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| Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:55 |
Portugal v Denmark player ratingsPepe didn’t deserve to suffer so much Silvestre Varela’s late goal keeps Portugal very much alive and kicking at Euro 2012. But how did the players turn what looked like a routine victory into an excruciatingly nervous afternoon for millions of Portuguese fans at home, in Ukraine and all around the world? Tom Kundert gives his ratings for the Portugal XI.
Rui PatrícioThis has been a thankless tournament so far for Rui Patrício. Very little work in 180 minutes up to now, but three goals conceded. No chance with the first goal, on the second Bendtner’s header was powerful and from close in but perhaps could have got a stronger hand on it to keep it out. Dealt with crosses well, making a couple of vital clearances.
PortuGOAL rating: 5/10 João PereiraStarted confidently both at the back and when venturing forward. However, he was caught out dawdling for Denmark’s first goal as he completely lost Krohn-Dehli. The weakest link in the Portugal defence.
PortuGOAL rating: 4/10 PepeThe only Portugal player, along with Nani, who looked completely on top of his game. Excellent header to open the scoring but it was at the back where he truly shined. Time and time again he was in the right place at the right time to make vital interceptions, all but once, when his only mistake was punished by Bendtner. Also the first to step up and drive Portugal forward when all seemed lost at 2-2. A Lion in a Selecção shirt.
PortuGOAL rating: 7/10 Bruno AlvesA rugged performance from Alves, who gave as good as he got then some against the physically imposing Danes. Did not compromise at the back. His distribution was generally poor, and abused the long ball (although he may have been following instructions).
PortuGOAL rating: 5/10 Fábio CoentrãoAnother fine performance from the Real Madrid man, albeit not reaching the heights of his brilliant display against Germany. Found it hard to contain the Danish attacks on his side in the second half, although he can rightly complain about no tracking back to help out from Ronaldo.
PortuGOAL rating: 6/10 Miguel VelosoVery composed on the ball, Veloso is doing his reputation no harm at all in this tournament. Was the instigator of most of Portugal’s attacks in the first half especially, and kept a calm head when others around him were losing theirs. However, tired badly in the last twenty-five minutes and was unable to hold back the Danish waves of attack.
PortuGOAL rating: 5/10 João MoutinhoBuzzed around as usual, making good interceptions and setting Portugal’s forward movements in motion with simple passes. Curiously played far better in the second half, when the Selecção struggled for long periods. Consistent display but not quite at the top of his game.
PortuGOAL rating: 6/10 Raul MeirelesLike Moutinho, Meireles is a player whose work rate can never be faulted. Nevertheless, his stop-start seasons and his constant swapping of positions at Liverpool and Chelsea seem to have taken away a degree of discernment when it comes to his speed of thought and execution. His two games in Ukraine so far not two of his best in a Portugal shirt.
PortuGOAL rating: 5/10 RonaldoBack to the bad old days with Ronaldo as regards his performances for his country. Never appeared happy, complained at all and sundry around him. Most alarming of all, the Portugal captain seemed lacking in confidence - something most people thought Ronaldo was immune to. Two clear-cut chances spurned, the second a quite appalling miss. Provided two lovely assists for Postiga in the first half. But Postiga is not Benzema.
PortuGOAL rating: 4/10 Hélder PostigaA typical Postiga performance. Ran his heart out and scored a fine goal, but with a little more composure and speed he could have tested Denmark goalkeeper Andersen far more. Rarely looked like getting past the last man or getting a shot off when given the opportunity and frustratingly found it difficult to keep his footing.
PortuGOAL rating: 5/10 NaniPushed Pepe hard for man of the match. Constantly had the beating of his marker, some wonderfully incisive passing always looked Portugal’s most likely source of a goal. Killer passes to set up Postiga’s goal and what should have been the game-settling goal for Ronaldo.
PortuGOAL rating: 7/10 SubstitutesNélson OliveiraAgain a highly positive contribution from the Benfica youngster. Asked far more questions of the Denmark back line than Postiga, and was a whisker away from combining with Ronaldo to unlock the Danish defence on several occasions.
