Didn't watch the game, how comes he wasn't in the first 5 penalty takers?
Cristiano Ronaldo - Much Ado About Al Nassr
- Thread starter Bastian
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Nik (@Rood), Jamie (@Vault Dweller) and Ed (@That'sHernandez) give their end of season awards out! They celebrate the best players, goals and moments of the season (there were some, honestly) and also give out awards for the worst and most disappointing players/moments of the season.
They then discuss all the latest transfer rumours and get into the potential ins and outs this summer at Old Trafford.
Subbed off around the 80th min
Ahh cheers.
Ronaldo was already better than a veteran Figo by 2006 and probably Portugal’s best player at that World Cup. They could’ve even taken France to extra time in the semis if Figo had scored that open header sitter created by none other than Ronaldo.
Ronaldo was also again key in Euro 04. He wasn’t just a passenger in those teams but a very big reason why they were good.
Probably but I don't think he will have the legs to do long games probably 60 minutes.
Portugal have a world class team though, they won't be favourites but they can definitely win it
Old man injured, cramped up and subbed off.
Really happy for him, Bruno, Dalot and Portugal! Can't believe we missed out on Nuno Mendes my word .
Ronaldo's achievements spanning up to the age of 40 are absolutely incredible. The amount of work and focus needed to maintain yourself beyond 35 is hard. I genuinely can't believe how he has done it.
And then to be such a sharp goal scorer still to make an impact in an international tournament like this is the stuff of legend.
It's funny talking about how Portugal finding an alternative. You look at what a decent striker like Morata does to Spain (miss crucial chances and lose them games and tournaments) and you begin to understand why a team like Portugal would still consider Ronaldo in their lineup right now. Goals win games. Ronaldo still scores goals.
Figo was the best Portuguese player in that tournament, one & only who made it to the official 11. Ronaldo was nothing special, no need to rewrite history.
In 2004, it was the team of Figo-Rui Costa-Deco etc..
Italy and France before expansion to 16 teams starting in 1996 only qualified for 3 out of 8 Euros.
Since then they qualified for 8 out of 8 Euros.
Swiss and Turkey qualified for 6 out of 8 after expansion when they had none before. I wonder how they would do trying to qualify for a 4-team or 8-team Euros.
Portugal with their Golden Generation already played semis in 2000 Euros and qualified for the WC in 2002. They had Deco, Figo, Rui Costa, Carvalho etc. Ronaldo joined after the beginning of this upward trajectory.
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Has scored more international goals in the last 10 years than most players score in their whole career.
Deserves all the success he gets, would love to see him win the WC next year, even if he is only a bit part player.
You clearly didn’t watch that tournament and only projecting your agenda.
Ronaldo literally was chosen in XI of the tournament. No Figo. Rui Costa started the first game but then replaced by Deco. The core of Mourinho Porto 2004 replacing old guard of Couto, Rui Costa.Carvalho and Maniche were also in XI of the tournament.
I don't recall Cristiano being in the official 11, nor the 23 squad for the 2006 WC, are you sure about that? I recall Figo, Zidane, Cannavaro, Pirlo, for sure, I might be wrong thought
But this version of him has had no impact, except negative, in real international tournaments though.
It's funny because the last Euro showed the opposite of what you're describing. Morata won the Euro with Spain while Ronaldo was a net negative for Portugal in the same tournament. I believe they would have beaten France with a younger, harder working player up front. And PSG have proven again that you can score loads of goals and win trophies without a pure striker.
What official 11? UEFA didn't have that in 2004, just a team of the tournament with 23 names, same as FIFA in 2006. Ronaldo was in it in 2004, he wasn't in 2006.
I thought he was talking about Euro 2004 when he mentioned Rui Costa (who was not there in 2006).
World Cup 2006, Portugal shouldn’t have any players in the XI. They just had to include Figo because Portugal came fourth place. What really carried that team was again Mourinho’s Porto core, their defense and luck. Maniche and Costinha got back into the starting XI after Petit and Tiago hiccup in opening game. Portugal severely lack creativity. Almost all their games were grind job. Ronaldo was explosive but lack cutting edge. He was rest in their third group stage, and injured so didn’t play much vs Netherland.
So before and after still no major trophies.
Well Dalot was his part time Uber driver so...
Euro 2016
When did EURO stop being a major trophy?
It's ok lads we've got Rasmus Hojlund
If you want to use it context of someone being the greatest, then the World Cup is the pinnacle.
Euro and Copa America below that, Nations league…well that’s just an end of season international friendly community shield.
I think they are 3rd best team after Argentina and France. It is close between Spain and Portugal. England are just after all the above.
Then Pele is indisputable GOAT?
He’s finally put the GOAT debate to bed. He now deserves credit for every major tournament won without him on the pitch. That means whilst Messi has won one world cup, Ronaldo has won them all, including the one Messi won.
I wasn't sure, yet I was exactly talking about those 23 names FIFA chose in 2006 and not recalling him between those.
The Euros and the Copa America are not equivalents imo; the former is much harder to win. If you play for Brazil, Argentina or Uruguay then statistically you should win at least one Copa America during your career. The other teams are mostly makeweights - plus, until recently they held it every two years.
Whereas in Europe you have to overcome France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, England, Holland, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark etc... And most players will only get a maximum of three attempts in their career. The odds are against them winning it, even if they are on the best team.
100% Honestly with the way the alternatives are playing I think he will still start. Can't believe how there are so many options all over the pitch except Striker.
