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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The battle of Iberia


Carlos Queiroz, you need to go right now. Do the decent thing, and step down!
You proved to the entire world, that you had no confidence in our national team.
I have to admit, this loss was tough, but I did not have any realistic ideas that Portugal was going to win the World Cup.
As soon as Carlos Queiroz was named the head coach of the NT, I had a feeling that he was going to cost our country a chance to win the Cup.
Right from the beginning, he was using negative tactics against our direct opponents in World Cup Qualifiers. He was using the now famous "park the bus" tactic, which basically means that you defend with 11 players, with everyone behind the ball.
Draws with Albania, and a loss to Denmark at home, only seemed to prove me right!
We struggled the entire qualification process, and even at friendly games against lesser opponents we looked awful. Did I mention the 6-2 loss to Brasil in a friendly?
The only reason we were able to get in the World Cup was thanks to some of our heroes, guys like Raul Meireles, Bruno Alves and a few others who came together and worked very hard to get us to South Africa.
Once we got to South Africa, things did not get any better, starting with a questionable roster. Ricardo Costa was somehow called up, yet Tonel was left out.
Consider this, while it is true that we only allowed one goal in four games, we could not score against Ivory Coast, Brasil, and Spain. This is due to Queiroz and his negative style of play.
He somehow managed to make a Portuguese team loaded with stars, look like a Slovakia, or a New Zealand.
In the game vs Spain, the Spanish had 64% ball possesion!! He also replaced Hugo Almeida with Danny, and started Ricardo Costa as a RIGHT BACK!! Only the mister knows.
That is not good, and I am hoping that the Federation make changes, but one look at google news, and I can tell that it is not going to happen, as Queiroz blames everyone and everything but himself.
One good thing did happen! Portugal now has their left back for the future: Fabio Coentrao. The best Portuguese player in the World Cup, he has solved the crisis at the position for years to come. We have not had a real left back since Alvaro Magalhaes.
Now, if we could get a real coach! I hear Scolari is looking for a job....

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