World Cup: Five reasons why enthusiasm among Portugal fans is tepid
Low expectations ahead of South Africa tournament
 Carlos Queiroz may have chosen “I Gotta Feeling” as the unofficial anthem of the national team, but the Portuguese faithful opted to chant “Booooo…!” after the Seleccao produced a lacklustre display in the friendly match against China.
It may be argued that the jeers were unfair and did little to push the team forward, but what is perhaps more important is the meaning behind such a knee-jerk reaction.
The Portuguese supporters have grown disillusioned with the team. We now look at the main reasons why enthusiasm has plummeted over the last few months.
1. Carlos Queiroz
When the most exciting thing Queiroz has done in recent times is get involved in a scuffle with a journalist at the airport, you just know something is wrong.
People were glad to see Luiz Felipe Scolari go, but Queiroz is yet to prove he’s a better option. As hinted in his ill-fated stint at Real Madrid, he’s too soft to tame big egos and too conservative to make the Portuguese stars play attacking football.
He has failed to fire up the players and the supporters and should Portugal fall short in the World Cup, it will be difficult to see him at the helm of the national team for the Euro 2012 campaign.
2. Poor qualifying campaign
Portugal were drawn in an average group where the strongest teams were Scandinavian duo Denmark and Sweden, but the Seleccao had to resort to the proverbial calculator in order to qualify. The most worrisome part though was the fact that most performances revealed a lack of imagination and an over reliance on individual efforts to win matches.
Fortunately, Denmark ended up beating Sweden in Copenhagen and the play-off match was against the relatively weak Bosnia-Herzegovina team. What will happen when we face Ivory Coast and Brazil?
3. Lack of leadership
Ronaldo is arguably the best player of the national team even if he hasn’t been at his scintillating best for the Seleccao. Still, at the moment he’s no leader and the team misses someone in the mould of Luis Figo. Not only was the former Real Madrid and Inter winger a great player, but he was also a class act who earned the respect of manager, teammates and opponents.
Imagine for a second that Portugal are two goals down against Ivory Coast early in the game - similar to what happened at Euro 2000 when we conceded two goals against England within the first 20 minutes. Who would be able to steer the team forward in order to stage a comeback? Ronaldo may sulk if things aren’t going his way, Deco is on the verge of retirement, Nani is more of an impact player and Simao usually bottles under pressure. The current squad doesn’t have that type of influential characters capable of turning a match around and that unfortunately makes matters harder.
4. The overall quality of the squad has decreased
In all honesty, there are players in the team that would have no chance of making the Euro 2004 or World Cup 2006 squads. Those squads had the right mix of experience and youth and it may be a while before we have another group of players as talented as those.
While we have always complained about not having a suitable striker and left-back, wouldn’t most of us wish that Pauleta and Nuno Valente were still available? Apart from Brazilian-born Liedson, who else is there to guarantee goals for the Seleccao? Additionally, if those positions weren’t enough of a headache, we are now missing a solid holding midfielder. With no Petit or Costinha around, Pepe has been deployed there, though I would prefer to see him back in his natural role. With so many well-documented shortcomings, can we have genuine World Cup aspirations?
5. Naturalization policy
I really like Deco, Liedson and Pepe as players but the addition of foreign-born players takes something away from the team’s identity. Those players usually switch their allegiance to Portugal when they no longer harbour hopes of featuring for their birth country and therefore don’t possess the same passion as the 100% Portuguese players, though I believe Pepe is a bit of a special case.
In my opinion, picking foreigners is merely a short-term fix that masks the failure to address a problem – nurturing young talent – to somehow maintain the illusion that we’re still a Euro/World Cup contender. Well, we aren’t! Instead of becoming increasingly dependent on ‘imports’, why don’t we roll up our sleeves and actually do something to improve our football system even if it takes some years?
by Sergio Santos
From Oporto to the world, Sérgio Santos is an aspiring football writer who provides insight into the often overlooked Portuguese league. You can follow his blog at http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/theportugeezer
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You're an idiot if you think Deco is a better player than Rui was!
