Well, I didn't get a chance to post on the game vs Iraq, so here it is.
How can we be unhappy at our Olympic team's behaviour?
The triumph of this group of arrogant lads and their respective coaches would be the triumph of the mediocrity.
It all starts on the supposed leader of the group: the head coach. Romão is the second-worse coach ever to enter a football pitch (right after Octávio Machado), and I'm not even getting into the tactics!
The Romão factor
It's incredible how much this little man hurt our NT and its young players. After a great win in France, these kids decided to torn apart the dressing-room, destroying the ceiling and breaking several stuff - and all that WHILE Romão was with them on that very same room! Such a barbaric act, which shows lack of maturity, education, elevation and sportsmanship should have been delt with maximum care. I mean, when my dog sh!ts on the rug, I give him a little slap right after; that way, he makes the following association: sh!tting on the couch=BAD.
Our terrific coach thought otherwise, and decided to excuse his players, saying they were simply ''jumping around and broke the ceiling unintentionally''. [Yes, he is THAT pathetic...]
Of course, this attitude worked well on our player's psyche: breaking stuff+being dumbasses+immaturity+while representing the country=OK.
By this point, everything is excusable. All attitudes are okay, because you're young and superstars. If you lose, that was due to bad luck, or as Romão put it tonight, 'things didn't work out well'...
His lack of class his transcendent: the declarations he made in response to Queirós' accusations are unexcusable for someone representing our country.
Our team is a reflects the maturity of its players: ball-hogs, who can't string 3 passes to save their lives. Where's our trademark fast-paced passing? Where's the offensive play?
And why the hell did he bring Frechaut and Meira?
The lack of discipline is an embarrassement to all of us. He clearly has no control over his players. When his statue-like pose was splashed upon our screens right after every Iraq goal I couldn't help imagining what he was thinking: 'Oh, ****, I'm in serious trouble now'.
To top it off, Romão had no idea whatsoever of Iraq's players, what gameplan they usually follow, strengths, weaknesses, etc.
That kid Nuno Ribeiro was completely OWNED by Iraq's right winger. One could argue that Romão only saw this when he was already losing by two goals since the air was clearly obstructing his vision of the pitch, but still...
Madaíl = Mediocre
Well, he hired Romão, didn't he?
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano deserves a category of his own. When he punched his opponent in the 18th minute I instantly thought about the controversy between his NT coach and his ManU field coach, Carlos Queiroz. I thought about the atmosphere surrounding him, and how a 19yo kid deals with such pressure on his shoulders. Where's his loyalty? To his country? To those who pay his wages?
On that moment, Cristiano let loose all the anger he has deep inside, for the situation he was put in. Unfortunately, he punched the wrong guy...
From what it seems, he was gently 'forced' by the coaches to play injured; if he was at 100%, why didn't he train with the rest of his team? Not that his teammates ever trained for the Iraq match themselves, but still...
Playing on this basis, I think he did more than we were to expect.
The Playas
And what a bunch of playas we got here.
Frechaut - Didn't have a good season overall, despite a good couple games for Boavista (and I went 3 times to Bessa stad last season). The older players should be like the 2 americans our national basketball teams can have: a plus. He didn't add anything that we didn't have already, so he was clearly a casting mistake.
Ricardo Costa - Should have been our defence's natural leader, and was: he led his teammates into several mistakes. There's no way he'll play in Porto showing this kind of form.
Bruno Alves - His idea of stopping opponents is to foul them. Like Ricardo Costa, will never play in Porto if he doesn't evolve to something better.
Jorge Ribeiro - Owned.
Fernando Meira - Oh my. Can't find a teammate with a pass unless he's within a radius of 1,5 meters. Made incredible tactical mistakes, absolutely unbelievable for a player of his caliber (anyone who knows a bit about football certainly understands what I'm trying to say). By the way, what is his caliber?
Hugo Viana - How important these years are to the evolution of a player. One full season on the bench can be a career-killer! This seems the case with Hugo Viana. Incredible how far away from his Sporting years he is. Where's his unique abbility to control the pace of the game gone to?
Boa Morte - He tried. He seriously did.
The other kids were okay. Not good, but there's still hope for them.
Bottom Line
Have a safe flight home. And please try to drop Romão off the plane, preferably over the Mediterranic Sea.
anyway i don't expect Benfica to win(in my books Porto is always the favourite to win the matches 
), we have the best squad and i believe we'll find some good solutions to replace the missing players, like other people said it will be 50/50 but if Porto win we have much more credit for playing without so much important players. 