PortuGOAL rating: 5/10 Silvestre VarelaWho would have thought the FC Porto winger would be such a vital player for Portugal? Varela was a little unlucky his missed chance masked an otherwise excellent contribution as a late substitute against Germany, and again today he looked lively as soon as he came on. This time he didn’t waste his chance, albeit at the second attempt, scoring the goal that keeps Portugal alive in the tournament.
PortuGOAL rating: 6/10 RolandoBrought on to help shore up the defence. Fortunately not tested.
by Tom Kundert |
Yes Postiga did get a goal but other than that 1 play he was terrible and what has Meireles done in either game? Nothing!
Maybe its just me but I think if Patricio is more aggressive and goes after the ball the cross never happens for the 2nd goal. I think he was at fault for that goal.
I hope every player mentioned here has a better game against the Netherlands!
Forca Portugal!!
Viva Ronaldo
Running down the wing
Hear Portugal (United) sing Viva Ronaldo
He heard this many times while at UNITED imagine if he heard it coming from the Portuguese fans. I think it would motivate him greatly. Point is what ever you do support him and the NT Whistling, booing etc. doesnt help
However, those of you calling for him to not start for Portugal must be joking. He has done so much for the national team, including carrying the team into the Euro Cup by being a real leader against Bosnia in the qualification playoff. In the game against Germany, even though he didn't score, he was still one of our best players.
The important thing is that we won the match. No player can be perfect all the time and I'm sure Ronaldo will be back stronger in the match.
A positive thing to take away from the game yesterday is that the rest of the team was able to win without needing Ronaldo to do it for them. Many pundits completely wrote off Portugal's chances of advancing because of the supposedly "inferior supporting cast." They were proved wrong yesterday.
We need to support Ronaldo. He's played well for us in the past, i.e. under Bento in qualifying and against Germany and he will play well for us again. Force Portugal.
the reason is the external influences in football that are financial. he is now a worldwide marketing phenomenon - in this regard bento and the pfa (guessing at the accronyn) are merely puppets in the marketing machine of the cr7 institutions - even if bento wanted to bench cr7 (and the pfa was supportive) they would not be able to because they cannot bite the hands that feed them - i.e. corporate sponsors who enjoy the support of the people that like cr7 want to see him play. cr7 has i believe more fans on facebook than any other athlete in the world...the corp sponsors dont want this and therefore would never let it happen.
case in point - in 96 WC final when Brazil's coach benched Ronaldo the night before because of a medical issue - he was reinstated 45mins before kickoff - why? because nike intervened as the owner of ronaldo's rights and insisted (using a gentle term).
some might say the torres example is a counter argument but he is not on the same level in terms of worlwide fame.
i am not for benching him - as someone who believes in the law of averages his dry spell just means more goals per game coming...i suspect when we ultimately need him most he will pull thru...its seems like all that is missing is more of a winning mentality - that means winning ugly...seems like the team gets down on itself when playing badly. you cant play well all the time...what matters is pulling thru
Forca portugallo,
Meireles was poor.
Moutinho and Veloso looked ok, but could should do more? Harsh?
Both Pereira and Coentrao were beaten too often, which is a scary outlook with the Dutch coming up next.
Pepe did misjudge another cross.
I also thought that Patricio could have done better with the first goal. Once he went out that far, he needed to keep going and punch it out. Granted maybe he shouldn't have been that far over to begin with.
Varela came through and scored. But people need to realize that what you do in a couple of minutes doesn't always translate to performance for the whole match.
Also, he shot poorly in his attempt verse Germany and he actually whiffed on his first attempt verse Denmark. Thank God he was able to recover and get a second shot off that went in. If he didn't we would be killing him.
Nani played well.
As for Cristiano, people need to realize what he brings without even touching the ball. Him not tracking back has to fall on Bento. I'm sorry, but if we don't get Cristiano the ball, whether he scores or not, we will lose.
Also wanted to mention that we are clear on yellows. Everyone is available and all yellows will be erased before the quarters. The Dutch will also have everyone available.
In he other match, the Germans will be without Boateng.
God!!!! we won, 3 points in the bag so why care about Ronaldo's miss??? Let's wait for the Holland game cause that's the only thing we really need to do.
