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| Friday, 03 September 2010 21:48 |
Chaotic Seleccao held to 8-goal drawPortugal 4-4 Cyprus Portugal's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign got off to a poor start with a remarkable 4-4 draw at home to Cyprus. The hosts twice went behind early on as the usually solid back line were all at sea against the counter-attacking Cypriots. Portugal were level by half time and seemed to have ensured victory with a strong second-half display, but more disastrous defending saw Cyprus avoid defeat against Portugal for the first time in 9 attempts. Portuguese fans voted with their feet in reaction to the current farcical situation involving Carlos Queiroz and the FPF that sees the national team without a head coach for anything up to seven months. A disappointing crowd of just 10,000 turned up at the Dom Afonso Henriques Stadium in Guimaraes to watch the Seleccao embark on a road they hope will lead to
Defence goes AWOL
Those who came out to support their team certainly can’t complain about any lack of entertainment or goals. Even Carlos Queiroz’s fiercest critics have praised the way the coach organised a watertight defence, but the back four were unrecognisable tonight as sloppy play was taken full advantage of by the well-drilled Cypriot counter-attacks.
Twice in the first ten minutes lightning raids from the visitors combined with poor defending from first Miguel and Alves, then Meireles resulted in goals for
A fine Hugo Almeida header from an accurate Nani cross sandwiched the two strikes, and on 29 minutes new
Some shoddy passing from Fernandes and Alves summed up a disorganised first-half display from
Quaresma on fire
Danny put Portugal into the lead for the first time on 50 minutes, heading in Coentrao’s hooked cross, but Cyprus were soon level again as more poor defending from both centre-backs allowed Okkas to run clean through on goal and slide the ball past the exposed Eduardo.
Manuel Fernandes, who improved significantly as the match wore on, then scored the goal of the night, smashing in a pile-driver from
Chances galore
Bruno Alves tried to head in when a side-footed finish would surely have found the net, a scintillating Quaresma run was stopped by a another excellent save from Giorgallidis, Nani crashed a free-kick onto the bar, Almeida back-heeled a flowing move inches wide and substitute Liedson turned well and rifled the ball against the post.
Somehow
by Tom Kundert
Eduardo, Miguel, Bruno Alves, Ricardo Carvalho, Fabio Coentrao, Manuel Fernandes (Joao Moutinho, 79), Raul Meireles, Danny (Liedson, 61), Nani, Hugo Almeida (Yannick, 89), Ricardo Quaresma
Antonios Giorgallidis; Marios Elia (Poursaitidis, 66), Sinisa, Merkis, Avraam, Makrides, Satsias, Charalambous, Charalambides (Nikolaou, 75), Konstantinou, Aloneftis (Okkas, 56)
Goals:
[0-1] Anoleftis, 3
[1-1] Hugo Almeida, 8
[1-2] Konstantinou, 11
[2-2] Raul Meireles, 29
[3-2] Danny, 50
[3-3] Okkas, 57
[4-3] Manuel Fernandes, 60
[4-4] Avraam (90)
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Let me address some of the comments.
Melo thank you for the kind words as well as Constructive Criticism.. I appreciate it..
My point was that most fans get wooed by the dancing but it is the results in the end that count.
My dislike for Quaresma is purely based on his ineffectiveness.. not on any hate towards him. That is why I counted stats.. to prove myself wrong.. in the end I justified my prediction.. albeit contrary to many others opinions.
I too enjoy your posts..btw
As for Nathan and Voice of Reason (MDot).. like you gentleman I am entitled to my own opinion.. you don't like it that is your problem.. I dually note your negative natures from past posts.
If reality bites than do something about it.. you think you have your perfect plans and clearly as a passionate fan I will have mine. At this point I will suggest we should give the other OrlandoM the managers role.. clearly he could do no worse than these clowns..
As for VOR (MDot) if you consider small 6 foot 240lbs.. then you are right I am small.