We have a good young squad who are going to surprise
the world .Ronaldo and Co. are going to the semi finals at
the very least.Go Portugal!!!!
LETS KEEP THE COMMENTS SHORTER. NO SHORT STORIES PLEASE!!!
Living in Canada we get the whole gambit of colonial cousins and I have a great time with them, and we cheer each other on.. except for Brazil.. although there is enough Portuguese here that do.. maybe your issue with colonials is more in your attitude. Maybe there problem is with you Min Ho.
I have had the complete opposite experience than you have, and we share our Portuguese establishments welcomely.
Clearly you don't care about my opinion so page up and skip my commentary. You state you don't care about what I did and then comment on it.. Cherry picking comments and feriously pounding your keys on the internet.
I won't bother to respond to you anymore, you're a keyboard jockey, and I have obviously upset you with a comment.
I apologize if you took Xenophobe personally I was talking about the Fed and some of the Portuguese commentary I have heard of late.
You clearly you are too superior for that.
What I fear more than anything else is that the national team will revert back to the lowly status they had prior to the years of the golden generation (costa, figo and co.). I can definitely see a lull in Portuguese national team football on the horizon. It's a scary thought, but don't be surprised if after this World Cup Portugal fail to qualify for successive major events, unless some young guns show up out of nowhere to save the day. Of course, we can always just offer citizenship to Brazilian players now, and field a Brazil B-Team haha.
C-Ron needs to step his game up. Put up or shut up! Keep the tears inside where they belong, play hard, and once and for all prove that you deserve the "World's Greatest Footballer" label. He is capable. I don't buy the argument that it's because he doesn't have support like he does in Real. Sure...but how many times does he just blow by some of the world's best defenders on his own when playing for Real? Simao and Nani are stepping up more than he.
I have low expectations, but you never know, thrown in an X Factor like Makukula, if he somehow makes the team, and we could be in for a ride. The injuries and the lack of goal scoring are the biggest concerns in my mind.
tactically were too one dimensional
point 2.We havent done enough development at the grass roots, in portugal or with expats all over the world to bring any talent home to even consider thinking of challenging for the future. we're stuck in the second group of top nations, who always nearly make it...
point 3. the federation is run by morons who have this xenophobic mentality with only portuguese coaches. They dont have a vision or a plan.
solution.
we need a visionary in charge of the federation who will lead the country to compete successfully for championsships for years to come. we dont have the population of brazil or england and as a result need to work smarter.
tell me why a country like holland who has the roughly the same population as potugal has produced so many quality players and are still doing so.
why arent we producing local strikers? why..becuase we're scared to employe foreign coaches like hiddink who can teach us and bring new ideas and so further teach new portuguese coaches.
Do you know why Mourinho hasnt taken over portugal..!!
A. becuase he would tell those old bureaucats at the federation how it it. He'd tell them to Fk off.
I personally turned to Volleyball, Football (American), Wrestling, and Baseball.. and I excelled at all of them, so much so that I dropped footie.
Many of these primo athletes could be used to further our gain, as of yet there was 2 that I knew of in the whole of the program.. a defender from hamilton, and Daniel Fernandes who might get the 3rd string goalie spot.
My cousin starred on TV here in the Canadian soccer championship finals on TSN for 2 years and he wasn't the only Portuguese player on the team or in the final for that matter, yet these players never get looked at seriously because they were not developed in Europe. Funny part is my teams in youth always destroyed our Euro opposition, especially on tour in Europe.. I wasn't even that good of a player.. yet all these gems are wasted.
To create a dominant program we need to scout the whole farm and not just stock that is visible.
As for Eric your comment Deco or Rui C.. get serious Rui was only great in the Portuguese mind.. I will admit I was never his biggest fan.. the same as I wasn't a major Deco fan.. most of the game they waffle in and out and couldn't hit a barn in front of them because they have little to zero kicking power.. but if you take both.. ask your foreign friends about their impact.. you will appreciate what the rest of the world sees.. Deco at least played for a top team in Barcelona and won a Euro Cup.. or 3
oops I forgot in 2003 Rui won a Euro Cup too.. it must have been extremely tiring patting Kaka on the back from the bench.. definitely changed the game with his contribution.
