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Tuesday, 19 October 2010 12:19

Makukula: “I have been reborn in Turkey”

Striker hoping for Portugal recall, gives advice to Porto

MakukulaAriza Makukula says he has been unfairly ignored by Portugal and hopes to push himself back into the reckoning for the national team under new Seleccao coach, Paulo Bento.
 
“I’ve nothing against anybody, but I think the change of coach was beneficial. Given that after Cristiano Ronaldo, I was the Portuguese player who scored most goals last season, I think my true value wasn’t taken into account. This hurt me,” said the former Benfica striker.  
 
“If I continue to score I believe I can have another opportunity under Paulo Bento. At this point I’ve scored two goals, but I did not play from the start of the season. Manisaspor were on zero points when I arrived and now we have eight points.
 
“I have been reborn in Turkey. It was very good being the top scorer and the best player last season (at Kayserispor). Perhaps next season I will go back to a club with bigger ambitions.”
 

Besiktas have suspect defence

Makukula also spoke about FC Porto’s Europa League clash against Besiktas on Thursday. The big striker is perfectly placed to assess the Istanbul club, having played against them on the weekend, winning 3-2.
 
“Their fans are crazy, in a good sense. On Saturday we were 3-1 up, with five or ten minutes left and they did not let up in their support. Besiktas reduced the deficit to 3-2 and it was the end of the world! It seemed they had come onto the pitch and we also had to play against them in those final seconds.
 
“But if Porto saw our three goals they will realise that the Besiktas defence made mistakes. Our coach spent the week telling us that Besiktas’ defence would make mistakes and what we had to do. It was just a question of putting into practice what he had asked us and I wasn’t surprised we scored three goals.”
 
by Tom Kundert
 
 
Comments (15)
JJ is a nut..
15 Thursday, 21 October 2010 01:50
Bryan I agree that JJ is a nut.. and I definitely thought he got a rough ride a Benfica.. and should've got some playing time.. and has definitely been overlooked for the National Team..

I agree with most that would like to see Mak there.. even if it is to have him come off the bench.

But Mak is nowhere as good as Cardozo.. lets get serious here. Can he do well of course.. but the Paraguayan striker is exceptional at his specialty.. which is shoot from within the the box.

He also isn't as good as Falcao either.. no shame in that.
@Will and Bryan2
14 Wednesday, 20 October 2010 07:19
Bebe can play at striker and on the wing, just like Djalo and Salomao.

Now to Bryan, i agree that he is better than Gomes (though thats not saying much) and i agree that JJ has been horrible this year as far as his squad selection and who has been sold and not bought. I also think Makukula is worth more than what he was sold for.

However he is still nothing compared to Cardozo, you can say whatever you like about the penalties, but at the end of the day when you look at the scorers Cardozo scored more and for a much better league, and has been consistently scoring alot of goals for the last few years, Makukula has nothing on him or any world class striker.


I do say why not give him some runs in the qualifyers and see how he goes, his definantly more of a goal threat than Djalo and even Liedson atm.
@Josh
13 Wednesday, 20 October 2010 03:31
The leading scorer in Turkey and playing with a shitty team. Fact is that Jorge Jesus is a first class nut and that's why maku was sold. Are you going to tell me that a 34 year old Nuno Gomes is better than Maku? Yet Jesus has the old guy around.

How do you know he wasn't good enough to be at Benfica? He wasn't even given a chance this year. I do believe he's better than Cardozo. He doesn't rely on penalties to lead a league in goal scoring.
Bebe
12 Wednesday, 20 October 2010 02:39
I thought Bebe was a winger?
easy does it
11 Wednesday, 20 October 2010 02:21
i think that some people here areto high up on makukula. the truth is that right now the best striker to have between ronaldo and nani is postiga. hes been lacking finish but he combines netter with CR and nani because he is willing to run and do the dirty work. almieda is probably more talented but isnt as willing to do dirty work. as far as makukla goes, even though he won the scoring title in turkey over the years hes proved to be very incosistant, by no means is he a proven goal scorer. i agree that perhaps he deserves a shot but hes no better then anyone else. i would rather see nelson olivier and orlando sa get a call up before him because they are the future
euro maybe
10 Wednesday, 20 October 2010 01:33
i think the guy should have been brought in for the WC qualifiers to see if he could have helped out in south africa, but the guy is 29 years old. he is not the future. he may be a help for euro 2012 and i would not mind running him out there but we need to find our striker for the next WC cycle. Almeida is not the guy. this team needs to run a five man mid-field and one striker. Ro and Nani on the wings, Moutinho in center attacking, Meireles and maybe carlos martins in front of defense. bring in Bebe now and start working him into the team. he is our best hope up top.
@ Bryan
9 Tuesday, 19 October 2010 23:57
Ok Liedson has dropped off from 2 seasons ago so fine its easy to say someone who is scoring goals is better than someone who isnt, but you are insane if you think Makukula has anything on Cardozo, Cardozo is much better and i get that you love all things portuguese but you cant be biassed. There isnt even 1 reason as to why you can even put Cardozo and Makukula in the same boat.

Makukula wasnt good enough to be at Benfica, and the only reason why he would be considered for portugal is that we have a shortage of strikers, so dont act like his good.
Benfica and Portugal discriminated Maku
8 Tuesday, 19 October 2010 22:17
Is Cardozo really better than Maku? Is Liedson better than Maku? Both answers are no!
Yes sir
7 Tuesday, 19 October 2010 21:16
This guy deserves to be brought back to the Portuguese national team and I think Paulo Bento will make it happen.
Makukula
6 Tuesday, 19 October 2010 20:52
I do not think that he should start for the seleccao, but he definitely needs to be called up. How many good strikers do we have in their primes. Almeida-26, Postiga-28, and Makukula-29. Liedson is too old and he should not be called up. We have a few promising young strikers like Nelson Oliveira, Orlando Sa, and maybe even Carlos Saleiro. None of the youngsters have much experience so I think Makukula really does deserve to be Almeida's back up.
liedson has to go
5 Tuesday, 19 October 2010 15:14
I am a little confused as well as some of you here as to why this guy has not been invited to the team. It seems like such a basic idea to bring up a proven goal scorer to a team that has trouble scoring. I have said a million times on here how much I dislike liedson well here it goes again. No more Liedson!! It would be nice to have ronaldo and nani on opposite wings and almeida and makukula up top. Varela can swap for either forward that is not playing well that game. Then we have two big forwards and both techincally gifted and makukula can use his speed to go along with our fast wingers. I like moutinho and meirles right now in the middle. Just some ideas.
Give this man a chance already!
4 Tuesday, 19 October 2010 15:12
Like Filipe said, Almeida misses too many good opportunities.
Makukula
3 Tuesday, 19 October 2010 14:08
If I was were Paulo Bento I would be looking at this guy very closely. Almeida has been lacking in the foward position, it takes him 5 good oportunities to net one. He is a good option to consider
BIG MAK
2 Tuesday, 19 October 2010 13:52
This guy deserved a chance last year during the WC2010 qualifiers and WC2010. Portugal had major problems scoring and I think still do. If he continues to score, then call him up. Liedson has not scored much this year and if this continues, replace him with Makukula.
should get a chance
1 Tuesday, 19 October 2010 13:23
About Makukula, I have to say that it was a little unfair to not even give him a chance to prove his worth for the Seleccao. Turkey is not a premier league but he was the leading goalscorer by a fairly significant margin and I think he should've at least received a call up.

Don't get me wrong, I still think Almeida is the front runner at the striker position but Makukula might have something to offer for one more tournament and I wouldn't mind giving him a go in one or two friendlies to see what he can do.

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