PDF Print E-mail
Thursday, 12 November 2009 18:24

Portugal is not just Ronaldo - Deco

Players downplay captain's absence

DecoCelebratesGoal.jpgIn the lead up to their play-off against Bosnia, Portugal appear to have put the issue of Cristiano Ronaldo's inability to take part in either match behind them as the team are focused on booking their spot in next summer's World Cup.

A lot has been said about the FIFA World Player of Year not being able to play in either leg of Portugal's crucial matches, but for the rest of the team, they are convinced that the team is rich and deep enough in quality to overcome this obstacle.

"Any team in the world would like to count on their best players. Cris(tiano)'s absence will be noticed, but football is a collective game and we have players with quality who can be used as his replacement. His absence will not act as an excuse," said Deco.

"We are confident! We know that it wasn't easy to gt here. We made mistakes in important matches when we shouldn't have, but now we have a unique opportunity to qualify for the World Cup. This is our greatest wish."

"We have to be careful"

Team-mate Bruno Alves echoed the Chelsea man's sentiments and feels that Portugal have options to counter the fact that the national side will be without Ronaldo, and added that the Seleccao are not taking the Bosnians lightly.

"What is most feared about Bosnia? Their attack. Their number 10 (Misimovic) and Dzenko are their strongest players, we have to be careful," said the Porto defender. "In any event, we are here to compete and we all feel good as we want to go to the World Cup."

"(Cristiano) is the best in the world and it is logical that he will be missed, but we have players with quality to replace him."
Comments (5)
Ronaldo Focus
5 Friday, 13 November 2009 15:36
Tonni / Malta
I Agree with you Andre Coelho, Portugal are using the same thing that Inter had with Ibrahimovic. The Team is depending on Ronaldo and the results aren't coming as we are expecting to be. These two last matches we played without Ronaldo, the team was focused on scoring not on playing with Ronaldo and we got very good result. I'm not saying Ronaldo isn't good or it's his fault that we got the bad results, but the idea of the team is wrong that we focus our game on Ronaldo.
ronaldo
4 Friday, 13 November 2009 10:49
Andre Coelho/UK
I have to say there is no way Ronaldo is the best player in the world. If he was he would've scored at least one goal in the whole qualifying session, against, with all due respect, not the strongest of opposition! He is one of the best in the world, certainly not THE best! And maybe Portugal was becoming too dependant on him, and it might actually be an advantage with him not being there against Bosnia, and hopefully there'l be more of a team effort!
Stop looking at stars!
3 Thursday, 12 November 2009 22:41
Fresh/Hamilton, Canada
Sure players Misimovic and Dzeko are important players for Bosnia and Cristiano is important for Portugal, but it takes a team to win games not superstars so it's a total effort. Portugal must blitz Bosnia and win those games!
English news papers
2 Thursday, 12 November 2009 21:15
Costa/AUS
i sow 100 of articles that talking about great upset in the playoff day that building around with (Misimovic) and Dzenko.Yes both are great players no argument about it but when we take Bosnia teem as a all i don't think there is not much rooms for that kind of a big upset.
I commented as a honest neutral.
site
1 Thursday, 12 November 2009 21:06
Mig-Australia
Nice site you have here. Keep up the great work. Its good to hear football news from back home. Excellent.

Add your comment

Name/Country:
Subject:
Comment:
yvComment v.1.21.1
 

Live Scores