Ronaldo Watch

[Trionz]

That 90min chance for Ronaldo should have been executed a little better.
Just few inch ahead of Ronaldo and it would have been a goal.


Off topic -Spain in last 2 international tournament imply how much Messi & 'rest of Barcelona' rely on each other to really make this Tiki Taka entertaining.

Without Messi, Barcelona would be dreadful to watch if they aren't already.

 

[Homeomorphic]

Whose talking about Spain?

Clearly you are:

It's usually very difficult for attackers to shine against Spain/Barca's pressing game as Nani found out yesterday.

Without Messi, Barcelona would be dreadful to watch if they aren't already.

That's bollocks of course. Barcelona plays a much more vertical game than Spain.

- 2 holding midfielders vs. 1 holding midfielder
- Arbeloa vs. Alves
- 2 central playmakers in Silva and Iniesta on the wings vs. 2 strikers / actual wingers in David Villa, Pedro, Sanchez on the wings

 

[Raoul]

......Let's start talking about things that actually happened and not things that on paper should happen, eh?

Chill out.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Clearly you are:

Learn to read. It was regarding the difficulty of playing AGAINST Spain. So it had to do with every team but Spain.

 

[Cheesy]

If you had to rate his performance, overall in the tournament Amol?

I'd probably give him around the 7/10 mark (maybe a 7.5), considering his awful start.

He was clearly high on confidence after the Dutch match though and like you mentioned, if Portugal could produce even 1 decent'ish CF, a ton of the pressure will be taken off his (and Nani's) shoulders.

I think that would be fair. Overall, he did have a good tournament for me and was much improved on previous international tournaments. Despite that, as you say he did have a very poor start. The signs for Portugal were a lot more promising though than they have been at previous tournaments.

 

[Homeomorphic]

Learn to read. It was regarding the difficulty of playing AGAINST Spain. So it had to do with every team but Spain.

You claimed Nani found out yesterday how hard it is to play against Spain's pressing game. Spain's pressing game was absolutely horrible yesterday. Portugal outpressed Spain with ease. Check how many bodies Portugal threw into Spain's half:

I'm counting 9 outfield players in Spain's half. So your claim was simply wrong. It was just a case of Nani being in Alba's pocket whereas Ronaldo was in Arbeloa's and Pique's and then again in Ramos' after swapping the wings with Nani. Not the "almighty Spain pressing game" that magically shut down everyone and left Ronaldo and Nani isolated upfront. More instances of Portugal's high pressing game:

Portugal's midfield was heroically matching Spain's midfield yesterday. Give credit to Moutinho, Veloso and Co. Because they deserve it.

 

[Godfather]

In what way?

He gave him the ball, he had a clear effort on goal. I thought he was going to bury the effort

The pass was fecking wank

 

[FranklyVulgar]

His touch was poor, he dragged it too far, the pass wasnt ideal but a player like Ronaldo should be able to manipulate it into a better chance than it was. He snatched at it.

he was ok yesterday, he looked to threaten but to have as many shots and free kicks and not hit the target and towards the end he was getting the ball taken off him all to often.

Portugal played a good game but when Ronaldo doesnt do it they struggle and unfortunately he just couldnt conjure that moment to seperate the sides.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

You claimed Nani found out yesterday how hard it is to play against Spain's pressing game. Spain's pressing game was absolutely horrible yesterday. Portugal outpressed Spain with ease. Check how many bodies Portugal threw into Spain's half:

I'm counting 9 outfield players in Spain's half. So your claim was simply wrong. It was just a case of Nani being in Alba's pocket whereas Ronaldo was in Arbeloa's and Pique's and then again in Ramos' after swapping the wings with Nani. Not the "almighty Spain pressing game" that magically shut down everyone and left Ronaldo and Nani isolated upfront. Portugal's midfield was heroically matching Spain's midfield yesterday. Give credit to Moutinho, Veloso and Co. Because they deserve it.

You're unbelievably biased against Ronaldo as usual. Who cares about Mourinho, Veloso and co? This thread isn't about them. And Portugal's pressing isn't relevant given I wasn't talking about how the Spanish were on the ball. And there's no way Ronaldo was in Arbeloa's or Pique's pocket. That's nonsense.

Spain may not have pressed as effectively as they usually do but their pressing even at 70% is still more effective than most teams given the way they do it and how good they are on the ball. And attackers have to make use of the very limited time they have on the ball, which Ronaldo did really well. And Nani didn't. Which I thought was impressive of the former.

