Portugal - Euro 2020 Discussion

Rozay

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Strongest team in the tournament for me.

Very hard for me to pick a winner as France and Portugal are in a genuine two from three group. But pre-tournament, I’d say them.
 

telstar96

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I reckon Portugal's midfield is pretty stacked and is probably the most important part of their team. Neves and Bruno can strike the ball well from range which could be useful in games that are tense and chances are at a premium. The manager just needs to find the right balance. I wouldn't be surprised if both Pereira and Carvalho both started against France or Germany with Bruno at 10, they did this in both games against France in the nations league. Also, Nuno Mendes looks unreal and I wouldn't be surprised if the manager took a gamble on him.

Overall, a great squad with a conundrum of who to pick and how to balance the midfield.
 

amolbhatia50k

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They've really got a lot of talent to pick from now. A lot of excellent footballers and Portugal have always been a proper 'team' anyway that makes the most of what it has, so they have that too.

Bruno and Silva in the same midfield sounds tasty. Not sure if they both start regularly though for them.
 

Rozay

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They are organised and streetwise as well as many world class players.

Ricardo in goal, Cancelo at RB, Pepe and Dias in the middle, Guerreiro and Nuno Mendes at LB is a talented bunch. Carvalho, Danilo, Moutinho, Neves, Bruno, Bernardo is a quality midfield, and Ronaldo, Andre Silva, Jots, Felix up front is unreal.
 

Mourinhonista

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In my opinion their team gets severly overrated. Sure, they've got a lot of good names out there but their (defensive) balance looks off to me. Especially in transitions -when they got dispossessed teams could have a proper go at them.

Personally, i wouldn't trust them fullbacks to defend (Cancelo isn't playing as a fullback for Guardiola and didn't start in the CL final for a reason), they don't have a good no.6 (Neves is slow as feck) and because most of the balls have to go through Ronaldo, they seem to be a bit predictable when it comes down to attacking.
 

Rozay

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In my opinion their team gets severly overrated. Sure, they've got a lot of good names out there but their (defensive) balance looks off to me. Especially in transitions -when they got dispossessed teams could have a proper go at them.

Personally, i wouldn't trust them fullbacks to defend (Cancelo isn't playing as a fullback for Guardiola and didn't start in the CL final for a reason), they don't have a good no.6 (Neves is slow as feck) and because most of the balls have to go through Ronaldo, they seem to be a bit predictable when it comes down to attacking.
Pretty much none of that is true IMO. Firstly, they are an incredibly strong team, and are not exposed or easy to attack at all.

Nelson Semedo and Joao Cancelo is not some sort of weak RB option - it is amongst the best in the tournament.

They have a number of good midfielders. Neves is obviously not too slow to play football, he will be fine, but they also have Moutinho, Danilo and Carvalho.

In attack, they have far more than just Ronaldo. They have Jota and Felix too, then there is Bruno and Bernardo Silva. They have quality all over the pitch.
 

RedRonaldo

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Pretty much none of that is true IMO. Firstly, they are an incredibly strong team, and are not exposed or easy to attack at all.

Nelson Semedo and Joao Cancelo is not some sort of weak RB option - it is amongst the best in the tournament.

They have a number of good midfielders. Neves is obviously not too slow to play football, he will be fine, but they also have Moutinho, Danilo and Carvalho.

In attack, they have far more than just Ronaldo. They have Jota and Felix too, then there is Bruno and Bernardo Silva. They have quality all over the pitch.
Moutinho is already 34 years old playing for Wolves. He is decent but no longer anywhere near top class. (ranked 9th avg rating in his team)
Carvalho is only an average DM playing in La Liga, mainly as a sub or as squad rotation in mid table club. (ranked 21th avg rating in his team)
Danilo is only a sub or squad rotation for PSG, he is not really a relevant player in his team. (ranked 15th avg rating in his team)

None of them can be regarded as good midfielders in this tournament at all, their DM is very weak.
 

Lay

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Cancelo tests positive for covid. Replaced by Dalot
 

bosnian_red

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Cancelo is a huge loss for them. Is he out for the whole tournament then? Why did they replace him?
 

Peyroteo

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That’s horrible news given Semedo had a bad season at Wolves. Calling Dalot instead of Cedric is also something I’m sure Santos didn’t want to do but Cedric is most likely out of form so he had to call Dalot who just played the U-21 Euros.

Can’t believe this happened
 

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That’s horrible news given Semedo had a bad season at Wolves. Calling Dalot instead of Cedric is also something I’m sure Santos didn’t want to do but Cedric is most likely out of form so he had to call Dalot who just played the U-21 Euros.

Can’t believe this happened
Well if my expectations were already bad related with our midfield dynamic, now with this one I cannot really see how things will work out.

Semedo was terrible for Wolves (don’t expect nothing from Dalot).

Even against Hungary it will be bad, from an offensive point of view Cancelo offers a lot to the team, it’s really bad news.

And let’s see if it stays like this. From now on won’t be surprised if we don’t get out of the group stage, 2 games in Hungary and Germany, and the last 1 is France.

Ffs.
 

