Group B - Portugal/Spain/Iran/Morocco
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10 years of FIFMorocco is a good team but Spain has a laughable group. Ronaldo gets his team to the next round
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Forum SupporterSurprisingly Fábio Coentrão released a statement saying he doesn´t feel fit enough represent Portugal well in the WC.
He had a good season for Sporting, the first in years where he didn´t struggle with injuries and you could feel his confidence again.
He´d likely start as well because Guerreiro didn´t play consistently this season.
Even though I don´t like him I feel that it was a very noble decision for him, even more considering that this would be his last WC with an almost guaranty of a place in the first 11.
Fernando Santos released a first list of 35 players yesterday (don´t know why since he´ll annonce the last 23 in 3 days) and it´s a mystery who´s going to be called for the extra LB spot.
Antunes, Mário Rui are the natural players for that position but I don´t think Antunes has a chance. I believe Mário Rui will be called even though a lot of people prefer Ricardo who can also play as LB to fill the position since apparently the coach doens´t want him as a RB.
He had a good season for Sporting, the first in years where he didn´t struggle with injuries and you could feel his confidence again.
He´d likely start as well because Guerreiro didn´t play consistently this season.
Even though I don´t like him I feel that it was a very noble decision for him, even more considering that this would be his last WC with an almost guaranty of a place in the first 11.
Fernando Santos released a first list of 35 players yesterday (don´t know why since he´ll annonce the last 23 in 3 days) and it´s a mystery who´s going to be called for the extra LB spot.
Antunes, Mário Rui are the natural players for that position but I don´t think Antunes has a chance. I believe Mário Rui will be called even though a lot of people prefer Ricardo who can also play as LB to fill the position since apparently the coach doens´t want him as a RB.
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Forum SupporterFinal List:
Gks - Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Beto (Goztepe) e Rui Patrício (Sporting)
Defenders - Bruno Alves (Rangers), Cédric Soares (Southampton), José Fonte (Dalian Yifang), Mário Rui (Nápoles), Pepe (Besiktas), Raphael Guerreiro (Dortmund), Ricardo Pereira (FC Porto) e Rúben Dias (Benfica)
Midfielders - Adrien Silva (Leicester), Bruno Fernandes (Sporting), João Mário (West Ham), João Moutinho (Mónaco), Manuel Fernandes (Lokomotiv), e William Carvalho (Sporting)
Forwards - André Silva (Milan), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Gelson Martins (Sporting), Gonçalo Guedes (Valência) e Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas)
___________
First of all: NO EDER our Lord and saviour, say goodbye to our chances of winning the title!
No surprises when it comes to the Gks.
CBs: B. Alves (36), Fonte (34), Pepe (35), Rúben Dias (21)
Well, super old set of CBs, Ruben Dias doesn´t have any cap for the NT but wasn´t a big surprise considering the age of the rest of the lot.
Bruno Alves was good 8 years ago, Fonte was never great, Pepe is still very good, I wouldn´t be that surprised if Dias player alongside Pepe but Fonte is more likely to play.
LBs: With Coentrão asking to be out of the WC Mário Rui was the most logical option.
RBs: Cedric, I talked about him before, he´s like our 4th best option for the spot but he´s reliable so he´ll start.
Now a surprise was Ricardo, I guess no one saw that coming, not that he´s bad, far from that he had a fantastic season, but he wasn´t even called for the last friendlies and apparently wasn´t an option for the coach, I don´t know what happened in this month that convinced the coach to call him. I believe Cancelo was the better option, Nélson Semedo didn´t have the best season but he plays for Barcelona, I believe everyone was expecting Cedric and Semedo to be called.
On the midfield when Danilo was injured it was almost a given that Ruben Neves was taking that spot, he was always the option when one of Danilo or William couldn´t make it. I´m gutted he wasn´t called and IMO going to a WC with only one defensive midfielder is stupid, even more considering William is facing injuries this end of the season. I´d take him over Adrien that only played half a season.
André Gomes out is also unexpected, not because of his performances because since he signed for Barcelona his performances for the club and NT went from very good to almost amateur, but because the coach loved him and he plays for a big club, anyway he probably didn´t deserve it. Manuel Fernandes didn´t play for us in like 4 years but was back recently, don´t know why we are including a 32 year old again in the team when we have younger options in the midfield but I always liked him and he plays in Russia so I guess that also played in his favor somehow.
