He Should be Called No-No Gomes
By: Greg | March 29th, 2007With all due respect to Serbia, given their recent form, Portugal really had no business whatsoever finishing with a 1-1 tie (Tiago goal) yesterday. Fresh off a drubbing of Belgium 4-0 on the weekend, Portugal looked prime to steamroll through this fixture in spite of a supposedly injured Cristiano Ronaldo with Simao returning to the starting XI.
Instead, coach Felipe Scolari chose to sit Quaresma and start a hobbled Ronaldo and a mediocre Nuno Gomes. His goal the other day aside, Nuno Gomes’s present form isn’t in the same galaxy as Quaresma’s.
This team is too young, too fresh, and too skilled not to make a serious run at this Euro 2008 title. However, as long as Scolari continues to be satisfied with away ties, the team will never hit its true stride and potential. Far be it from me to try and tell a World Cup-winning coach who to play and who to sit, but I want to hear from SOMEONE, ANYONE out there who thinks that picking Nuno Gomes over Quaresma wasn’t a mistake even before the disappointing result came to fruition.
Scolari told reporters after the game that the result wasn’t so bad since Serbia are “a very strong team who are in the same bracket with us in terms of quality.”
Give me a break. He can not afford to go soft on this relatively young team. They have started VERY slowly in this qualifying period but were looking to begin hitting form. Scolari better light a fire under someone’s ass soon or he can expect this inconsistency to continue.
Category: Euro
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
Greg – tough to second guess a coach like Scolari, but I’m more or less in agreement with you. The result, when you consider the math, wasn’t bad, but in terms of momentum and attitude, playing for draws sucks and sets a negative tone.
http://portugal.worldcupblog.org
Posted from
United States
-
Since it was about 70 degrees farenheit the other day, I decided to don my european style bathing suit and take a stroll around Newark, NJ. I then walked up and down Ferry Street where I was met with many whistles and pats on the behind. After that, I went to Tony Da Caneca’s and bought 100 orders of Serraduda to go and I swam around in that amalgamation of Nilla Wafers and Whipped Cream. So Greg, I am sorry that there was no Serraduda left for you the day after, I just needed to feel the cool gelatinous mixture all over my hairy body. If you would like to, bring a small cup and a spoon, I still have the serraduda in my bathtub. Good day sir.
Posted from
United States -
You’re being too harsh, Greg.
Quaresma is excelent but not every team is Belgium. After globalization, there aren’t “bad teams”… Even the bad teams can put 10 men behind the ball, make your life hell and on minute 91 they score and we cry… And any team can always play the more “european” football, that relies on physycal features and tactics, not so much on skills (and pleasure).
Servia aren’t a bad team (they never were, beit S&M, beit Yugoslavia, beit ex-Yugoslavia) and playing away in the balkans will always be difficult. Ask the english who went not to Belgrade but to Zagreb…
Nuno Gomes had its time, although he’s still usefull… He’s a man that plays behind the #9 and is more known for deciding high tension matches than for being a prolific goal scorer. It is enerving how he misses so many…
H Postiga might never have his time…
H Almeida is in the making, in the ever demanding “german school”… Well, not so demanding, but it’s the best place for a striker to become clinical. Something portugese strikers usually aren’t.
Anyway, the only winger I see being able to “replace” a striker in the 4-3-3 classical PT, is Simao. Scolari is rightfully (IMO) getting C Ronaldo to do it as well. He kicks well, etc, so it’s not because wingers aren’t usually expected to also be strikers in Portugal, that they shouldn’t start going for it. Also shooting rather than the classical winger role…
We don’t really have any more strikers. Quaresma and CR both boost with talent. But it’s not easy to replace a guy like Figo. More for the stuff we don’t see on TV, than the stuff we see players do with the ball. So, even all this tallent needs maturing. And even mature, it will never yield every game… Strategy is of the essence…
And nobody beats Scolari there… 
FORCA PORTUGAL!
FORCA SPORTING!Posted from
Netherlands
Comments are closed
Home 