Ronaldo just needs to come to terms with us not being Real Madrid and become more of a dedicated team player. He's not going to be spoiled with chances like he always is in Real Madrid. I just think he expects too much offensively from our team, he needs to clean up his selfish attitude. I love the guy, he's obviously one of the most gifted players this game has ever seen, but the one area of downfall in his game is to track back and play defense consistently instead of pouting up front.
Rolando and the ones who back him that he does not get the ball enough should shut their mouths up. He is no Football God. Problem is that he knows he is in the Portugal squad no matter what he speaks against his Team or Coach.
It is true that at Real he plays great and runs riot against small teams ie Gijon, Santander, Granada. He also is aware if he displayed the same horrible attitude in Real than our friend Mourinho or Florentino Perez would bench him just like Torres, Bollatelli and Tavez are treated irrespective of the millions they spend on them.
CR missed 4 easy deliveries given yesterday, the last one was pathetic. If at all against the Dutch Portugal gets awarded a penalty I hope its someone else who takes the spot kick. Rolando has already missed 3 lately. I guess world class defenders and goalkeepers are finally learning the art how to tackle him
He will not waste every match! Stand behind your captain, behind the best player in the world, he'll answer all these critics in the pitch as he used to do!
Forca Portugal!
The midfield looks solid except for Merieles. Moutinho and Veloso are doing great but Merieles seems to be the weak link. I don't really want to mess with the team unless there's an injury or suspension so he needs to improve for the Holland game.
The forwards. Where to start, we can go positive and how Nani and Postiga played great or we can talk about how although Ronaldo didn't have a bad game, he still missed 2 great oppertunities. Nani was fantastic on the attack as well as tracking back. He played fantastic crosses and was a real threat on the wing. Postiga earned his spot in the line-up for another match. Ronaldo, play better defensively and convert those easy chances and we have a side that can win the EURO
Robben is confident of a Holland win but Portugal will not back down and will be ready for the test. Holland have a terrible defense especially on the wings where Nani and Ronaldo will have a ball on the flanks with Coentrao and Pereira accompanying them. If Veloso can shut down Sneijder, the defense play a good game at least, if Portugal can finish then Portugal will win.
another alternative veloso is just to well in his place right now but i dont bother if he plays in Meireles place and custodio go in for his place cause he passes more than meireles and is shooting is more accurate than Meireles own.
The problem is not Ronaldo if the National team should not make it out of the group or lose in the quarter-finals. Our down fall will be our tactics. I have been watching the National team since 1992 and i cant recall ever watching a portuguese team play the long ball. We are a possesion team that likes to bring the ball forward. That has not happened in this tournament and is the main reason why we lost at the last world cup. Lets start playing portuguese futebol and play an agrresive attacking style of soccer that I am acustomed of watching. If the team plays this way, it gives Ronaldo and Nani the oppurtunity to be succesfull. Another thing that needs to happen is replace Periera with Lopes. Perieira is too short to be playing right back. Lets support the team and appreciate the talent that is Ronaldo.
I appreciate the tough criticism. I think for the most part you are right on all these ratings. I have been beyond impressed with the play of Pepe and Coentrao. I feel Veloso has actually lived up to the name that his father's legacy has left.
I must agree, the most concerning thing is the lack of finishing from Cristiano, but more so the lack of confidence in his attempts at goal. I think he actuallly, aside from the lack of finishing, he played really well. He was all over the field. We can think of it as a concern or we can think, that its not his nature to be down in this many games. Get that one goal and I feel the it will take a snow ball affect.
One other point, is on the coach. Paulo Bento is very much a stubborn manager, but he believes in his way and its about time we get on board. Whether we agree with his choices or not, he believes it. I think he loves this team and his passion seems contagious.
Forca Portugal! one game at a time. VAMOS!
We play better without Ronaldo. pretty simple. the man has CF written all over it, when he plays at the wings, he continues to get triple teamed. Varela saved his job. Btw, Nelo/Varela came in and the attack was much more fluid. Having Nani/Ronaldo is a scary team.