Hey I apologize if this comes off harsh for Rui, I don't disrespect him and he definitely made some timely contributions.. but you asked Eric..
Rui was only great in our eyes.. Deco attained higher results.. 2 Euro Cups a UEFA Cup, and Champions League Final Player of the match all as a starter not to mention all his other awards in his playing career, make him heads and shoulders above Rui. As for National team results.. like I said ... a toss up.
With the right selections we have one of the top 5 best teams on the planet.. with this manager we will be lucky to beat North Korea.
As for all the talk of the poor fan support etc.. I totally disagree we have a very passionate following.. that supports this team even at their worst.. look at the great posts debating our passion here.. but if the Fed won't make the right moves than booing is all we can do to bring the change necessary.
As for the comment about the fluke nature of the Denmark win in Portugal. It was no fluke with 15 mins left we had a 2 goal lead.. instead of shutting the game down.. by bringing in D.. Queiroz slapped the Danes awake.. he brought on 3 attackers.. to my stark horror.. and within minutes.. the Danes destroyed us appropriately, with skill and precision. It was no fluke it was incompetence from the manager and happened repeatedly throughout the campaign. We were out managed by the minnows.
If you cut a chickens head off.. they will run around like crazy with no direction.. that has been the national team for the last couple of years. The chicken kept on running.. and fortunately for us they managed to run in the right direction although they made a mess of everything.
Fortunately we have a very strong chicken..
everbody should stop the racist crap and let the coach choose
I agree with most of these points. The Leadership and Queiroz ones definitely. And also quality of players. When push comes to shove Meireles started and played all 90 minutes in every qualifying game for this team while on the Euro 2004 team he never even would have made the squad.
Queiroz needs to open up a little bit and not play 6 defensive minded players. Let Carvalho and Alves/Pepe do their jobs at the back. One holding midfielder, preferably Mendes (because he's a strong tackler and makes minimal mistakes on the ball.) should do the job. Play some midfielders with creativity that can get the likes of Ronaldo, Simao and Nani the ball.
I agree that the need to get stronger results but this could be the best defense they've had in years. They are not letting anything in at the moment. I am worried if Pepe will be back and some of the other injuries we keep getting stuck with. In addition I hope he doesn't experiment with too many more players for the last two friendlies. This would be a good time to just let the team gel together.
Given the first match is versus a team that is struggling at the moment and has no coach, we should be able to beat them. Korea will allow them to lock in the next round and I think we still can pull a surprise on Brazil.
Queiroz has shown time and time again that he can't be coaching as number one...His pretty much failed at every club his gone to...His better off serving as number two...Also how many players do you need to call up to finally know whos your best starting eleven?...
Absolutely agree with you on the poor qualifying campaign...I mean playing Sweden and Denmark away should have been the most challenging games of our group, but yet we had to suffer so much...(Good example is the two games against Albania...I mean 0-0 at home and needing a last minute goal to win away against a team like Albania is a complete joke!)...
Love your points on the lack of leadership...Ever since Figo left the NT for good, there hasn't really been a player to motivate the team when things aren't going well...Ronaldo is a poor excuse as a captain at this stage of his career and it pains me to say he was more mature during Euro 04 and WC 06 qualifying...You are suppose to mature with age, but for Ronaldo I guess its the other way around...IMO R.Carvalho should captain the squad...
I slightly disagree with you on the quality of the squad decreasing...We have many stars and stars in the making on the NT, but the main problem goes back to the leadership and coaching points...We need a player like Figo who can teach these kids and give his experience on how to deal with things in soccer...Also having a coach who doesn't take shit from anybody will help our cause...Theres to many on the NT with big egos and think they can win a game by themselves...With "Big Phil" he was the master at putting players in their place...
Lastly, I have a big problem with foreigners on the NT...I only think that if you were either born in Portugal, have relatives who were born in Portugal, or came to Portugal at a very young age then you can play for Portugal...But seeing players come in around the age of twenty and make a name for themselves in Portugal and soon realize that they won't ever get a chance to play with their real NT bothers me a lot...I really hope Liedson is the last case of this bullshit policy...Its time we start producing talent instead of going out and finding it
Liking.