Mdot is that Montreal or is that Ontario region.. Maple or Mississauga.. because you shouldn't speak so loud I might hear you.. and you clearly don't want that to happen, hiding there behind the fake tag.
As for Fools from CA.. clearly you haven't read the news like the rest of us.. Queer Eyes (not because he is ugly but because he sees the game retarded) selected every squad to date.. that quote can be found in the Agostino Oliveira thread where he clearly points what everyone except for you knew.
Queiroz is at the helm but his assistant makes the substitutions.
As for the Cypriots I know a bunch and they are cool.. the majority posting here are tossers.. don't mind them.
obrigado carlos!
I was in stitches reading your post! Keep going pal; don't change.
BY FAR THE BEST BLOG!
Don't be jealous of the red, white and green flag! We are superior in all aspects not just football. Should I name a few...Wine, cars, fashion, food, history and the list goes on and on and on! Don't be a hater just admit your a second class citizen to ITALIA! SMACK!!
Dont matter I'm proud my country.. We drew to the mighty cyprus but we have to move on stay postive cause it wasnt too bad.
But anyways us Portuguezers will still be repping Portugal all day long no matter what happens to are home land
FORCA PORTUGAL!
You are just a pathetic troll...you have nothing good to say about your own pathetic team, so you troll other sites.
As for the Cypriots on this page - Loel et al. You are also a bunch of sad trolls...is there even an English language site for Crypriot football? Revel in your tie guys...we played a pathetic defensive game, YOU PLAYED THE GAME OF YOUR LIVES - AND TIED. National day of celebration for you - a day of discontent/shame/reflection for us. Who is better off?
Hey Loel...as for your question about what we have won? We haven't won a major championship - but when have you clowns even made a tournament? Have your club teams ever achieved anything in Europe? Other than a free pass to embarrass yourselves in Champions League or Europa? You talk trash about Portugal...but you are cheering our castoffs every weekend.
Enjoy your tie - we'll see where you wind up...I'm guessing no better than fourth...but you'll have that tie to hold on to for the rest of your pathetic international football life.
And please, not the Brazilian/African/Portuguese pure blood whining. I think it is ridiculous and even outright racist in this age that people think it's perfectly acceptable for a person to become a citizen of another country, to be eligible to be conscripted in its military and die for that country, and yet there's some arbitrary bar so ridiculously high that no person can ever play for another national team than the nation of their birth.
Secondly wtf some people say Bruno alves is african, he was born in Portugal and hes Half Portuguese half Brazilian so hes Portuguese.
Thridly Miguel and Manuel Fernandes were both born in Portugal in Lisboa. And anyways theres loads of Cape Verderian people in Portugal cause of are relations bettween each other. Nani came when he was very very young also.
Lastly the two Brazilians Pepe and Liedson. Pepe is an exception because he always felt Portuguese non stop and is with an portuguese women, and he sing are anthem like hes a portuguese.
While Liedson hes the only player in are squad who should F@$! off. I dont get while he got picked and still gets picked. He came over to Portugal when he was about 25/26 (I think). So how can he get picked. I remeber when we were gonna play Brazil he said hee wont sing the Portuguese anthem, I thought he played for Portugal, but luckly he dint start!
Remember one thing though: All of the Brazilians that have played for us have Portuguese heritage (even if it's 12,5%), all of the Africans have Portuguese heritage.
Queiroz was born in Mozambique but he is the son of Portuguese and 100% Portuguese. Tell me, if a Portuguese couple move to North America and have a son there does that mean that their son is not Portuguese?
Bosingwa's father is Portuguese and by the way, Bruno Alves is not African, his mother is Portuguese and his father is Brazilian. (Brazil is in South America and Portugal is in Europe;)
Eusebio is a Mozambican, but have you ever seen a black man from Mozambique? They are black, proper black. Eusebio is a mixture of white and black, in Africa called a colored, in Portugal called a Mulato. He has a Portuguse last name; he has Portuguese ancestors ;)
I don't like Cyprus anymore because of the people i have met on this site.