Glad Bruno Fernandes was called, entirely deserved, one of the best players in the league, he´s class.
Up front, the only doubts were if Eder was being called because of his goal in the final and, being more rational, in this competitions you need a target man and he´s the only option for the job. it´s not abysmal he´s not going but I still feel bad for him.
Nani out isn´t exactly a surprising because he´s passed it but many still though he´d make it over Gonçalo Guedes, I´m glad he didn´t.
We´ll likely play with
Patricio
Cedric - Pepe - Fonte - Guerreiro
Bernardo Silva - William - Moutinho/Adrien - J. Mário
Ronaldo - André Silva
I´d play with
Patricio
R. Pereira - Pepe - Dias - Guerreiro
Gelson - William - B. Fernandes - Bernardo Silva
Ronaldo - André Silva (only because Ronaldo plays better with him on the pitch otherwise I´d choose Gonçalo Guedes)
Also you can expect to see Quaresma coming on the pitch a lot in the last 20´ the coach revived him for the NT and he´s always a threat coming from the bench.
Gks - Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Beto (Goztepe) e Rui Patrício (Sporting)
Defenders - Bruno Alves (Rangers), Cédric Soares (Southampton), José Fonte (Dalian Yifang), Mário Rui (Nápoles), Pepe (Besiktas), Raphael Guerreiro (Dortmund), Ricardo Pereira (FC Porto) e Rúben Dias (Benfica)
Midfielders - Adrien Silva (Leicester), Bruno Fernandes (Sporting), João Mário (West Ham), João Moutinho (Mónaco), Manuel Fernandes (Lokomotiv), e William Carvalho (Sporting)
Forwards - André Silva (Milan), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Gelson Martins (Sporting), Gonçalo Guedes (Valência) e Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas)
___________
First of all: NO EDER our Lord and saviour, say goodbye to our chances of winning the title!
No surprises when it comes to the Gks.
CBs: B. Alves (36), Fonte (34), Pepe (35), Rúben Dias (21)
Well, super old set of CBs, Ruben Dias doesn´t have any cap for the NT but wasn´t a big surprise considering the age of the rest of the lot.
Bruno Alves was good 8 years ago, Fonte was never great, Pepe is still very good, I wouldn´t be that surprised if Dias player alongside Pepe but Fonte is more likely to play.
LBs: With Coentrão asking to be out of the WC Mário Rui was the most logical option.
RBs: Cedric, I talked about him before, he´s like our 4th best option for the spot but he´s reliable so he´ll start.
Now a surprise was Ricardo, I guess no one saw that coming, not that he´s bad, far from that he had a fantastic season, but he wasn´t even called for the last friendlies and apparently wasn´t an option for the coach, I don´t know what happened in this month that convinced the coach to call him. I believe Cancelo was the better option, Nélson Semedo didn´t have the best season but he plays for Barcelona, I believe everyone was expecting Cedric and Semedo to be called.
On the midfield when Danilo was injured it was almost a given that Ruben Neves was taking that spot, he was always the option when one of Danilo or William couldn´t make it. I´m gutted he wasn´t called and IMO going to a WC with only one defensive midfielder is stupid, even more considering William is facing injuries this end of the season. I´d take him over Adrien that only played half a season.
André Gomes out is also unexpected, not because of his performances because since he signed for Barcelona his performances for the club and NT went from very good to almost amateur, but because the coach loved him and he plays for a big club, anyway he probably didn´t deserve it. Manuel Fernandes didn´t play for us in like 4 years but was back recently, don´t know why we are including a 32 year old again in the team when we have younger options in the midfield but I always liked him and he plays in Russia so I guess that also played in his favor somehow.
Glad Bruno Fernandes was called, entirely deserved, one of the best players in the league, he´s class.
Up front, the only doubts were if Eder was being called because of his goal in the final and, being more rational, in this competitions you need a target man and he´s the only option for the job. it´s not abysmal he´s not going but I still feel bad for him.
Nani out isn´t exactly a surprising because he´s passed it but many still though he´d make it over Gonçalo Guedes, I´m glad he didn´t.