Eduardo as the goalie.. don't feel like he will cost you a game
Ronaldo, Nani are both playing very well
Carvalho and Bruno Alves make a great combo
Worries.
Deco can't start, off the bench I am okay with him playing
Need a consistant performance at LB
However my major concern is finishing.... some games we should be win 4-0 but we finish with a 1-0 or 0-0 and that can't continue anymore....
Need early goals and a strong start to the tournament for players confidence and fan support.
#1
Now personally your number 1 is the main crux. Carlos Queiroz is a number 2 his only success as a first team manager was with the junior teams. You hire a number 2 to be a number 1 and you get lousy results. Only Xenophobes think Queer Eyes is a good manager.
Earth to Xenophobia this is his 3rd unsuccessful campaign at the helm for the National Team, how many times do you have to see the horse struggle before you shoot its ass.
I have a problem with the superiority complex of some of my brethren, Aces in their places.. if we don't have a great manager that cares to manage us at this point (only one is in Italy), then hire a foreigner that can do the job.
Previous to the Golden Gen, politics from the Federation has mired our results, some including myself will say that even during the Golden Gen the Fed had way to much involvement and it cost us one trophy and maybe two.
For you single celled folk whose thoughts cover a paragraph at most. tune out now.. this post is tailored to those who like some thought and breadth.
I was happy to see Scolari go because his style of management can only get you so far... he provided passion but was weak on the technical side of the game and it cost us majorly in many tournaments, and was a failure in qualifying.
I personally believe we need a technical manager one with a stiff lip. This Manager should provide some qualities that we don't naturally produce. So instead of a flair man like Scolari we need an Italian or German boss with an eye for quality and technical work. One that runs set plays and systems till they are perfected. One that says no especially to the biggest players.
There should only be one boss and he should be on the bench, the lack of creativity, and semblance of team play is down to Queer Eyes.. and through the players talent alone they squeezed through in the end, with him begging them to achieve through the media.
They have a show on TV here in North America about weight loss... the National Team would win hands down if they jettisoned Queer Eyes.. they would lose the most weight because he is the "Biggest Loser."
So Sergio I agree with Queer Eyes but the biggest reason we will fail is the Federation who needs a Portuguese speaking manager that they can control and have his ear
this the the main reason at fault. They are to blame period.
Hiddink was available and everyone vied for his services.. Wth our lousy manager we should have been the first in line.. yet in their eyes he wasn't ever an option.
#2
As for qualifying see #1 lousy Manager even worse Fed
#3
Lack of Leadership.. although I agree with you to a certain extent you can't blame the players for the lack of a manager.. actually truth is they were left to run the team and in the end with no management they pulled their own bootstraps up and qualified. The players should be highly commended for their efforts.
Players like Pepe/Carvalho/Alves who covered for incompetence around them literally dragged the squad by the scruff of the neck to the WC.
As for Figo at the same age he was as arrogant and useless as CR is to Portugal at the moment. In a small country with few challengers elite players have an over inflated self worth, and individually it has paid great dividends. Wow a few player's of the year...woohoo..
Figo only became a great player later on.. and the blended team most remember for success had an older Figo that was robbed of his ego..
That is why I believe we need a manager that can slap some humility and structure into the overly flair oriented cast-offs we have.
The Figo teams blew lots of games.. and those combo teams should have won trophies.. but to blame the current crop.. is wrong.
Pepe/Carvalho alone have dragged this team to a place they did not deserve. That is leadership in the face of having none on the bench.
As for Simao most Porkchops mistakenly think all wing players should be like Figo, Ronaldo, Quaresma, etc.. so Simao looks like a failure.
The age of Youtube and instant gratification eludes Simao's greatest skills.. and I myself only appreciated this in Scolari's campaign.
Simao does not have the speed to blow past defenders.. his greatest skills are that:
1) He hits a mean left slow swerving free kick the perfect opposite of CR's hard right swerver. With both there the GK is screwed period if they hit the target. Probably the best 1-2 in the world.