Well you just went ahead and made this about Spain as usual. Nice.

 

[crappycraperson]

Problem for Nani and Ronaldo yesterday was Almeida. They needed atleast another competent attacking player to help them out.

 

[Snow]

Clearly you are:







That's bollocks of course. Barcelona plays a much more vertical game than Spain.

- 2 holding midfielders vs. 1 holding midfielder
- Arbeloa vs. Alves
- 2 central playmakers in Silva and Iniesta on the wings vs. 2 strikers / actual wingers in David Villa, Pedro, Sanchez on the wings

Not completely accurate. Iniesta often plays out left. And Alves vs Alba is similar. Wouldn't count either Sanchez or Pedro as a winger. Last season there was no Villa, quite similar to how Spain played a lot without a designated striker.
It's not bollocks, there are a lot of similarities.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Problem for Nani and Ronaldo yesterday was Almeida. They needed atleast another competent attacking player to help them out.

Agree. It just leads to an imbalance. There were a couple of times within the space of 5 minutes where Ronaldo did really well to take the ball under control, accelerated ahead of a few defenders and passed it only for Almeida to do something idiotic. When those things happen, it then leads to the likes of Nani and Ronaldo trying to take even more upon themselves out of a lack of trust.

 

[Snake Plissken]

I dont think he had a particularly game last night.

What did he do? Went down a few times, blazed a few free kicks over, missed a great chance and a decent sprint and cross in the first half.

Spain were all over the shop too.

 

[Snow]

I dont think he had a particularly game last night.

What did he do? Went down a few times, blazed a few free kicks over, missed a great chance and a decent sprint and cross in the first half.

Spain were all over the shop too.

Spain got 4 yellow cards yesterday. All of them because they were stopping Ronaldo. Xabi really should have gotten two yellows. Ref was lenient with him. Spain fouled 19 times and half of that were fouls on Ronaldo. Portugal did nothing of note in attack where he wasn't the main catalyst.
Sure Veloso, Moutinho and Meireles did well defending but their attacking game wasn't there. Ronaldo was often in space without getting the ball. He was quite clearly the best attacking player on the pitch.

In a 0-0 game there's quite often not much of note in the attacking front. Another question I pose to you is what did anyone else besides Ronaldo do?
Spain had three chances all game. Iniesta with the best chance after some superb individual skill from Alba. Arbeloa shot narrowly over from the edge of the box and Navas shot was saved from a tight angle.

Hugo Almeida was quite useless. I remember one incident where Ronaldo had the ball out the left with two men pressing him and Almeida was the only one in the box. Instead of coming towards the ball at the outer side of the box, where the ball was then passed, he made a run to the far post behind Pique and Casillas. Ridiculous run from him. Had he gone back a few paces he would have gotten the ball.

Portugal defended well overall but the majority of players delivered the ball poorly. They did what Italy and Croatia already managed to do, limit Spain's attacking game quite a lot, but that came as a sacrifice of bodies up front. They really only had two decent chances all game. Ronaldo's shot outside the box in the first half and then his miss with his left when Meireles passed the ball behind him. A very well executed counter attack up until the final two balls.

Of course there's an adjective missing in your post and you could have been saying "I don't think Ronaldo had a particularly average/bad/poor game".

 

[Snake Plissken]

Spain got 4 yellow cards yesterday. All of them because they were stopping Ronaldo. Xabi really should have gotten two yellows. Ref was lenient with him. Spain fouled 19 times and half of that were fouls on Ronaldo. Portugal did nothing of note in attack where he wasn't the main catalyst.
Sure Veloso, Moutinho and Meireles did well defending but their attacking game wasn't there. Ronaldo was often in space without getting the ball. He was quite clearly the best attacking player on the pitch.

In a 0-0 game there's quite often not much of note in the attacking front. Another question I pose to you is what did anyone else besides Ronaldo do?
Spain had three chances all game. Iniesta with the best chance after some superb individual skill from Alba. Arbeloa shot narrowly over from the edge of the box and Navas shot was saved from a tight angle.

Hugo Almeida was quite useless. I remember one incident where Ronaldo had the ball out the left with two men pressing him and Almeida was the only one in the box. Instead of coming towards the ball at the outer side of the box, where the ball was then passed, he made a run to the far post behind Pique and Casillas. Ridiculous run from him. Had he gone back a few paces he would have gotten the ball.