I won't even blame the 2 misses by Ronaldo (poor as they were, he just doesn't do it for the Seleccao like he does it at club level does he?). More important, i felt, was the slack and lethargic performance for most of the second half. For 30 minutes of the second half we were playing like a team that was leading 2 or 3 zero and had the match in the bag. We should've been looking to kill off the match a lot more than we did. 2-1 was always dangerous and when Denmark capitalised on this slackness and equalised, i feared the worst. Our midfield in that second half was average at best and is the worse midfield we've had in over 20 years now. Denmark had more possesion, that says it all really. We really lack a true number 10!!
Sounds like I'm being harsh, but there were positives of course! Again the resilience to go and score again after they equalised was impressive and that fighting spirit may yet take us far in this tournament. We only started playing in that second half once the Danes equalised (shades of the first match with Germany)...and this is something Bento has to work on, we have to PLAY for the whole 90 minutes.
Varela was great and has done more in his 2 cameo appearances than any of the other forwards. I've always said I'd like to see us try him out at centre-forward as he's got a certain directness that the others lack. A rotating front-3 of him, CR7 and Nani would have frightening pace for any defence to cope with. It will be interesting to see what Bento goes for up front against the Dutch!
As for the final decider, as a fellow poster has demonstrated with all the statistics...it's all on a knife edge and anything could happen really. What we have to do is go for the win against the Dutch, we can't be hoping a draw will be good enough (a Danish win would knock us out if we drew)...so we gotta go for goals against that weak Dutch defence. 3 points will guarantee qualification, so there's no point having any other objective for the match. Also I don't think the Germans will rest players against the Danes...they are not mathematically through yet and the Germans will always want to win the group, so i expect them to go all out for the win in their final match and this would clearly be to our benefit. All to play for!! I am confident we can qualify, but there are some clear flaws that Bento and the squad have to address first....we can do it for sure...FORCA SEMPRE!!!
With Ozil's spectacular movement, it's impossible to keep him completely quiet, but Veloso still managed to prevent him from being anywhere near his best. Also, today he did a fantastic job shutting Eriksen down. He is definitely Denmark's most talented player, but he didn't really do anything all game. Credit must go to Veloso for marking him out of the game.
He will get another tough task on Sunday, as he will be playing Wesley Sneijder, so hopefully he'll continue his fine form!
Varela obviously a key sub, and sticking with Postiga to start paid dividends. The team may have suffered a mid-match collapse, but you have to fault the players more than anything.
Ronaldo is frustrated (rightfully in my opinion) because he is not getting the ball 1) enough and 2) where he wants it. He is completely justified wanting the ball on his feet more. He is not justified in reacting because Portugal's players have less talent or are not as in sync as his Real Madrid teammates. He took a bad penalty kick and blew a clear opportunity on goal.... it happens.
(I agree a #5 rating is low for players who played better than average)
PORTUGAL WIN
- And Germany either win or draw against Denmark, we progress as 2nd placed
- And Germany loses (1-0, 2-1 or with greater difference than 1), there will be 3 teams with 6 points, AND we progress no matter what (either the goal difference or the UEFA coefficient will save us)
- And Germany loses (3-2) the goal difference of ALL matches will be take into account (the matches with the Dutch)
- And Germany loses (4-3, 5-4, 6-5, etc...) we will be eliminated, no matter what...
IF PORTUGAL DRAW
- We progress if Denmark is defeated
- We progress if Denmark draw with Germany, and we have better goal difference
- We will be eliminated if Denmark will win
IF PORTUGAL LOSE
- We will be eliminated if Denmark draw or win
- We progress if Denmark draw and we will have the best goal difference among the three 3-point teams in their respective matches (matches against germany will not count in this case, which is good for us)
I have to say i have a little fear that the Germany - Denmark match will end 4-3
Thank God we have Varela. What a strike!!! He definitely made up for his poor effort against the Germans.
I think that this game proved that Portugal is more than just Ronaldo. This was the worst I have ever seen Ronaldo play for Portugal. In other poor performances, he saw very little of the ball, but today he had 2 glorious chances to score and he choked under the pressure. His second chance was an absolute disaster. If he were playing for Real Madrid he would have waltzed around the keeper and finished the shot with his left.