As soon as Cypriots steal the ball which isn’t often, they’ll just cross it over to a fast striker who’ll finish it off! They just don’t dance the midfield Samba! :)
Portugal: 30 attempts result in 4 goals!
Cyprus: 6 attempts result in 4 goals!
You do the maths…
How about you contribute something productive to the conversation for once?
Ah you Cypriots, it's fun to achieve something as an underdog isn't it? Before you go celebrating in the streets, I hope you will remember that you still have 7 more games of qualifying, just like we do, and you better hope that you can go a step further and win a few games because all the draws in the world will not get you into Euro 2012. Congratulations on a well played match, and best of luck to you in the rest of the qualification campaign.....believe me, you will need it.
Orlandomac, you seem to revel in our team not achieving results. Nothing is good enough for you - you always find a reason to complain about how this team doesn't live up to your high standards/expectations - always with the "I told you so", after the fact comments. Do everyone a favour and put a sock in it...you are becoming a parody of yourself you azzclown.
It was the first game of qualification - was the result acceptable? NO. Is it the end of the world? NO (thought it seems like it may be for you). Lighten up dude...they will get it done, but of course, you'll find something to complain about. You are a sad, little man.
In the grand scheme of things if we can beat the scandanavians in norway and the danes in next 2 games then we take control of group. Of course easier said then done but if we can play BALANCEd full 90 minute games then we can get back. IF not then we are in some trouble but it's over and now lets improve against norway
You have to blame your coach team because obviously they haven't studied the way Cyprus is playing at all.
Cyprus is an island with 800k people but the last few years football here is growing really fast.
National team has brought in some great results recently and the last 2 years Anorthosis and APOEL managed to get in C.L. groups.
Some people said we are the weakest team in the group. Well my friends you will be surprised.
Cyprus's target is to qualify to Euro Cup and this is said by the officials of the Cyprus Federation Committee.
We don't have a super team but we have a team that fights every single game and also players with a lot of experience in European games.
So better blame the men responsible and stop talking trash about us.
Good game; like the Greeks, you will be talking about this game for the next 3,000 years like it was the friggin' Illiad. But respect the fact you are commenting on a Portuguese dedicated web.
Portugal is on a downward spiral and as usual we are own worst enemies - I think the way the politics are being played out we could have lost to the Vatican XI today!!
Just 4 days later we thrashed Russia 7-1. We can only hope for a similar positive backlash against Norway on Tuesday...
The 5th goal would have won the game but did not get it and lost with the lead on a defensive lapse.
It is apparent Pepe was missing from the defensive mid role as much as some peopple do not like him there with the fullbacks overlapping you get enough attack to put Pepe there.
I am the biggest fan of Miguel and biggest critic of Paul F but I think Miguel should have retired over Paul F (see what a game like this does to the mind). Don't understand why they kept bringing in attacking players and should have brought in one defensive player late.
Bottom line not the end of the world but must get 3 points in Norway -- after what I saw today not that confident unless the concetration level picks up.
The federation needs to fix this CQ mess becomes in the end the fans will be the losers.
For all those that dislike CR7 , as you can see tonight when he isnt there its just as bad.
The team doesn't have a leader, Quieroz or his staff cant instill any leadership or any hint of invincibility. CR7 clearly cant lead and nor can anyone else.
The team was doing its on things. Absolutely no cohesion. Al
If it wasn't for some brilliant individual goals we would have lost tonight.
The FFP is now in a real quandary on what to do. Both the FFP & Queiroz should resign if u ask me.
Its an embarrasment that we have so many talented players and we just pissing it up the wall. that includes the u21's
Where Portugal on the other hand being consistantly dominating opponants and in this game knowing they played terrible came out with a tie, which shows that they have high standards .