Portugal defended well overall but the majority of players delivered the ball poorly. They did what Italy and Croatia already managed to do, limit Spain's attacking game quite a lot, but that came as a sacrifice of bodies up front. They really only had two decent chances all game. Ronaldo's shot outside the box in the first half and then his miss with his left when Meireles passed the ball behind him. A very well executed counter attack up until the final two balls.

Of course there's an adjective missing in your post and you could have been saying "I don't think Ronaldo had a particularly average/bad/poor game".

Pepe, Alves and Coentrao were excellent for the most part.

No-one aside from maybe Iniesta played well for Spain, but they didnt really have a proper attacker on for most of the match.

If Ronaldo tumbling constitutes having a good game then he definitely had a good game.

 

[Snow]

That's not true as well. The Spanish back 5 had a good game. And it's hardly tumbling being clattered again and again. They stopped two very promising counter attacks and one good shooting opportunity by taking him down. Your team doesn't receive that amount of yellow cards because of a single player if you're not having problems with him.

 

[Snake Plissken]

I thought Pique was very poor.

Looked sloppy, came forward with the ball a few times only to give it away and leave portugal with space in Spains final third.


ps. yeah they had problems with his pace as you'd expect, but that doesnt really constitute a good display. He fluffed all his chances

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Playing with a center forward who is big but can't hold up the ball is a problem.

 

[Snow]

I thought Pique was very poor.

Looked sloppy, came forward with the ball a few times only to give it away and leave portugal with space in Spains final third.


ps. yeah they had problems with his pace as you'd expect, but that doesnt really constitute a good display. He fluffed all his chances

In a defending sense he was good. Covered his area well and closed down Ronaldo well a few times.

The argument you use about Ronaldo being good can be heavily used against Welbeck for not playing well.

 

[Rednails]

I couldent understand why Ronaldo stood apart from his team mates during the penalty shoot-out, and why he dident take the first kick. Unless he was hoping to win it for Portugal and getting all the glory.

 

[adexkola]

I couldent understand why Ronaldo stood apart from his team mates during the penalty shoot-out, and why he dident take the first kick. Unless he was hoping to win it for Portugal and getting all the glory.

Armchair psychology gets annoying at times.

 

[marcus agrippa]

I couldent understand why Ronaldo stood apart from his team mates during the penalty shoot-out, and why he dident take the first kick. Unless he was hoping to win it for Portugal and getting all the glory.

This is a good rebuttal to what will quickly become an internet-fuelled myth ala this moron.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Any fool knows the biggest penalty taking responsibility almost always fall on the last taker. It's not his fault that Alves didn't get him the opportunity to take it.

 

[MrMarcello]

Amazing how there isn't a decent Portuguese striker out there. They should raid Brazil to find one that has dual nationality. Even a lumbering striker like Carroll or a raw athlete like Altidore would do well with that national side and being flanked by Nani and Ronaldo. Imagine a Portuguese Rooney or Welbeck in that side.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Portugal's curse of the striker is baffling. After all they produced Eusebio.

 

[Skorenzy]

Portugal's curse of the striker is baffling. After all they produced Eusebio.

I agree that Portugal haven't been churning out top class strikers, but everyone seems to be forgetting about Pauleta and Nuno Gomes? Hell, even the much maligned Helder Postiga has a decent record on the international stage (20 goals in 53 caps).

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

I agree that Portugal haven't been churning out top class strikers, but everyone seems to be forgetting about Pauleta and Nuno Gomes? Hell, even the much maligned Helder Postiga has a decent record on the international stage (20 goals in 53 caps).

No one remembers them because they rarely did the business on the international stages that mattered.

 

[Skorenzy]

No one remembers them because they rarely did the business on the international stages that mattered.

Hmmm... Strange assessment.

Considering Nuno Gomes was mainly being used as a sub in major tournaments after Euro 2000 and before Euro 2008 he has a fairly decent record.

At Euro 2000 Nuno Gomes scored 4 goals in 5 apps (4 starts):
- the winning goal in a 3-2 group stage win over England
- a brace in a 2-0 quarter-final win over Turkey
- the opening goal in a 1-2 semi-final loss after extra time to France

He scored 7 goals in WCQ 2002 (admittedly against very weak opposition), but then had only two appearances as a sub in the actual WC.

