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| Monday, 11 June 2012 14:01 |
Players reflect on Germany gameNani, Veloso & Coentrão on opening defeat and date with the Danes The Portugal squad regrouped today after Saturday’s narrow defeat to Germany, as the players reflected on their opening game defeat and looked ahead to Wednesday’s crucial clash against Denmark.
Monday’s training session back in their Polish base in Opalenica was attended by the entire squad, after Ricardo Quaresma recovered from an injury to his left leg and Hugo Almeida got over a recent bout of flu. Both players have been mentioned as part of possible changes to Portugal’s starting line-up after Hélder Postiga’s largely ineffectual display on Saturday, with other options including a full-debut for Nélson Oliveira or moving Nani into a more central position.
But the Manchester United star, while open to the idea, does not see it happening any time soon: “My natural position is as a winger and when I play there I always try to help the team. I have already played in the middle on a few occasions and I have felt comfortable. My position is out wide and I believe that I will continue there but it is up to the manager. Don’t start thinking that I am going to play in the middle.” Nani endured a frustrating time against Germany, with the closest he came to scoring being a mishit cross that bounced off of the crossbar. The defeat means that Wednesday’s game is a must-win, but the tricky winger is not expecting an easy time of it against the Danes who upset the odds against the Netherlands this weekend: “I am not going to have much space once the game begins. Denmark will be clever, they are not going to attack in a gung-ho fashion. We are going to have to create space through lots of movement in order to open up our path to goal.” Veloso and Coentrão not concerned Miguel Veloso was largely happy with the team’s performance on Saturday, and the midfield lynchpin is confident that with just a little more good fortune the Selecção could still go far:“We were unable to create clear-cut chances. Against Denmark we have to go in with the same attitude and endeavour that we showed against Germany in order to achieve our objective of winning. Luck could come into it, we created chances but the ball just didn’t want to go in. The most important thing is to continue to make our own luck and score the first goal, and after that, to keep on scoring. Once the ball goes in, it could be a turning point.”
Fábio Coentrão was probably Portugal’s stand-out player against the Germans, and the Real Madrid left-back is also confident that if his side can replicate their performance in midweek then there is no need to panic:
“When we play with confidence things are totally different. In my case, here with the national team, everybody gives me confidence. With this confidence I can continue to show everything I know about playing football. We had a very good attitude in the game against Germany and now we have to take this same attitude into Wednesday’s game in order to beat Denmark which is our only objective.”
Coentrão was one of two Portuguese players booked on Saturday along with Hélder Postiga, and the Selecção will want to ensure that they do not pick up too many more yellow cards in order to avoid suspensions later on in the tournament should they progress.
The referee that they will have to stay on the right side of on Wednesday will be Craig Thomson, a 39-year-old Scottish lawyer. It won’t be the first time that he has taken charge of a Portuguese team playing in Ukraine, having refereed Porto’s 2-0 win away to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in November. Figo still believes Denmark will certainly be no pushovers having finished above the Selecção in qualifying, but Luis Figo is still optimistic. The legendary winger, who won 127 caps for Portugal during an international career that spanned fifteen years, knows from personal experience that all is not lost after losing the opening game:“For seventy minutes we played well defensively. In terms of attack, we only played well for fifteen minutes. We were not efficient. We ended up losing a game where a draw would have been the fairest result. It is still in our hands but now there is no margin for error, and this is what must drive us on to win the next two games. Where there is life there is hope, so we have to keep on believing.”
Saturday may not have been an ideal start, but Portugal showed enough to suggest that they have what it takes to get out of their group and beyond. It all depends on Wednesday. Until then, stick with PortuGOAL for our daily updates bringing you all the latest news and discussion ahead of the big game.
by Tom Clee |
Pts:
Germany - 4
Portugal - 3
Denmark - 3
Netherlands - 1
Germany would still need a result against Denmark to secure qualification. A win would top the group.. a draw to qualify. Portugal would only need to draw the Netherlands in either scenario in order to advance because the tiebreaker is determined by head-to-head results. Portugal could even finish first with a win coupled with draw/loss for Germany.
1) Being only -1 after playing the best team in the group.
2) The Holland loss.
3) Our remaining games (having gotten Germany out of the way).
Think about what the Netherlands faces now. They have 0 pts and they are up against Germany and Portugal within 4 days. If we can manage to beat Denmark (as we should), 2nd place is ours to lose, especially considering Holland will be careless in Matchday 3 after their loss (and elimination) to Germany tomorrow.
Nothing less than 3 pts tomorrow!
Força!!!
Portuguese FA need to set up a specialised training school for strikers, it's something that is needed especially as we produce quality wingers and sort of ok level midfielders and defenders but strikers we have failed to produce.
As for Germany - Holland i believe it is in our best interest if Germany win. Although some say Germany will rest their starters in the final game with a win i think they will go for the win to secure the top spot in the group. After a uninspiring performance against Denmark i see a 3-1 win for Germany.
Portugal XI v Denmark
GK- Patricio
LB- Coentrao------CB- Alves------CB- Pepe-----RB- Joao Pereira
-------------------------------CM- Veloso
---------------------CM- Moutinho------ CM- Merieles
LW- Nani--------------ST- Postiga------------- RW- Ronaldo
--------------(Nelson Oliveira on at halftime)
Nuno Gomes, really? I love Nuno, but he sat at Braga. Please lets stop it.
I like that Nani wants to stay out wide.
I know that we looked great going forward in the last 15 minutes, but remember that the Germans were sitting back absorbing pressure to hold lead.
We should be a little freer vs the Danes since they sit and counter.
I doubt Bento will change starters. Although he did surprise me with the subs he brought on.
Let's win baby.
I would love to have this guy on the field for us, even though the wings are not exactly where we're lacking.
His mere presence lifted the teams confidence 2 notches.
Viva, Grande Figo!
Forca Portugal!!!
And now I can see Portugal Football National Team improving in performance ( Far better than their performance in World Cup 2010 and Euro 2008 ).
The Coach holds responsibility for the following mistakes:
1-Portugal have 2 tall players Pepe and the Taller player Bruno Alves . Bruno Alves should have marked Mario Gomez.
2-Helder Postiga should be out and Silvestre Varela should be in always . Enough is Enough. We do not want bad past experience when Pauleta used to monopolize the Attacker Position and Nuno Gomez the better Attacker was never given a fair chance.
3-Portugal should attack and attack .Fábio Coentrão should play as a free player in the middle-field and there should be a left back other than Fabio so that Fabio can excel in attacking.
Best Performers were :
1- .Fábio Coentrão
then
2- C.Ronaldo ( Did well for the first time for in national career ever since World Cup 2006 )
then
3-Silvestre Varela ( whom only needs some confidence and more play time)
then
4-Nani he improved by the second half.
Patricio
Fabio C. Pepe Alves J Pererria
Veloso
Mourtinho Raul Me.
Nani Ronaldo
Nelson O