They have to go back to the drawing board with their highly ranked defence .....they know better than this and will be sucessfull next weaks match.
and please put carlos martins on the squad at least on the bench i mean what else does he have to do he had a great seaso nlast season has scored already this season he is a good player with more passion then that whole portugal squad toghter
queresma could have been better and was greedy in some plays where he could have played a simple pass i was happy with nanis performance and coentrao just gets better every single game and to me is the best player on the field every game and he is super passionate and confident lets be honest its gonna be a long time before portugal reach the heights of football like in euro 2004 and WC 2006 i am really tired of watching them dissapoint everyone i just have one solution bring in a whole new coaching staff and teach thos players to pl;ay for their country and not for fame
and after saying that cyprus came in with a great attitude and gave it all they had well done cyprus
Portugal once again dissapoint
We looked good going forward although H. Almeida could have been a little better in that last big attempt he had. As for the sub's....The coach seemed to not have any idea about the logistics of preserving a lead. oh well, hopefully the selleccao can get all the points in Norway.
As for Joel, we don't need you trolling these boards...what are you like 12? Go to your own teams boards where you can brag about the draw (not a win mind you) with others like you.
But anyway, this site is about football, so let's talk about football... oh wait, Cypriot football is nonexistent! The only thing worth mentioning is that the best team (APOEL) is full of Portuguese players!
Cyprus came in here and they had CONFIDENCE and confidence did they prove by scoring 4 goals.
Cyprus ranks 63 in FIFA rankings and they were playing as they ranked in the top 10!
Time for a change, the change is now, the change is me Orlando Manuel Botelho Medeiros!
PORTUGAL PARA SEMPRE
Us portuguese are treating this like a loss because to us if you leave a cyprus game with anything other than a 4-0 win, then its disappointing.
Your crap about Cyprus being a good team may fly on your own sites, so stay there and maybe all you can talk eachother up, and try convince yourselves that your good. you have no idea what your talking about on the field.
Coz Honestly from the World Cup 2006 till now Portugese Team is becoming Weaker and Weaker...
In my Opinion this thing of the Coach is effecting the team...
Quaresma in my opinion is getting better then he was since he left FC Porto
Fernandes Congratz on Playing So Good and so do Meireles
Weldone Cyprus too on playing good...we need to remember that Cyprus went very good against Italy too and other teams so altough its a small island..that doesnt mean they arent good. They are developing.
Honeslty I hope this does not be the same as the World Cup Qualifiers
Good Luck Portugal!! FORCA PORTUGAL!!!
Some comments so far are remarkable.. like the dude that said Fernandes played good..LOL
He even said Pepe should stay on the bench... ROFLMAO... dude the bridge to your pipe should be shut down permanentaly.
As I predicted Man of the Match.. LOL
the most ineffective player on the field.. clearly most of you dudes prefer to see the ballet and not real football..
Dancing for Dancing sake is USELESS..
Quaresma shooting right at the goalie turned into a great stop by the goalie..
he took numerous shots and scored none.. that was a success.
Then his inability to pass or cross became his strength.. he went 7 for 28 in passes.. THAT IS RETARDED!!
You guys are praising him.
We also had a guy that thought we played overly defensive.. without a defensive mid in sight.
Clearly driving in the wrong direction is legal in your state.
Also I can appreciate Miguel had a brutal game but most of the comments should be directed at Fernandes as in most of those instances Miguel had pushed up and it was Fernandes (or Meireles) responsibility to cover.. where was he..?
In front of Danny.
Clearly positional play isn't a forte for some of you.
Now I was happy with the sub attempt at the 4-4-2 as at least the assistant showed that was possible for the future (not to mention I have been screaming since World Cup 66 for it) but can appreciate most of you gentlemen had concerns in doing so.. espeically the Djalo move.. it was the same mistake Queer Eyes made against Denmark.