He played in all 6 Portugal games at the 2004 Euro's, although only once as a starter, and scored the only goal in a 1-0 group stage win over Spain.

He was out injured for most of the 2006 WCQ qualifying campaign, playing only 4 games and scoring once. At the actual WC he only appeared twice, both times as a sub, scoring a consolation goal against Germany in a 1-3 loss in the third place playoff.

At the 2008 Euro's he appeared and started in 3 games (as captain), scoring one goal in the 2-3 quarter-final loss to Germany.

So that's 7 tournament goals of which 5 in the knock-out stages against the likes of Turkey, France, Spain and Germany.

(For reference, Cristiano Ronaldo has 8 tournament goals, of which only 2 in the knock-out stages.)

--

Pauleta on the other hand was a regular starter after Euro 2000, and his record is impressive enough (47 goals in 88 caps, of which 25 in competitive matches), but not really in important games with only 4 tournament goals.

I'm not saying they're comparable to the likes of Villa or Klose or anything, but they're hardly clowns like Hugo Almeida. It's only recently that Portugal's striker situation has been as bad as often suggested.

 

[Brwned]

Pauleta looked like a championship striker in tournaments, picked him in a couple of dream-teams back then so I had a vested interest in how he did and honestly, he was shocking. Like Baros this tournament, in every tournament. Knew how to score goals against crap sides, that's it. No better than Almeida as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Skorenzy]

Pauleta looked like a championship striker in tournaments, picked him in a couple of dream-teams back then so I had a vested interest in how he did and honestly, he was shocking. Like Baros this tournament, in every tournament. Knew how to score goals against crap sides, that's it. No better than Almeida as far as I'm concerned.

Fair enough, but a difference of 0.20 in gpg ratio's would suggest to me more than just the quality of their team mates. Like I mentioned though, he never did it when it mattered (only scored in 2 tournament games). Nuno Gomes on the other hand... it's a shame he was used exclusively as a sub in the two World Cups he played in (and '04 Euro), if you look at his record in big games.

 

[jojojo]

Just finished his holiday in Thailand by doing some advertising work for Toyota and an interview for Thai TV which is where he signed this for someone.

 

[Bebe]

I really think Nelson Oliviera is the answer.

 

[Ish]

Zip up, all you fanboi's.

Ronaldo eyes American future

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that he would like to play in Major League Soccer in the future.

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that he would like to play in Major League Soccer at some point in the future.

The Portugal international is in the USA as part of Real's pre-season tour. He is a fan of the game in America and admits he would be interested in one day plying his trade in the country.

"If I can help to be a better soccer here I can help but I think they are great, they are in a good way," Ronaldo said in an interview with the MLS website. "I hope to come here to play one day."

Ronaldo, 27, joined Real from Manchester United in the summer of 2009 after a world-record deal was agreed between the clubs worth £80million.

http://www.football365.com/transfer-centre/7966539/Ronaldo-eyes-American-future

 

[Amar__]

This deserves to be in his thread also.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideo...ristiano-ronaldo-real-madrid-v-santos-laguna/

"Ronaldo dribling show"

shoot me

 

[Woodzy]

Zip up, all you fanboi's.

Ronaldo eyes American future

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that he would like to play in Major League Soccer in the future.

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that he would like to play in Major League Soccer at some point in the future.

The Portugal international is in the USA as part of Real's pre-season tour. He is a fan of the game in America and admits he would be interested in one day plying his trade in the country.

"If I can help to be a better soccer here I can help but I think they are great, they are in a good way," Ronaldo said in an interview with the MLS website. "I hope to come here to play one day."

Ronaldo, 27, joined Real from Manchester United in the summer of 2009 after a world-record deal was agreed between the clubs worth £80million.

http://www.football365.com/transfer-centre/7966539/Ronaldo-eyes-American-future

I said in another thread I can see him in America in his early 30's and got laughed at.

 

[dejans]

This deserves to be in his thread also.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideo...ristiano-ronaldo-real-madrid-v-santos-laguna/

"Ronaldo dribling show"

shoot me

was he drunk?

 

[Relevated]

 

[SATA]

He's 27 already? Time flies when i still have that image of him of as a scrawny 18 year old making his debut at OT

 

[Relevated]

His arms in that pic where he is holding the trophy, fecking hell.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3310...m-50-is-a-matter-of-pride?source=breakingnews

 

[Relevated]

Very impressive, be honest.