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Sunday, 17 June 2012 20:54 |
Portugal 2-1 Holland: Player Ratings
Ronaldo the star as Selecção seal quarter final spot
 A brace from captain Cristiano Ronaldo was the highlight of an excellent display from Portugal, as they overcame an uninspired Netherlands to book their place in the last eight of the European Championships. Ben Shave delivers the PortuGOAL verdict on the fourteen players fielded by Paulo Bento.
Rui Patrício
Beaten at his far post for Rafael Van der Vaart’s opener, and almost beaten once again by the Dutch midfielder, but an otherwise solid outing for Portugal’s number one. Greater tests lie ahead, but Patrício appears up to the task on tonight’s showing.
PortuGOAL rating: 6
Bruno Alves
Another rugged display from Alves, and another combination of good and bad. The Zenit man produced a number of excellent intercepting headers, but his distribution was once again suspect, and some slack marking might have resulted in a De Jong goal.
PortuGOAL rating: 5
Pepe
Once again outstanding at both ends of the pitch. Pepe rendered the potentially dangerous Klaas-Jan Huntelaar a virtual spectator, and even instigated the move that led to Ronaldo’s second. The player of the tournament for the Selecção, so far.
PortuGOAL rating: 8
João Pereira
A typically spiky performance from João Pereira – at one point Nani could be seen telling his teammate to keep his head – but one with considerably more positives than negatives. A sublime assist for Ronaldo’s equaliser saw the Valencia-bound man channel his days as a raw winger at Benfica.
PortuGOAL rating: 7
Fábio Coentrão
Not as explosive as he was against Germany and Denmark, but Coentrão was nevertheless a vital cog in Portugal’s at-times devastating counter-attack play. Combined well with Ronaldo and was generally in the right place defensively as well – although he was bamboozled by Robben prior to Van der Vaart’s opener.
PortuGOAL rating: 7
Miguel Veloso
As was the case against Germany, Veloso was culpable in the opening goal for not closing down with the requisite haste; but as against Germany, that one lapse should not entirely obscure another quietly effective display from the Genoa man. Will be vital in the latter stages.
PortuGOAL rating: 6
Raul Meireles
Before having his evening abruptly ended by Nigel De Jong, Meireles was enjoying himself, rumbling around the central areas and generally getting stuck in. Can in the end be forgiven for lashing an early chance into the side-netting when Ronaldo was in space to his left.
PortuGOAL rating: 6
João Moutinho
No Portugal player benefited more from the Netherland’s lax attitude towards tracking back. Enjoying the space denied to him by Germany, Moutinho was an effervescent presence throughout the 90 minutes, with the highlight a perfectly weighted pass for Nani, which led to Ronaldo’s second.
PortuGOAL rating: 8
Nani
One gaping miss aside, another brilliant performance from Nani. Provided an assist for Ronaldo and deserved a goal himself, after a performance that oozed invention and trickery. A constant thorn in the Netherland's side, and almost every bit as threatening as Ronaldo.
PortuGOAL rating: 8
Cristiano Ronaldo
Not a bad way to answer your critics. Ronaldo’s response to the rational (and slightly less-so) questions thrown his way over the last four days was a performance that defined the phrase ‘clutch’ (to borrow from American sports terminology). Two clinical finishes, a focus that simmered with intensity, and a good old-fashioned maniacal celebration. Superb.
PortuGOAL rating: 9
Hélder Postiga
Somewhat overshadowed by the performances of those either side of him, Postiga’s ‘moment’ came early on, when he dragged an eminently presentable chance wide (Stekelenburg’s fingertips notwithstanding). Then proceeded to run himself into the ground, with the usual lack of reward.
PortuGOAL rating: 5
Substitutes
Nélson Oliveira
Another thirty minutes for Nélson – this one less eye-catching than the first two. With Portugal in control his darting runs were less essential to the process.
Custódio
Came on to replace the winded Meireles, and played his part in shoring up the midfield late on. A deserved moment for a player who has revitalised his career over the last eighteen months.
Rolando
Largely introduced in order to give Nani an ovation, as far as this writer could tell. Barely had time to make an impression.
Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.
Ben Shave
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For myself, I was hopefully optimistic that Portugal might be able to make it to the quarters but Dutch lineup simply looked too strong on paper to overlook, with the exception of their defense, which I said could be their achilles heel, which it was, in addition to the unexpected lack of goal-scoring and selfish play from their stars. So to all the Portuguese fans who are saying that those of us who were skeptical should apaologize, I don't think that's really fair to say. In my case, I am always fully behind the national team no matter what, but if they're not playing well, there is nothing wrong with being realistic with your expectations.
The criticism of Ronaldo after the Denmark game was also mostly well-founded, with the exception of those calling for him to not even start for Portugal, which was completely overboard. However, you can't miss two golden opportunities like he had against Denmark. And for him to not even put the second chance on net was really alarming and could have cost us the game/tournmanet, if Varela didn't save the day with his wonder strike. He had also only scored something like 5 goals in the 20 or so matches in international competitions, which was pretty disappointing. So again, I think he deserved some of the criticism. He redeemed himself against the Netherlands and hope he can continue to play this way.