Again it did cost us.. but the offence did look better then and actually opened holes for Quaresma to dance..
although I would tell Quaresma.. if you want to dance..go to the Portuguese Club..
on the field we are trying to win games.
On the bright side Almeida, Fernandes, Meireles, and Quaresma had spectacular games. Quaresma looked dangerous every time he received the ball, and he created a number of scoring chances. The greatest thing about his preformance though, was that he used his teammates at the right times, and did it himself at the right times. Anybody who says he did poorly is obviously judging him on his past rather than his present attitude and play.
To the FPF, bem feito.
We are no powerhouses like Portugal, but we are good side that works hard. There is no easy team in this group so get ready Portugal...
The situation is so political now it's ridiculous. Instead of getting things done swiftly and putting some thought into it, the fpf now have a massive mess to clean up. Hopefully this game is a blessing in disguise for the seleccao, and makes the players, coaches and board realise that they are heading for another qualification struggle that is going to get harder than the previous campaigns.
YOU FOOLS!!
Anyone with a clue knew Cyprus to be highly dangerous!
Our team management like the announcers said the exact same at the conclusion of the game.. Agostino although he made decent subs in my opinion did not control the players and the formation. He like Queer Eyes let them play their way, we all see now what happens when a chicken runs with no head.
Yes the 4-4-2 looked brilliant.. but if you have no Defensive Mid.. when your Half-backs attack you are left with holes.. all of the Cypriot goals came through the defensive mid.. or the lack of him being there.
It was nice of Manuel Fernandes to score a crazy goal.. unfortunately it came at the expense of 3 he was way out of position for.
What is a Defensive Mid attacking the box as a striker doing?
Leaving holes.. Miguel too looked sloppy.. Alves.. poor..
and of course lets get to the Man of the Match..
I am sure a few of you will say it.
Quaresma.. danced like a ballerina..
His stats:
no assists..
0 shooting percentage.. (although in the second half he did shoot two beauties right at the goalie)..
and
went 7 for 28 in passes and crosses (25% passing is atrocious).
Of those passes/crosses 4 were give and goes from a corner. 2 were open field passes with no one around.. and only 1 was a cross into the box, of which Leidson stole the header because it was aimed at Almeida and was way behind him.
Now if Pepe had played or even Mendes we would've still won this game even with Quaresma.. but anyone that suggests one of the wanna- be strikers playing defensive mid like Veloso, Meireles, Fernandes, Tiago, etc.. they should be strapped to a poll and flogged in public.
The Petit era is back.. it is like a nightmare with all balls going to the spot where the defensive mid should be.. but is upfield catching flies.
Meireles has a role and it is further up front.. he needs a DM behind him to be effective.
The defence is the same but when you remove Pepe..or Mendes those holes start appearing.. then the questions of is Carvalho too old.. is Alves any good.. can we win a game? start popping up.
The sad part is Cyprus plays poorly on the road.. their strength is at home.. and Norway will be feasting off the holes in this mid.
Most were expecting gimmes and 6 points.. with this management.. and their selection no point is safe.. not even at home with last years defensive juggernauts.
Fire Queer Eyes now..Agostino isn't better than his dad who was punched in the face for poor managing..
HIRE A REAL BOSS..
(That was Queer Eyes squad selection btw... to start the match.)
The d line was just beyond horrendous (and Eduardo was at fault for the 4th - punch it away!!), but offensively we looked bright and we're very unlucky not to score 2-3 more goals (liedson post, Almeida header cleared off the line, etc). The back line will get better and if Alves isn't up to the task, Rolando will take his place.
What I just can't understand is why he subbed Liedson for Danny and Moutinho for Fernandes with a 1 goal lead? Why not put Rolando in front of the back 4 considering how shaky there were? Why play with 2 strikers when you're protecting a lead. Lots of question marks.
On the bright side, I was pleased with Quaresma's play.
