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Tuesday, 15 May 2012 09:37 |
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Well, as Paulo Bento said, no need to agree with him, but respect him. There is no right choice. Paulo Bento has a style and an approach in mind and he chose the players who would be right for it. Talking about physicality misses the point completely, since the team does not play that way.
Truth is: playing the best players is not the same as playing the best team. Sweden are constantly overperforming when they play without Ibrahimovic, which serves as an example of how NOT playing a great player can help the team.
Concerning the selection, my main gripe is the choice of only 23 players. Granted that only 23 can be registered, but there is nothing saying the selection has to comprise of only those players. In the preparation period it could be beneficial to have another 3 or 4 players. Players can be injured, appear in very bad physical shape, have fall-outs with Bento or the colleagues, etc. Adding immediately another 3 or 4 players would prevent late inclusions of players who had not practiced together (and who were on holidays) and would increase competition for the not-obvious places in the final selection. Adding Manuel Fernandes, Nelson or Carrico as an example would increase the competitiveness of Martins, Custodio or Miguel Lopes. As it is, knowing they are second choices but being guaranteed the trip, they may not put up the same effort.
Anyway, at a glance, if everything clicks, I can see Portugal losing to Germany, scraping a win against Holland and beating Denmark to go through. This is realistic. Also realistic is seeing Holland tearing Portugal apart with diagonal high balls to beat our full-backs using Kuyt and van Persie on the wings. This may well be enough to destroy Pereira and Coentrao, who are not adept playing the ball in the air. Against Germany I simply don't see Portugal doing much, unless the Germans have a really bad day. Good thing as mentioned before, is that if Portugal does go through the group phase, it should be comparably easier to reach the semis, where the jig should be up.
All in all, I don't expect much. Ronaldo is the best player Portugal produced in decades, but he will arrive with 60+ matches on the legs and, knowing that Portugal hardly ever has an alternative handy (meaning that the opponents can double or triple up on him), it is likely his impact is reduced. With the dwindling talent pool, this should be the last major occasion to shine. Brazil 2014 should be reachable, but Portugal should get used to realistic expectations: qualification is the most realistic target in coming years.
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