Now that that's been said, Portugal should be able to beat the Czech's, but of course you can never overlook these teams. Portugal has a habit of playing at the level of their opposition sometimes, which I hope is not the case on Thursday. They should come out winners though. In the meantime, lets all enjoy and support our team's great performance so far. Forca Portugal!
I think the difference maker this tournament has been Nani. Outside of his miss yesterday, he has been crossing the ball beautifully and putting the opponents under a lot of pressure opposite CR.
I thought Patricio was ok, but he wasn't really tested. At times he still looks shaky.
Coentrao and Pereira, a wonderful through pass to Cristiano, did their job well.
No complaints about Alves or Pepe. Huntelaar didn't see the ball due to them or lack of service. Von Pearsie was also pushed deep in order to receive the ball.
I too was blaming Veloso for the space given on the goal. But on the replay you can see him having to take a step towards Robben since he got by Moutinho. Not Veloso's fault (I can't believe I'm defending this guy).
I think Meireles and Moutinho are doing what is being asked of them. Pressure the ball at all times. Bot looked better once acres of space opened up due to Dutch substitutions.
Nani and Cristiano were fantastic.
Again, Postiga is doing what was asked of him. Pressure the ball. Yes he was wasteful in his opportunities.
Nelson showed is youth and exuberance. Hasn't had enough time with the quality wingers.
Custodio gave up way too much space on Von de Vaart post rattler. For me he was just clearing the ball while he was in there. When he found a winger seemed to be more by chance than thought.
Rolando was brought in for Nani to get his deserved ovation and stalling.
Bento got it right since we won. I still think our tactics haven't really changed going all the way back to Queiroz. Bento is getting more out of he players, but we sit back too much. Once the Dutch needed that hird goal, we had acres of space which will always make you look good.
Viva Portugal
and Viva Timor Leste
I was hoping Poland will qualify to QF in Warsaw. Unfortunately, reality is brutal and I got with 4 spare tickets for QF game. Portugal vs Czech Rep. Nominal price is 150 Eur and I'm gonna sell it for 200 Eur. If anyone interested please let me know
bakel85 (at) gmail.com
may the force be with us!
The striker position continues to be a concern but I see no option but Postiga. I want to be wrong and hope I am but I do not see the qualities needed by a striker in Nelson O, he has poor decision making, selfish at times with the ball (he is not playing U-20 anymore), and no final touch. No excues about age, a play needs to show certain qualities despite the age. All his shots in all the games are weak balls on the ground. As bad as Almeida is, we may need to go to Hugo or come up with another plan.
We have a good chance to get ot the semifinals which is a great accomplishment and who knows what can happen in a one game knock out. Bento has showed his coaching qualities despite with the critics may say.
The is the best preformance by Portugal since bento (bosnia's game's second best)..I still can't believe that we successfully escaped from so called 'the death group'..All players shows majestic performance against holland,,especially Ronaldo (who has finally answered the cirtics from the haters,he should has scored a hattrick against Holland),Moutinho(He shows his magic touch in midfield,,i'm gonna be suprised if he still stay at porto next season,true class midfielder..enough said),Nani(The master of trick and crossing,,assist machine for seleccao,,when is this guy play bad for seleccao??i can't remember one),and Pepe(one of best CB in the world today,,it's such a blessing that we have him)..which i considered as the outstanding player for portugal in this tournament so far...Let's prepare for the czech task,,(don't ever look them down,,dark horse always be a threat)..i'm sure,,we can lift euro trophy if we can keep playing like this anyway....but i hope we can meet spain or germany in semi or Final,,so the revenge will be happened..that makes us to be the best in the world,,by beating germany or spain...
It was good to see CR get his confidence back and be the player we all know his is. If get gets the hat trick would his player rating go from 9 to 10? I think so, what a game he had!
Postiga continues to unimpress me but I'm not a big Hugo Almaida supporter so I'm not sure who to play at that position. What do you guys think?
Great performances Nani (he should have scored) and of course Ronaldo. Damn he really silenced those critics (including me!)
But to return a bit to reality, I seriously doubt teams will be giving us this much space in the future.
Without the aid of the post on a couple occasions and a couple good saves the dutch could've been absolutely humiliated.
Rating's a bit harsh on Alves no? Thought he was immense at the back. His leap is unbelievable and he's exceptionally dominant in the air. Likes the odd cross field ball and they can sometimes go astray but more often than not land on target.
And what happened to Robben??? He was downright terrifying in the first 20 minutes, and then just disappeared.
Tonite was oh so different- he really was a class act.
He lead from the front- took the game by the scruff of the neck and made it his.
Portugal should be too strong for the Czechs- cannot honestly see the Seleccao losing.
For the goal he did not cover well enough, but he cannot give support to Coentrão (an important task, since Ronaldo doesn't have to do it) and simultaneously close down midfield runners. Note that in the beginning Holland were placing van Persie, van der Vaart and Sneijder there in alternation. Until Portugal dealt with that, Veloso had problems and could not be everywhere.