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Well if my expectations were already bad related with our midfield dynamic, now with this one I cannot really see how things will work out.

Semedo was terrible for Wolves (don’t expect nothing from Dalot).

Even against Hungary it will be bad, from an offensive point of view Cancelo offers a lot to the team, it’s really bad news.

And let’s see if it stays like this. From now on won’t be surprised if we don’t get out of the group stage, 2 games in Hungary and Germany, and the last 1 is France.

Ffs.
Losing Cancelo is not a reason for Portugal not getting out of the group stage, even losing Ronaldo would not have been a valuable reason for that.

Even without Cancelo, Portugal still has one of the three best teams on paper, though he was the best RB Portugal had.
 

marktan

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That’s horrible news given Semedo had a bad season at Wolves. Calling Dalot instead of Cedric is also something I’m sure Santos didn’t want to do but Cedric is most likely out of form so he had to call Dalot who just played the U-21 Euros.

Can’t believe this happened
I read that Cancelo is out of the tournament? why not leave him in the squad and let him return for the knockouts when he'll test negative?
 

Peyroteo

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I read that Cancelo is out of the tournament? why not leave him in the squad and let him return for the knockouts when he'll test negative?
He'd only be able to come back for the quarter finals. If Semedo got injured or suspended in that time then we'd have noone to play there.

It's awful timing, especially since it happened to Cancelo given we have no other options of a similar level.
 

RedRonaldo

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Thats a bad news for Portugal, Cancelo has been top class this season, big loss for them.
 

VWW

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The Portuguese FA referred to Dalot in their public statement as the AC Milan player. Has he already signed for them?
 

SCP

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Losing Cancelo is not a reason for Portugal not getting out of the group stage, even losing Ronaldo would not have been a valuable reason for that.

Even without Cancelo, Portugal still has one of the three best teams on paper, though he was the best RB Portugal had.
Don't get me wrong but that's complete nonsense.

First of all NT football isn't only adding well known players to make a great team. Second, and those who follow closely the team know that at least from the games played at Serbia or at Spain that our midfield combination behind Bruno Fernandes doesn't work.

Third, we play 2 games against teams who have home advantage. It happens one of those actually happens to have a lot of Bayern players who are used to play together. Last, Semedo is a massive downgrade on Cancelo, actually Cancelo combinations with Bernardo Silva are one of the few good things who actually work from an offensive point of view.

And by the way, the game at Hungary already would be difficult with Cancelo on the starting 11. And let's stop with the nonsense we are a top 3 team, this is about collective performances, and on that matter we are far from being the perfect team, only because a few of them play on the Premier League means nothing in International Football.
 

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I don't watch the friendlies anymore. Have no idea how we're going to line up. But I like the look of the front 4 that started vs Israel.

The backups for our fullbacks look so poor. If Guerreiro gets injured or suspended I don't like the 2nd option. If Ricardo Perreira was fit, missing Cancelo wouldn't be such a big deal but Semedo now starting I'm worried. Compare that to England who seemingly are stacked.
 

Peyroteo

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Don't get me wrong but that's complete nonsense.

First of all NT football isn't only adding well known players to make a great team. Second, and those who follow closely the team know that at least from the games played at Serbia or at Spain that our midfield combination behind Bruno Fernandes doesn't work.

Third, we play 2 games against teams who have home advantage. It happens one of those actually happens to have a lot of Bayern players who are used to play together. Last, Semedo is a massive downgrade on Cancelo, actually Cancelo combinations with Bernardo Silva are one of the few good things who actually work from an offensive point of view.

And by the way, the game at Hungary already would be difficult with Cancelo on the starting 11. And let's stop with the nonsense we are a top 3 team, this is about collective performances, and on that matter we are far from being the perfect team, only because a few of them play on the Premier League means nothing in International Football.
Spot on.

Hungary are the only team in the tournament that will be allowed 100% capacity in their games, it will be a crazy atmosphere. I am not confident at all for that game especially without Cancelo. Then after we play them we play Germany in Munich who we have a terrible record against and then France... it honestly feels like it's more likely we get knocked out in the groups than we make it to the knockouts.
 

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Since I've been using football forums (around 2000/2001). I don't think I've known a more pessimistic country than Portugal. Even though Portugal's record sees them with 1 Euro win, a couple of semi finals and another final. Even at the World Cup they've made it to a semi final. But every Portuguese I've seen post over the years makes it seem like they're San Marino :lol:
 

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Since I've been using football forums (around 2000/2001). I don't think I've known a more pessimistic country than Portugal. Even though Portugal's record sees them with 1 Euro win, a couple of semi finals and another final. Even at the World Cup they've made it to a semi final. But every Portuguese I've seen post over the years makes it seem like they're San Marino :lol:
Portugal is not the team who's gonna walk over any opponent, but they are a hard team to beat. Football is finding good combinations, Ronaldo Felix for example doesn't work, Ronaldo in the team is one player less to defend, I doubt if Ronaldo Bruno is a good combination against strong squads because defending is not the best quality of Bruno, so Santos wants players who can run on the midfield and forgets that you also need players on the midfield that can actually pass the ball well. If he gets midfield right then Portugal will compete if he doesn't then Portugal won't will make a impact. William, Neves, Pote (unexperienced at that level) maybe would be the best choice. William as a 6 and the other 2 as box

RB is clearly the worst position, I don't like Semedo, maybe that Sanches - he played some games there at Lille is an option -.