Ronaldo also offered almost no defensive support at all. The Danish clearly noticed this and they doubled up on Coentrao every chance they got.
In my opinion, Nani, Pepe, and Moutinho were our best players today. Coentrao played a part in our last 2 goals, but defensively, he was overrun by Rommedahl and Jacobsen.
Postiga scored a great goal, but overall, he was disappointing. Nelson Oliveira did a great job holding the ball, and his pace gave the Danish defense plenty to worry about.
Also, congrats to Varela for the massive, clutch goal.
Meireles and Ronaldo were definitely Portugal's worst players. Raul, as always, ran his socks off, but his passing was, again, too sloppy. Manuel Fernandes would have been a much better option, but it's too late for that...
In the end, we fought hard and got the result. Even though Germany will likely rest their starters, they've got more than enough quality on their bench to destroy denmark (Klose, Reus, Gotze, Kroos...)
The Dutch will have to beat us by 2 goals, and I just don't see that happening. They have an absolutely horrific defense, so we should have no problems getting at least a draw.
FORCA PORTUGAL!!!
FORCA VARELA!!!!!
8.07 If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the
following criteria are applied, in the order given; to determine the rankings:
a) higher number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question;
b) superior goal difference in the matches among the teams in question (if more
than two teams finish equal on points);
c) higher number of goals scored in the matches among the teams in question (if
more than two teams finish equal on points);
d) superior goal difference in all the group matches;
e) higher number of goals scored in all the group matches;
f) position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system (see Annex I,
paragraph 1.2.2);
g) fair play conduct of the teams (final tournament);
h) drawing of lots.
Portugal advance with:
-A win and a Germany win
-A tie and a Denmark tie\loss
-A 1 goal loss and a Denmark loss by 2+ goals while still scoring more goals in the groups than Netherlands
Portugal are out with:
-A Denmark win and a Portugal tie\loss
-A Denmark tie and a Portugal loss
-A loss by 2+ goals
-The last scenario is very confusing. If Denmark, Portugal and Germany all finish with 6 points and Denmark manages to score more goals than Portugal while Germany scores more goals than Portugal, Portugal are out.
EX- Portugal 2-1 Netherlands Denmark 4-3 Germany
Group Standings
1-Denmark---6 pts---+1 GD----7 goals scored
2-Germany---6 pts----+1 GD----6 goals scored
3-Portugal-----6 pts----+1 GD----5 goals scored
Portugal would be out on goals scored in this case
Basically Portugal could qualify with a win, draw, or loss depending on what happens in the other match. Obviously lets hope we win so we wont have to worry about any of this.
Patricio had no faults in the goals.
Joao Pereira was solid.
Ronaldo carried a threat.
If anything, I am never confident with Bruno Alves.
Postiga was pants!
Looks like the Germans will beat the Dutch today, but it seems like it may be possible will still not have clinched passage to the group stage. If Portugal beat Holland on Sunday and the Danes beat Germany, there will be a three way tie beat Portugal, Denmark and Germany each with 6 points.
We are still alive and should make for an incredible Father's Day!!
Typical roller coaster win, nothing is ever easy.
Head up boys, we got one more to go!!
Forca!
Would still like to see Oliveira start over Postiga. Postiga looked tired later in the game and would be better utilized as a sub. Meireles played pretty poorly in my opinion. He made some wayward passes in the middle of some promising runs forward.
If Varela keeps playing this well, Bento may have little choice but to start him. Then again, he hasn’t abandoned Postiga yet.
also Coentrao, Veloso and Nani looked sharp. Veloso should definitely sign for a bigger club.
the flops of the match are meireles, pereira and oliveira. I want custodio on the pitch for meireles on the next match. unfortunately we dont have any better option for pereira. Oliveira is a big-big disappointment. He is young, OK, he will get better, but now, he is very slow, doesnt have confidence, lack of pace and he is bad as a teamplayer (poor choices).
as of CR7. he was pretty good throughout the match, but those 2 missed chances....oh dear god...what the f*** is wrong with you?