In all due respect to the Portuguese team efforts let me elaborate in a simple way how Portugal can win tournaments with out a fear.

1. CAPTANCY: The captain's arm band should be held by a central defender ( Ricardo Carvalho) or else Mid fielder.
Now Ronaldo could be an option for captain if he plays attacking football from the rear to the front as mid player but as striker he simply has no choice since the opponent defence have mastered the art to block Ronaldo. Best Defensive captains. Lothar Mathaus , Frans Beckenbauer, Cafu , Fabio Cannavarro
and a lot others have done wonders.

2. Jose Mourinho: The world's most priced weapon. Jose mourinho uses his defensive strategy combined with a sudden attack to a perfection . Portugal should stop all political meddling and invite Jose to sellecao for his advice for his in dept understanding on Football.

And do not be surprised if Portugal wins 2 or even 3 cups in a row. They have an excellent midfield minus the coach interferrence .

Again I ask, why did CQ give CR the captain's band so early? There are other proven leaders on this squad....

Maybe CR should be captain; but first someone should show him how to be one...he showed no leadership, had no communication, nothing to motivate...

As lame as some people may have thought it was; where's that CR that shows emotion during the hino, or after defeat?

great post George!!!!.... all this crap about CR not being captain worthy is just that.... i don't think you'll find a player who wants his country to succeed more than he does.... CR has been unfairly criticized.... his talent is wasted on this squad which doesn't have anyone else possessing half his skill level....

New coach or new strategy call it what you want. We need new talented players not old players or current players who are scared to posses the ball and force passes like Bret Farve. Everyone is calling for Jose Mourinho to coach and apparently you guys are not realizing that he likes to play defense more than any coach in the world!! We are ALREADY a GREAT defensive team! We need midfielders who know how and want to create and a forward who knows how to spell G.O.A.L.

Our only attack for much of the tournament was the counter-attack. Only during play against Korea did I see the kind of passing/build-up I know Portugal is capable of. We needed more of this, not just sit back and counter-attack.

We played a defensive game, how in hell do you expect our best player to play? You morons don't know anything about futebol. We played 10 men back, defensive, defensive. Tell the coach to go back to England, it was like watching Barcelona vs Manchester United, ManU played defensive, what did Ronaldo do in that game. Wake up. Get this coach out of here and bring on Klinsman or a Dutch coach who is not involved in Portuguese politics, who won't stand for Brasilians being on the team, and finally will you use Ronaldo in the proper fashion. Look at Argentina, where is Messi playing? Come on, stop the childish comments about the players, it is always the system of play and choices on the field. What was Costa doing on the field, same for Pepe and Simao. JOKE. I am sorry but every 4 years we go through this bull-crap, bad decisions, being scared to succeed. YOU PLAY THE GAME TO WIN.
peace and stop crying about who should be captain.

I agree in Ronaldo not being captain. Actually an attacking player shoudl never be Captain. A Goalie, strong Central Defender or Midfielder should always hold that title. It's also always best when the teams best player isn't the captain.

I understand the tactics, but the lineups and subs during games have to be questioned.
Boswinga was a bigger miss that Nani in my opinion.

The fact is that our qualifying campaign was discraceful. The player selections for the QWorld Cup have to be questioned as well. Where was Fernandes, for example. Please, I don't mean Quaresma, he has proven worthless.

All in all, I feel we have a good starting point for a competitive squad. We just need to bring a long a few youngsters.

By the way, Carvalho (would be sorely missed) and Deco might be gone, but don't forget Liedson either. He's an experiment that failed, and he's no spring chicken.

Hey, Roger from South Africa don't be so pessimistic. We didn't lose by 4 goals like the English - now that's a loss. I'm Canadian-born, however, I am more Proud to be Portuguese than a Canadian. I love Portugal and I am very proud of our team - being a true Portuguese doesn't revolve around how well a national team performs every 4 years. By the way the Spaniard was off side when he scored that goal.
P.S. I can't wait to start my summer vacation in Portugal this summer.

There is no way that Ronaldo should captain the National Team. He showed no leadership at all during this world cup, often sitting on the ground for long periods while play continued. A captain fights 100% of the time. Making him captain was an insult to players like Carvalho, Alves and even Tiago....real leaders on the team. Ronaldo needs to mature in a hurry. I'm Portuguese and his antics embarrass me.

What team uses 3 different right backs in four games in the WC

What team promises to play attacking football but parks the team bus in front of goal (brazil & spain) then says we played a great game and he's proud of the players.

It has become blatantly clear that their is no merit whatsoever in keeping CR as our captain. He is uninspiring, has no motivational skills and of bigger concern is commitment as a "team player". Going forward Portugal need to re-assess this position and award it to a team player that is more deserving of such an honour.
At 1-O down any Captain worth his salt would urge his team to lift their game and keep fighting to the end. Did any of you see that inspiration from CR (remenber Figo).
In all likelihood Queiroz will be fired as his tenure was hardly successful and i understand he is extremely unpopular in Portugal. Whether he stays on or not the captaincy of the Portugal needs to be taken away from CR as he has been a failure in that role.

Is it just me or does no one see that Ronaldo is not captain material

People lets not full ourselves.It didnt matter what team
CR put out there or tactics used,we were never going to beat Spain ,they technicly more gifted and superior in all departments.The fact remains we a small nation and we never going to be able to compete against the top five or six giants of the world game.Forget it,mark
my words its going to be more of the same in 2012 and 2014,GREAT EXPECTATIONS PUT NO END RESULT.What a shame.

if u know anything about football dude you would know pepe is there to sit infront of the back 4 not to pass the ball and be your typical midfielder

He's working on developing players to fill out our squad, his tatics in my opinion were on target counter attacking spain would have been the only way to beat them. Playing Ronaldo in a cf role is not my first choice but I found he had Simao Almeida and Ronaldo rotating between that role. Subbing Almeida might not have been a wise choice considering his size and strength could have been critical in those last minutes with crosses coming into the box. I'm willing to see if Quieroz can find an attacking midfielder and striker to help Ronaldo out offensively.

First off, I agreed with the coaches tactics in terms of strategy on how the team should play. They just dont have the fire power to play an open style so they went into a defensive shell and relied on counter attacks.

What i thought the coach was terrible at was handling his personnel. I have 4 major issues with this game and how the coach handled it.

1.) Pepe should of never started the game at the holding midfield position. He lacks the ball skills to play a central midfield position and it showed today. He only was able to complete the easy passes and hurt the flow of their midfield. He is not fit enough to play on this stage as he was beat many times in 1v1 situations. The only thing he did well IMO was helping out on double teams.

2.) Ricardo costa had no business starting at RB. Miguel with his offensive ability, his familiarity with the La Liga players and the speed and quickness to run with david villa should of been the EASY choice here.

3.) I am not a huge fan of Deco, he is past his prime and not as good as he once was but in a game in which holding possession would of been such a crucial part of the game he should of started the game. The portugal midfield had a serious lack of passing ability and creativity. Deco would of helped in both instances. If they were playing a more rugged physical team then i would agree with having him on the bench. Not in a finesse style of game liek this one.

4.) why in the world did they take out hugo almeida? didnt the coach see what everyone else saw? he was the only effective forward player they had the entire game. Instead they bring in a player with a bum hamstring?/???