2) Field possession- where most see him not beating defenders on the one on one very few notice what he is actually doing. He is not beating them.. he is getting field possession. He controls the field.. he takes the ball.. and bang off the leg.. and they set up for a corner.. he gets the ball back.. and bang at worst throw-in. This pressure is what causes havoc.. a team constantly defending in the danger zone is what created results for us in Germany.. with a weak defence your best result is field possession. Simao is the master of this.. will he blow the doors off of internationals... nope.. but hemming them in their zone all night he is the master. I wish Ronaldo & Nani would learn this skill.
Add to that Simao's impressive goal scoring record for Portugal and I feel insulted.. he scores at a higher rate than the strikers and even CR.. yet he is treated like a lesion. Used properly and with the right boss.. this dude is not only selfless.. he is the type of do as I do leader we need.
****Warning Long Post could require Brain cells****
#4
This is where I start to get offended.. besides the squad that included Figo & CR.. this team even with Queer Eyes selection is vastly improved. At every position bar a few we are better. Do you want to go back to the Golden Gen.. who would you rather have.. Couto & Costa vs Carvalho & Alves.. Ricardo over Eduardo..
Figo vs CR?
Petit vs Pepe?
Rui C vs Deco is a toss up..
Pauleta vs Leidson?
Although the Combined Gen is great this squad is heads and shoulders above the old.. that is the most upsetting part. Like paying for a Mercedes and finding out that Lada just bought them out, and is restructuring for success.
The main issue with strikers is we don't have any that could play on their own, very few nations do.
Yet since I can remember we are forced to play with a lone striker. Pauleta would have been even better with a partner but the majority of these new strikers are better skilled than Pauleta.. yet they get less service.. How many times do you have to see the record skip before you change it?
The 1 Striker system does not work for us.. and most of our players do not practice it at their clubs.. Of course this means we should employ it FT at the National Team.
Idiots..
As for the Petit comment I could not be more offended.. some people mistake hard tackling for being a defensive player. I don't..
A great Defensive Mid.. is never offensive.. not with this squad anyways... when he does his job right you never see him..Why? because he is covering the odd man all the time.. and there is no openings.. the most he does is volley a header or two go forward and like Costinha did with aplomb score a header on a set piece. At last resort when caught out you would make a crunching tackle ala Guttuso for Italy , since Petit is known for only his wild challenges the only thing for certain is that he is out of position, hence the flagrant lunging fouls.
A defensive mid has to cover for Fullbacks attacks and every counter measure on the field.
The best two DM's ever have been Pepe and Meira as they were solid in the air and defensively sound, and even countered with some offence as a last resort. I would only include Costinha in with them both.
Pepe's masterful sweeper role is what provided the defence with steel enough to get us here. With Duda and ferreira losing their one on one battles, Pepe shut out the opposition by giving them no space.. he shut down every hole they gave in those playoff matches.. not only saving their bacon but ours.
Any talk of players like Veloso in the DM who are offensive is offensive to me. I love Veloso but only in an offensive position.. as part of this squad we have no room for flair from the DM position.
Petit was the worst DM EVER for Portugal!!! The holes he left we will never get back.
and of course #5.. the Xenophobic Policy..
This one bothers me more than the rest..
because it is our colonial brothers that are at fault for the poor results..
Without Pepe we would not even be here.. him sweeping up for the atrocious morons on the wing.. clearly showed his disdain for the country.
Like Joca said the complaints only come when their are questions.. when they win cleanly very few complain. Now I might want to get rid of Deco but it has nothing to do with him being Brazilian.. only the fact that he does not play well.
My colonial brothers are my brothers and it is seeds that my forefathers shed blood and lives for in their travels across the globe. They are all my brothers no matter the skin colour.. they have to play 6 years in the EU to become nationalized.. that is a very long time.. in North America you can apply for citizenship in 3yrs.. being that on this continent it is all foreigners I have no problem with someone that makes an allegiance to a flag when they have colonial and heritage ties. I have greater issue with Brazilian's playing for Morocco or Croatia, I do not support the Brazilian team.. because of their lack of respect for their colonial fathers.. but if a Brazilian jumps on our side that means they are on our side.
