had two guys up front, maybe more chances could have been created. But like I said, I don't have the technical knowledge of the game to really critique formations and strategy.