Yet WCs tend to kill in the pata more than a candidate.
I think they have enough squad to win it and this type of wons give quite a lot of confidence
He knows that, I dunno why he acts disappointed with what he feels spme posts are made by a Messi fanboy and later write stuff like
I really think that if the idea it's not trolling, how on hell someone who really likes Cris does not see how this sort of approach backfires.
So what's your solution then, Argentina to play in the Euros?
Im far from liking the undisputed Goat stuff, in fact I think such thing does not exist. Yet I think no one should feel surprise if for many Pele it s their only goat.
Dude is great.
Here is a new one for you – At this stage he reminds me of Egypts old legend. Hossam Hassan.
Like Ronaldo the old geezer Hassan was 40 while winning the Afcon in 2006, captaining the side and scoring once.
Obviously diminished but with so much experience and greatness around the box.
Here is a new one for you – At this stage he reminds me of Egypts old legend. Hossam Hassan.
Like Ronaldo the old geezer Hassan was 40 while winning the Afcon in 2006, captaining the side and scoring once.
Obviously diminished but with so much experience and greatness around the box.
When Goncalo Ramos scored that hat trick at the WC, it looked like the end for Ronaldo. Since then Ramos has 5 international goals in 10 appearances. Ronaldo has scored 20 in 23 games.
I think we can all understand that he doesn't offer a lot outside of being an out and out poacher. But, even at this level he's still so good at it. Don't think at this stage he should be a starter, but he's not humble enough to accept a supporting role and nobody has the balls to drop him. If he didn't get injured last night, Martinez wasn't taking him off.
They probably need to develop during the qualification rounds for playing without him going into the WC. But, it's unlikely that will actually happen.
Yeah, that's the main problem. Ideally you would have someone who gets at least 70-75% of his input and then CR7 can be used as an impact sub when needed. But two problems, 1.) No one who even comes close to the impact he makes for goalscoring. 2.) No manager with balls to drop him.
I don't like Martinez at all, such a negative coach and has some very questionable choices. Really wish we would get Mourinho as a coach for the World Cup.
The way you defined when Ronaldo joined Portugal NT, then it’s very much the same time Carvalho, Deco “joined”. It took that defeat against Greece in opening game in EURO, for Scolari to started Carvalho over Couto, Deco over Rui Costa, and Ronaldo replacing Simao. Spain was in that group. Portugal was the host nation, so they didn’t play qualifier. They were not tested and got the shock against Greece and had to embrace the change from new generation. Deco, Carvalho had little to do with Rui Costa, Couto generation. They were literally the latter successors in the team.
The group of Figo, Rui Costa, Couto, Baia (GK) peaked during 2000. Figo had the most longevity out of this generation, but he had been declining before the Deco, Carvalho, Maniche, Ronaldo, Ricardo became integrated part of the team. They were the best generation in a long time before Ronaldo and the Mourinho’s Porto core, but they’re no Golden generation material. They’re not up to standard of Brazil 1994 through mid 2000. Not France (France outside of internal conflict didn’t have that long gap of transition between different talent generation). Not even Netherland from from all of 90 through 2000. Not Argentina. Not Italy. Even Germany during the transition where they completely changed their football philosophy was arguably more capable during their low finalist (World Cup 2002, third place 2006).
IMO, when talking about golden generation, it implies a strength to challenge for EURO and World Cup. England or Belgium golden generation were not perfect to be tier 1 contender, but they were stacked enough to be a contender and had good chance to beat tier 1 contender occasionally. Portugal of Figo generation was not that stacked. The gap was too wide as I just pointed out.
Semi final in EURO 2000 was a dark horse story. They’re not even in tier 2 material contender going in the tournament. The change came with Mourinho Porto core and Ronaldo during EURO 2004. The new generation gave them the boost to be among of the contender even though not top tier.
Portugal have been a relatively strong team over the last 20 years, not all the performances have been good at tournaments but player for player they have always been up there to challenge.
They have a serious chance to win the WC next year because they know how to get over the line and have quality throughout the side.
I won't be surprised if they make a deep run.
They have a serious chance to win the WC next year because they know how to get over the line and have quality throughout the side.
I won't be surprised if they make a deep run.
Ì didn't say he was a passenger, but he didn't even make the team of the tournament in 2006. Figo did, along with Carvalho, Ricardo and Maniche.
They can make a run, but they won't win it. Not with an even older Ronaldo starting every game and Roberto Martinez as their manager. He is simply not a World Cup winning manager.
It doesn't refute any of my points. They were similar to the likes of Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey. All of them had one good generation and were average for the majority of their history.
Portugal has never been a consistent team and were average for most of their history. At 19, Ronaldo was the best player for Portugal at Euro 2004 and since then he has been carrying Portugal for 20 plus years.
Eusebio and Figo were pioneers, but it was Ronaldo who made Portugal for what it is today. For at least 10 or 12 years Portugal didn't really have a good squad, Euro 2012 and 16 being the prime examples.
This squad is really good and it's been their best squad since 2006 World Cup. For many years they were a one man team and yet Ronaldo managed to win the Euros with Portugal.
Ronaldo was arguably their best player in the Euros 2004 and he did make the best XI of the tournament. He scored 2 goals and provided 2 assists.
He made a huge impact in the qualifications for 2006 WC by scoring 7 goals and was pretty good at 2006 WC. He was also a world class dribbler and made a huge impact on the wing. He made around 3.5 dribbles per 90 in both 04 Euros and 06 WC.