The worst part of the WC is it brings out the worst type of racism.. especially when it is masked off as anything but.
Hey Klundert is not exactly a Portuguese name but Tom here does an amazing job and without him many would miss out.. including me.. I for one respect the massive work the guys here take on for next to no pay. That is passion.. one that might no be home-bred.. but is admired by most.
So a Xenophobic rant only makes me wonder what our foreign allegiance thinks of us as a people, I personally think we are better.
Does that mean we give up on a system that teaches homegrown skill first of course not, and Sergio is right we have to have a Plan.. to create homegrown talent at each position.. but to deny players that we have developed from our colonial past through our systems for at least 6 years is wrong.
Why should Brazil prosper from Pepe who came at 15 .. and who was trained and developed in Portugal to the player he is now?
I always hear about Deco, Pepe, Leidson.. who are our colonials.. but don't hear as much about Bosingwa, and Mak who aren't colonially related... or even worse Queer Eyes who isn't even Portuguese.. he was born in Mozambique. Yet some because of his skin tone have always believed he was Portuguese, I think a black manager from Mozza would have been received differently.
As I stated earlier.. I could care less the colonial past.. as long as the blood is there. I don't care where Queer Eyes is from.. he sucks.. that is all I care about. If he was Portuguese and sucked I would hate him too.
Minhoto says it best.. we are a small nation.. but the truth is we are one of the largest naturalized tongues in the world.. so we have through exploration spread our selves out.. exponentially and have more of a base to choose from.
Contrary to what he thinks I think we are only as small as we make ourselves to be. Personally I think we are huge.. and beyond the homegrown talent there is 1 million pork chops in the Paris area alone.. not to mention another half a mil in the Toronto area.. to name just two cities in our global expansion.
Our future is bright and not withered.. we just need a good team to develop the crop we have globally.. Robert Pires could've played for the Nat team.. as well as many others.. winning breeds pride.. time to ditch the biggest loser.. and the fed attached to him.
Also, notice how he started up the u-23 program again, and the "B" team, or whatever it is called.
R. Carvalho is the right captain for the club.
I'd choose Carvalho as our Captain.
If you really look at the team Queiroz has given us, it has improved greatly. We have become an extreamly solid defensive team. The combination of Bruno Alves and Ricardo Carvalho is arguably the best in the world. Switching the formation to a 4-1-2-3 looked risky especially with Pepe as the holding midfielder, but he has played amazingly well. The combination of Carvalho, Alves and Pepe makes us almost impossible to break down when we don't have the ball and Pepe gives us a lot of muscle and height in the attack as well.
We are blessed with the best wingers in the world including the best player in the world. We have fixed our striker problem with the addition of Liedson. Our midfield looks good with Meireles, who in my opinion is very important to the seleccao but really needs to cut down on the shots from 30 yards out, and Deco/Micael a creative passing midfielder.
Eduardo is also much more solid than Ricardo and Quim. Our weeknesses in the past were that we didn't have a quality striker. Had a skillfull, but very small midfield. No clear left back, which still may be a problem. And a goal keeper that closes his eyes and pisses his pants when dealing with corners and crosses. We have filled these weakness nicely and I think we can be the dark horses of the competition. We have the quality to beat anyone.
FORCA PORTUGAL!!!!!
I kinda have to agree with the other points you make so, CQ please, please, please prove me wrong.
Bosingwa's out, Pepe's chances are 50/50. For the rest of the probable/possible squad follow this link: http://bit.ly/bpkdSs
2.The side improved always in the qualifying campagn. The China game means zero.
3. I agree that Ronaldo should not be our captain. Bruno Alves would be the best.
4. Liedson is better than Pauleta, Ronaldo is a better player than in 2006, Eduardo is better than Ricardo, Alves-Carvalho is a brillhante comboniation. Portugal have not let in any goals from 6 matches!
5. No poeple was complaining about Deco when Portugal were winning. Liedson and Pepe love being Portuguese and they play with MORE passion than some of other players.
Don't be negative! Força Portugal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!