Hungary is a must win, don't understand why some here fear that game, if Portugal play like they can that should be a win, and then you need a draw against Germany or France. 3rd of F plays probably against Belgium in the first knock out round, at that moment you need to have your team at full gas.
 
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Portugal is not the team who's gonna walk over any opponent, but they are a hard team to beat. Football is finding good combinations, Ronaldo Felix for example doesn't work, Ronaldo in the team is one player less to defend, I doubt if Ronaldo Bruno is a good combination against strong squads because defending is not the best quality of Bruno, so Santos wants players who can run on the midfield and forgets that you also need players on the midfield that can actually pass the ball well. If he gets midfield right then Portugal will compete if he doesn't then Portugal won't will make a impact. William, Neves, Pote (unexperienced at that level) maybe would be the best choice. William as a 6 and the other 2 as box

RB is clearly the worst position, I don't like Semedo, maybe that Sanches - he played some games there at Lille is an option -.


Hungary is a must win, don't understand why some here fear that game, if Portugal play like they can that should be a win, and then you need a draw against Germany or France. 3rd of F plays probably against Belgium in the first knock out round, at that moment you need to have your team at full gas.
Thank God a guy from Belgium who happpens to support the most difficult club in the world knows how things work there.

Everytime I see the ridiculous hype surrounding the team I always remember 2002 WC where Antonio Oliveira our former coach then remembered to play against the USA with a lineup of Figo/Rui Costa/João Pinto/Conceição/Pauleta, where Costa and Figo had serious physical problems during the season.

So as he wasn't brave to bench any of them he thought the USA was an Andorra. After half an hour we were already losing 3:0. No way we are favourites for this one, and would say the same if this didn't happened with Cancelo.

But you're right, if we don't beat Hungary Santos should be sent on a plane after the game. Fed up of his excuses, I can see him using Covid and Cancelo as an excuse if things don't go right.
 

Lay

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Yeah feck off with your pessimism :lol: Portugal are a good side and should go far, maybe even all the way.
 

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Good game by Semedo, hopefully he can keep the level. Still think Cancelo will be missed but ok.
 

VP89

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Hungary I thought did surprisingly well but Portugal controlled the game and created more than enough to put them aside. It's what you'd expect, with Jota having a really off game I was still impressed by them. They have that aggressive edge they always had, but with more creativity and options off the bench too. Definitely a team to watch for going all the way.
 

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Thank God a guy from Belgium who happpens to support the most difficult club in the world knows how things work there.

Everytime I see the ridiculous hype surrounding the team I always remember 2002 WC where Antonio Oliveira our former coach then remembered to play against the USA with a lineup of Figo/Rui Costa/João Pinto/Conceição/Pauleta, where Costa and Figo had serious physical problems during the season.

So as he wasn't brave to bench any of them he thought the USA was an Andorra. After half an hour we were already losing 3:0. No way we are favourites for this one, and would say the same if this didn't happened with Cancelo.

But you're right, if we don't beat Hungary Santos should be sent on a plane after the game. Fed up of his excuses, I can see him using Covid and Cancelo as an excuse if things don't go right.
thats harsh man. Didn’t that guy win you the euros and nations league trophies. When the dust settles, they are only going to remember the result, nobody will remember how you got there.
 

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thats harsh man. Didn’t that guy win you the euros and nations league trophies. When the dust settles, they are only going to remember the result, nobody will remember how you got there.
Santos? He was useful for 2016 but I have serious doubts about the quality of his training sessions and his technicall staff. It's my opinion based on following closely the team over the years.
 

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Semedo was better than I was hoping. He was a worry for me, and still is against Germany and France. Definitely missed Cancelo's attacking threat down the flank. I don't want to see Jota starting in the next game, soooo wasteful my god. He is the definition of an impact substitute.
 

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When you've got Ronaldo and one or two guys capable of a pass you've got a chance really, haven't you?

I think that's what it comes down to with Portugal. If they get it right tactically they can play on this. Defend well and there's no reason they can't go very far as there's a bit more surrounding him this time. I think they'll be very pragmatic against the likes of Germany, Spain, Italy, France, no real need or point to try and win a beautiful match against such sides. They've got to defend well most of all.
 

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Jota was wasteful but he's too good to be on the bench imo. And we need his speed on the counter against Germany and France rather than Andre Silva or Felix.

Would take a big disaster to not qualify from this position, getting out of the group was the real challenge imo so it's pretty much job done. Now we have two very tough games to test our real level.

The dream scenario is topping the group and make a France-England round of 16 match at Wembley but after seeing the level of Germany and France I doubt we can finish first.
 

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Wonder where Felix' career is going. Was supposed to be a great talent and perhaps still is but I almost forgot he even existed.