Portugal tied Finland and reached the finals of Euro 08. Portugal needed only 1 point to advance but came out to win the game. The same can't be said about Finland that did very little to get the three points, a result that would guarantee their qualification.
Portugal didn't play as well as everyone knows they are capable, but they were effective defensively and did enough to shutdown Finland and make them a non-threatening team.
But once again it was suffering until the very last minute
Scolari fielded the following 11:
Ricardo, Bosingwa, Pepe,Alves, Caneira; Meira, Veloso, Maniche; Quaresma, Ronaldo and Nuno Gomes.
An unexpected starting 11, but here's the logic; The insertion of Meira in the midfield is a clear act of populating the midfield, hence cutting down the space for attacking midfielders to penetrate. Not to mention that this clearly gives the core of the midfield more of a defensive posture, freeing up Quaresma and Ronaldo to attack. The defensive posture was necessary for this game; while a tie was sufficient, a loss would be a devastating result. Portugal didn't play for the tie, but they solidified their midfield, and built from that in hopes they could go up on the scoreboard, yet be defensive enough to no allow any goals, that was the main objective - not allowing goals. Both Veloso and Maniche played side by side while alternating on their attacking runs, while Meira played in front of the central defenders with a limited area of action as far as attacking went. This is a position that Meira plays at his club and it turned out to be the right choice for Scolari, as Meira plays well in that area, right in front of the defenders and as a first line of defense, as well as the "cleaner" playing for the second ball. With Meira stepping up into midfield, Pepe seemed to be the logical choice for the center of the defense. Playing with Alves, his partner last year at Porto, Pepe played a very good game and i was very impressed with his contribution; winning balls with quick anticipation, not to mention how effective he can be in offensive set pieces with his aerial game. Up front, we continue to see a Ronaldo and Quaresma a little bit below of their potential, perhaps the result of the Fin numbers that would immediately drop into their attacking lanes. Nuno Gomes played upfront and tried to combine with Ronaldo and Quaresma as much as he could, but very alone up front. Meireles, Makukula and Nani, came in to refresh positions. Not a pretty game, but effective, Portugal qualifies for their 3rd consecutive European Championship, and once again solidifies their status as European Elite. It was a tough qualification road, but, we must remember that this a Portuguese team that is going through renovation, new blood is being brought in, and these new players need time. Scolari has used 40 different players in the past 3 years, a clear sign of change.
Now it's time to look forward and put this qualifying behind us, there's 6 months until the finals, hopefully Scolari can bring this team together and make them play to their potential.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Mission Accomplished!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Portugal 1 - Armenia 0 - Just Enough
Portugal beat Armenia by the score of 1-0, in a game where the goal and the 3 points were the most important thing. I'm not going to go into a long analysis of the game; i'll summarize it by saying that the performance wasn't all that great, but in soccer, goals win games not performances and in that aspect Portugal deserved to win. Portugal will need to play a lot better on Wednesday when they face Finland. The Fins are a lot better than Armenia and have as much riding on the result as Portugal.
As always, it seems to be the norm for the national team to make the Portuguese people suffer until the very last whistle, it's a tradition by now. Portugal really didn't need to be in this position, but they head into the final round of qualifying looking for 1 spot out of the 4 still up for grabs for the Euro 08. Poland has already qualified, which leaves Portugal, Servia and Finland to fight for the very last spot in Group A. - "Sofre Coracao"
Check Back for a preview of the Finland game.
