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| Tuesday, 17 April 2012 08:20 |
Paulo Bento: “Places in the Euro 2012 squad are still open”Portugal’s official tournament kit presented At a ceremony held yesterday to present Portugal’s official Euro 2012 kit, national team coach Paulo Bento left the door open for Portuguese players hoping to be on the plane destined for the tournament in Ukraine and Poland.
“There’s one month left until the squad will be disclosed and I can’t say the list is closed. I’m going to continue doing my job, which consists of observing players. My wish is that the 23 chosen ones arrive at Euro 2012 in good shape,” said Bento.
“The list is open, as it has always been, but as I have already said, my idea is to maintain the identity of the Seleccao that has been created in this last year and a half. It makes no sense to make big changes. “What’s important is that we get together 23 players who are in good form. We want to achieve something important for the country, like at Euro 2004. This is a very important moment for the Seleccao and for Portugal.”
 The former Sporting coach ends his contract after the tournament, and whether or not he will retain his position beyond the Euro is yet to be defined. Bento himself insisted he was not thinking about the matter. “It’s not the best time to talk about contract renewal. We are two months away from the European Championships and we should focus solely on that,” said the Seleccao coach.
Benfica striker Nelson Oliveira was the player selected to model the new kit. The 20-year-old, who made his debut for the Seleccao in the February friendly against Poland and of whom big things are expected, said: “I have the ambition to be called up. I’m going to continue working hard so that I am ready if I’m selected.”
Tom Kundert
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- Are people really calling for Varela? He's been awful this season.
- Although I was very critical of Bento with the Cravalho fiasco, even if he was available you can't call him up. Carvalho hasn't played at all.
I hope that Carrico gets picked to provide a force that can play DM and CB. As far as Ricardo Quaresma, I think he has demonstrated he is not a viable option but we don't have many other options. I would like to see Varela get a chance but there are not many winger options.
The away shirt on the other hand, is fantastic. The green and red cross split diagonally across the chest looks amazing.
If it were up to me, I would have kept the red shirt with the green horizontal stripe that the team used during the last World Cup and introduced only this new away shirt. The last WC home kit was my favourite Portuguese kit of all time.
As for the squad selection, I'm not expecting any shockers from Bento. Oliveira will make it, Vaz Te will not (and that's probably for the best).
GKs: Patricio, Eduardo, Beto
Defenders: Pepe, Bruno Alves, Coentrao, Joao Pereira, Carrico, Rolando, Ricardo Costa and Silvio
Midfielders: Moutinho, Meireles, Veloso, Fernandes, Viana and Micael
Forwards: Ronaldo, Postiga, Almeida, Nani, Nelson Oliveira and Quaresma
This is my opinion would be the most balanced squad of players we have available...Comments?
He continues to call up players like Micael, Martins, Ricardo Costa, Amorim, and Rolando. He also refused to to use Danny in his favored attacking midfielder role in a 4-2-3-1.
Here are some players Bento should consider calling up.
Forwards: Nelson Oliveira, Ricardo Vaz Te
Wingers: Rudy, Vieirinha
Midfielders: Hugo Viana, Daniel Carrico (both as a defender and midfielder), Custodio, Adrien Silva, and Andre Santos.
Defenders: Paulo Jorge, Daniel Carrico, Nuno Andre Coelho, Manuel Da Costa, and Miguel Vitor.