One could argue about a lack of killer instinct, but when you score 4, you need to come away with the W. This all falls on the manager and the back line.
Ok, ok, I'm going to try to focus on the good things now. Quaresma looked pretty good today I thought. He put in some good crosses, wasn't too selfish and nearly scored a wonderful individual goal and was denied only by a great save from Cyprus' keeper.
Coentrao looked good and nearly scored a fantastic goal today. Fernandes did score a fantastic goal but he also gave away a back pass that he shouldn't have.
Almeida was really good too and was so unlucky to not score another goal. Honestly, we could've had at least 3 more goals today. Nani hit the post with a vicious free kick, Quaresma was barely denied, Coentrao's piledriver was turned away, and of course, Almeida's header was cleared off the line.
I wonder about why Liedson was introduced once we were already ahead? If anything we needed a defensive minded midfielder to help us maintain possession.
Carvalho also looked good today and I really feel for Eduardo, who was really left all by his lonesome for 3 of the 4 goals.
Ahh, tough day....I hope they can rebound from this and get the defense together a little better. Our offense looked strong for the most part. We could've had at least 5 or 6.
Forca sempre Portugal!
CQ has to go.... this was by far the worst ever, for the love of moses, please fire him now, right now.
The portuguese tactics & substitutions were absolutley horrid.
Can somebody please tell me how on earth do 2 players who werent even selected to the original team end up playing.
How is it that Quaresma is not good enough to make the team, but good ends up in the starting 11, wtf?
If that wasnt mind boggling enough, the last substitution omg, meu deus, i was screaming at the TV, I almost collapsed, Yannik for Almeida...We were up a goal, bring in a defender or a holding player, especially since we were playing disasterously at the back, didnt CQ realize this? why did he put in a striker, and one who is shit & didnt even make the original team.
I am absolutely dumbfounded, my dad would be a better coach, i swear to god he would be.
Is CQ retarded? he has to be, no one in their right mind would do what he did.
You had Rolando, Veloso, Coehlo, Tiago all on the bench...and you bring in Yannik, wtf?????????????
I just cant believe that the fpf can keep him around any longer, he has to get fired....now....like tonight.
On another note....
Eduardo should have the last goal, any descent goalie should have just caught the ball, not sure what he was doing.
RC & BA didnt have a good game, mind you it doesnt help that every player in front of them is only thinking of going forward, including coentrao & miguel.
BUT NEVER MIND THAT.
CQ must get fired, holy moly, what does this guy have to do to get fired? GET RID OF HIM FOR CHRISTS SAKE.
I need a xanax, Im outta here.
Next week they play against Norway. (whom are better than Cyprus) in Norway (which is always cold, even in the summer) That game will be much harder than this one.
To their credit, Cyprus played well, but they were also helped by the fact that Portugal game them so much space, especially in the first half. It's sad to say, but unless there is a major overhaul of the defensive positioning that we are seeing now (as well as what we saw in South Africa), I don't expect to see much from Portugal when (and at this point IF) they make it to the Euro2012.
Portugal will not qualify period! if they continue to give up that many goals. WTF!!!???? WTF???!!!!!!!!!
Hugo Almeida cost us the game with that stupid flick. Thanks a lot Hugo!
The FPF is entirely at fault. Queiroz may suck but it was the FPF made the decision of a 2 year contract and should live with it. They are putting the NT at risk to save money. Those PRICKS!
Now if this game was evenly matched, I'd have no problem with the 4-4 draw. But we could have EASILY put at least 4 more against them..
On a more postive note, Quaresma, Fernandes, Danny and Meireles all played a killer game! So happy to see Quaresma and Fernandes back in the squad.. Nani, Almeida, & Coentrao weren't bad either.
The good news is that offensively we looked good. But Cyprus left a lot open for us to carve up. Just as they went up 2-0 against Italy during qualifiers, it looks like Portugal never reviewed the tapes.