We´ll likely play with
Patricio
Cedric - Pepe - Fonte - Guerreiro
Bernardo Silva - William - Moutinho/Adrien - J. Mário
Ronaldo - André Silva
I´d play with
Patricio
R. Pereira - Pepe - Dias - Guerreiro
Gelson - William - B. Fernandes - Bernardo Silva
Ronaldo - André Silva (only because Ronaldo plays better with him on the pitch otherwise I´d choose Gonçalo Guedes)
Also you can expect to see Quaresma coming on the pitch a lot in the last 20´ the coach revived him for the NT and he´s always a threat coming from the bench.
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10 years of FIFWith a decent league how are your CBs that fking old!!!
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Forum SupporterPorto was the one that often gave CBs to the NT since forever, Couto, Jorge Costa, Jorge Andrade, Ricardo Carvalho, Pepe, Rolando, Bruno Alves, lately we only play foreigners, currently a brazilian and a spanish guy.
Benfica is playing Dias but only because Luisão is super old, they´ve been playing with Brazilians or Argentinians for years now.
Sporting, the team that plays Portuguese players the most, is now playing Mathieu and Coates also their best portuguese CBS over the years were either sold or are on loan, some of them were very promissing but never really made it big, Nuno Reis, Carriço (this one did OK but moved to CDM), Tobias Figueiredo, Paulo Oliveira, Rúben Semedo are some of those that come to mind but there are others.
We always had great depth in CBs it´s too bad this is happening now, we have some talents that are coming hopefully they can achieve their potential but right now it´s almost embarrassing that we have to rely in all those old guys.
Benfica is playing Dias but only because Luisão is super old, they´ve been playing with Brazilians or Argentinians for years now.
Sporting, the team that plays Portuguese players the most, is now playing Mathieu and Coates also their best portuguese CBS over the years were either sold or are on loan, some of them were very promissing but never really made it big, Nuno Reis, Carriço (this one did OK but moved to CDM), Tobias Figueiredo, Paulo Oliveira, Rúben Semedo are some of those that come to mind but there are others.
We always had great depth in CBs it´s too bad this is happening now, we have some talents that are coming hopefully they can achieve their potential but right now it´s almost embarrassing that we have to rely in all those old guys.
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Forum SupporterFirst friendly today, a lot of changes as expected but I think that Fernando Santos is seriously testing 2 things that may give some indications.
Rúben Dias is playing his first international game ever and alongside Pepe, I believe this is to test the consistency of the duo, it´s one of the biggest doubts right now, who´ll pay with Pepe as CB.
Also Adrien Silva is starting with William Carvalho like in the last euro, that probably means that Fernando Santos is giving the midfield spot to Adrien instead of Moutinho even though Adrien had 0 minutes played between August and January (problems with a last minute transfer).
Rúben Dias is playing his first international game ever and alongside Pepe, I believe this is to test the consistency of the duo, it´s one of the biggest doubts right now, who´ll pay with Pepe as CB.
Also Adrien Silva is starting with William Carvalho like in the last euro, that probably means that Fernando Santos is giving the midfield spot to Adrien instead of Moutinho even though Adrien had 0 minutes played between August and January (problems with a last minute transfer).
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10 years of FIFWatching telemundo and the spanish fans and announcers are talking mad shit!!!
Hope Portugal wins 5-1 like Holland did last time
Hope Portugal wins 5-1 like Holland did last time
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10 years of FIFTwo African teams and still have seen 0 black players
It’s cool the real African all stars will play soon (France) or Colombia
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10 years of FIFyeah this match is anyway better the famous Slovachia Slovenia or Japan Croatia 2006
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oh you guys are here. This group should be called "Battle of Carthage". Spain and Portugal are sure to go through, but I will root for Morocco, I always had that sympathy towards them since 1998, Mustapha El Hadji - the moroccan Baggio. Go Morocco!
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10 years of FIFsorry but
Oh, wait.................
kay:
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Hahaahaha LOL man.sorry butisn´t even in the world cup, you cant discuss here :work:
Oh, wait.................
On a serious note, if I had to chose between Italy and Kz taking part in the WC, I would definitely go for Italy. My poor Kazakhstan will qualify to the World Cup when Fifa decides to increase the number of participants to 100 maybe