| Portugal: big names but can they qualify? | ||||
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| PS Internacional - English | |||
 June 15 2010: the very first final is the very first match - this is the most common idea to any Portuguese fan. But what if we lose to the Ivory Coast? We'll certainly have to beat Brazil... The truth is: Portugal are certainly not the biggest favourites to qualify. Indeed, the very same fans are aware that even with Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe, Deco and Liedson this team has some too many loose ends. But hey, with Carlos Queiroz in charge, anything can happen - including total defeat.So let's start with Queiroz: after leaving his comfortable assistant rule at Man U, he is now ranked the 7th best paid overall from all the national team coaches in South Africa. Carlos is finally having the biggest test of his long coaching career. Twenty years ago, after becoming Under-21 world champion in 1989 and 1991, he was considered a visionnaire, with his scientific methods, detailed organization and a innovative approach. Right now, most of the people doubt he can deliver: he seems to be an excellent team group leader, providing comfort and respect to his players, but when it comes to the technical side, he's been accused of making constant and relevant mistakes while reading the game, being too conservative when choosing the team and, most of all, of not being sure of how to use his options. And he's having some hard time to make people believe he is the one. The qualifying campaign showed a group of somewhat confused Portuguese players incapable to understand how it was possible to lose to Denmark, then to not score one single goal against Albania and Sweden - all at home. Queiroz certainly brought his know-how, experience and smooth man-management skills, not to mention exhaustive scouting tools; and even his own doubts on whether playing non-Portuguese born players, like Pepe, Deco and the latter Liedson had to be ignored - or he would never get to South Africa. But being a coach is much more than this. And this is what the world will know by June 2010. Taking a closer look at the Portuguese squad, there's the obvious top players - but there also too many flaws. The goalkeeper Eduardo (Braga) has been and will be a starter - but he's not world class. Very good behind the posts, he hardly comes out of the goal and doesn’t know how to play in the area. Anxious, he never provides total reliability. But there are no other options, only Quim (Benfica) and the young Rui Patrício (Sporting Lisbon), who are clearly inferior. The right back would be Chelsea's Bosingwa – a very good player but who has too many physical issues and no one can say how he will be in June. Other options: the experienced Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea) and Miguel (Valencia), both on their way down. More problems at left back. Queiroz has tried many options, with the latest being Málaga's Duda, who's playing offensive midfielder at his club. And he seems to be the best option, even if he could finally use an adapted Miguel Veloso (Sporting Lisbon), and Paulo Ferreira or Miguel coming from the right side.  Cristiano Ronaldo has struggled to repeat his club form with Portugal / Photo: Special PS The central defenders are another problem - but a good problem: Pepe (Real Madrid), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea) and Bruno Alves (Porto) are all having superb seasons and should be more than starters, but only two can play. Queiroz has been playing Pepe as defensive midfielder, after Pedro Mendes (Glasgow Rangers) got injured and other players have shown inconsistency. Mendes will probably keep his place, depending on how he comes back, so that would send eventually Bruno Alves to the bench - certainly due to his lower current status (yet). With Queiroz finally decided to play the traditional 4-3-3, the other central midfield positions will see Raul Meireles (Porto) as a second midfielder and Deco (Chelsea) as a playmaker, but Deco's lack of continuity and other options like the reliable Tiago (Juventus), the versatile Miguel Veloso and dynamic João Moutinho (Sporting Lisbon) can make names and formations change. We then have Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - he actually can play anywhere up front, but he's most likely to be used playing wide open, with Simão (Atlético Madrid) on the other wing. Nani (Man United) has been claiming for a start, and many people would probably back this option, but the true is that Simão has showed great composure and scored some vital goals. Considering the striker position will be given to the brand new Portuguese citizen Liedson (Sporting Lisbon), the experienced Nuno Gomes (Benfica) and the strong Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen) are not extraordinary extra power. It's clear that all these names are able to do some damage to any opponent at all - but we are not playing alone. And so there comes the Ivory Coast. Rated by transfermark.co.uk as the most valuable African national team with a total value of 167.297.750 £, players like Drogba (Chelsea), Yaya Touré (Barcelona) and Romaric (Sevilla) are only some of the Ivorian stars. We are aware that the African players are the present and future of football, with all their natural technical and physical skills - and many think that this World Cup will finally see a local team climb to the top stage. The North Koreans are not a world class team, but on their day they can make things pretty hard to any team. And just because we are not able to spell their players' names, it doesn't mean they are not able to play at all. Because they can, and they have a world class striker in the Japanese born Chong Teese (Kawasaki). And at last, but never least, Brazil. With too many names, too many options, too many titles to their account no qualifying discussion about them makes sense. And if a team can qualify from this group then it certainly is more than ready to go all the way through the final stage. Considering the unexpected qualifying play-off, current expectations are not too high - and, again, Carlos Queiroz is having a very hard time to make people believe. Actually, it seems that nobody is listening to his technical details, eventual opponent knowledge or even the starting eleven - we just want them to deliver when it comes to the real thing. In the end, I would say it's a too short-handed squad with a couple of uncovered positions and with only some 13-14 real options, including a few world class players - but which have shown maturity, good team spirit and a very serious approach either winning or not. So how far can Portugal go? We'll know on June 15 2010 some minutes after 17h45 local time...
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