This side is capable of amazing periods of football, usually followed by some lackluster disinterested play. Pre tournament favourites spain and brasil IMO have flattered to deceive in their matches. Nigeria have looked good however portugal easily disposed of them in a pre tournament friendly, this tournament is anyones at this stage. Those touted columbia obviously didn't watch their game verse portugal at toulon, IMO they were lucky to escape with a draw.

This team is stacked with players with immense potential, Mika is the best young portuguese keeper i have seen, the kid is solid, he was our best player at toulon and has continued his amazing form. Eduardo should be more worried about this kid not Patricio. In terms of potential Sergio Oliveira is the equal of Mika, lets not forget what this guy can do, however his maturity levels and attitude are questionable. But the performances of the likes of Danilo, Soares, Sana are really the consistency of performance required at a senior football level. Ofcourse their are alot of players i havn't mentioned but it overall i dont think people should underestimate the quality of individual players their are within this side, however i would question the tactical nous of Ilidio Vale.

Forca Portugal!!
Time to get behind them people with that famous portuguese optimism haha

This game was much better. I really liked the defence, especially Mário Rui in the second half. The guy is obviously better than Shaffer and probably at Carole's level, so shame on Benfica for letting him go (even if it was a wage war, as it was with Sílvio, probably a small pay rise would be better than buying yet another argentinian). But I digress.

Up front Nélson Oliveira was great, even more considering he was a lone striker and Cameroon were strong physically. I vote Caetano as man of the match, although his dive was disgustful and even though the sending off for the kick on him was correct, he exaggerated. I hope the coach talks to him about it.

I'm starting to think that I'm biased against Danilo Pereira, although I see no reason for that. Everyone lauds yet another great performance by the midfielder but I saw nothing more than a slow player who only knows how to pass to the defence or to the sides, there's no trying to make killer passes. Pelé was slightly better, although that miss is unforgivable.

Let's hope the NZ keeper is not as inspired as against Uruguay for Portugal to go through.

Thanks for the articles and all the posts in regards to teh game. I didn;t get to watch it.

Hey Bryan, did you notice that 4 Benfica players played in the match. I didn't see any of Braga's hopefulls.

First of all, as with every National Portuguese game, senior or junior, you cannot be fooled by the scoreline. This game definitely should have been 4-0 for Portugal given Nuno Reis hit the post with a great header, Nelson Oliveira scuffed a great opening on goal, and Pele indulged himself with a skyward shot in one instance in the box, when Caetano was clearly open 3 feet to his left.

I was really impressed with Danilo Pereira. He played a great box-to-box midfielder roll yesterday, making several impressive tackles, marshaling the midfield, and starting counter attacks with a few great passes. The commentator even compared him to a young Patrick Viera at the end of the game.

Mika was also stellar. This article portrayed his game as non-eventful, but he made at least five great saves yesterday, and was great when claiming the ball during set pieces. He was also solid against Uruguay, so this guy's performance definitely wasn't a fluke. He's really calm under pressure.

Nuno Reis looks like a really good, scrappy centre-back in the vein of Pepe.

For me, Nelson Oliveira is as confusing as any other Portuguese striker of the past 20 years. He shows moments of great skill, strength, and ball control, and scores the occasional impressive goal like he did yesterday, but his finishing ability lets him down way too often. It's odd considering the substantial technical ability he seems to possess. I thought his game suffered from his eagerness to drop back and help out the midfield, however, as he needs to linger around that box in a traditional target man roll. The midfield was performing well anyway.

Caetano also played a decent game. He's quick, dribbles well, and has a great first touch. Oddly enough, he seems eager to help out the defense, despite his diminutive stature. He looks to be another decent Portuguese winger (surprise, surprise, another winger).

Very good game compared to the first game. I was really impressed by Nelson and Caetano. Nelson the Benfica youngster should be coming up the ranks soon and future looks promising for country and club.

Well played Portugal, lets see on Friday.

Why are you claiming bad reporting? I agree with you that they played terribly the second half but Ben did explain that they took the foot off the gas after the goal. There was only one real threat after the goal and Mika took care of it.

Overall, I think they should have scored more. Too many missed opportunities but we'll take the win. Caetano was outstanding and Reis was solid. Looking forward to Friday.

I'm happy he will wear benfica jersey next season...Loan time is over..show your worth on the pitch nelson,,now for World cup U20,,and then Benfica can't wait to see your action next season...anybody know who team up with nelson upfront?is he lone striker?