WC Semi-Finals: Portugal vs France [P]+[R]

[Jedi Mind Trick]

scolari's taken off pauleta for simao several times this tournament, so it's not that surprising. but postiga?

 

[JJSFC]

IMO Zidane didnt played like last 2 games-------

Yeah but then again, he did play very well in his last two games, alot to ask for an old man....

 

[$teauA]

he tried Ronaldo upfront for 10 min and then he brought Postiga on, who is even more useless than Pauleta.

Nuno Gomes should have started throughout the whole Cup. He's just a much better player in big games with his constant movement although his finishing sucks. Pauleta is good against the Liechtensteins, Luxembourgs and that kind of team. Postiga is just plain terrible.

I'm a big fan of Gomes as well. What puzzles me is how in the world do you still stick with that lone striker system even in the last ten minutes when you are basically desperate for a goal? Leave Pauleta in, take out Figo/Ronaldo/Deco/Costinha or any defender and bring in Gomes along side of him. Even if you don't score you won't be criticized by the press because at least you had the right idea. I consider Scolari a great coach but he messed up today.

 

[JJSFC]

Ronaldo even with all the hooligans booing himp

I wouldn't be surprised if the English booed him (even though I do not have a problem with him) but it was slightly unjust from France.

However you are not a hooligan if you boo some one.

 

[Zlatan]

Zizou prevails, Football prevails.

 

[Help?]

Pauleta was dumb to ask for a free kick, he wasn't even looking at the play, but Miguel really got injured, he tried to carry on but had to be subbed.

yeah man, i was talking about Pauleta. I actually like Miguel and the way he plays a lot

 

[Vinnie Jones]

This is my honest assessment of the Portuguese. Lots of nice build up play but absolutely no cutting edge upfront. Even in the group stage Portugal didn't look like scoring many goals. Pauleta must be frustrating as hell for the Portugal fans to watch. He is so easy to defend against. When the ball is played in he never gets across the defender. It says it all when you have to resort to playing Ronaldo as a center forward. However, the French on the other hand do have that cutting edge upfront in Henry. I feel if they stuck to how they played in the first half they could have put the tie to bed well before the closing minutes. They played a dangerous game sitting so deep and no matter how poor Portugal are in front of goal they were always going to get a late chance of some description.

Shame about Scolari sulking, i didn't think the ref had a bad game to be honest.

Overall the second round of the tournament has been a big disappointment. Most teams have played very cautious football. This World Cup was really for the taking but in all honesty no team has stood out. Arguably Argentina but they peeked too early in the group stages.

Anyhow i expect the Italians will win a tightly contested final.

I have to agree with your analysis. I sincerily don´t know how Pauleta is able to score so many goals in France. The conclusion that i make is that the defences in the Championnat are absolute crap. He has been useless in the past two tournaments. Sad to see that Nuno Gomes didn´t even get a chance. If only we had Eusébio
Yes the second round has been a disappointment. The teams are very cautious in their game approach, play a defensive game and most of them play in the 4-5-1, so they connect instantly and end up providing very balanced matches. The players also look extremely tired. Our team today was clearly some notches bellow their usual pattern. I saw alot of players underperforming. Deco had no legs and he rested in the England match.
I also have the same prediction, 1-0 to Italy, Perrota goal.

 

[Virgo]

I'm a big fan of Gomes as well. What puzzles me is how in the world do you still stick with that lone striker system even in the last ten minutes when you are basically desperate for a goal? Leave Pauleta in, take out Figo/Ronaldo/Deco/Costinha or any defender and bring in Gomes along side of him. Even if you don't score you won't be criticized by the press because at least you had the right idea. I consider Scolari a great coach but he messed up today.

Scolari is an awesome motivator, a great coach and a terrible manager.

We dont have a lot of strikers but we definitely have much better strikers than Postiga in the country.

In the last 10 minutes btw Ronaldo played upfront, Simao and Figo on the wings.

I think the manager and the pick of the players part really screwed us in the end. Players like Maniche and Figo looked very very tired and that made Deco having to play well outside the AMC spot, picking up the ball at the defence.

I liked Scolari's job very much but with Pauleta and Figo retiring if he plans to start Postiga, I think it might be better to get another manager, because playing with Postiga is like shooting blanks

 

[Silencer]

Italy are cheats, ask the Aussies

And more smarter than the French so I think Italy will win the Worldcup, seeing them perform yesterday and the French today Italy was better and France defended their 1-0. It would be fantastic for Zizou to hold the cup once more, if there is any player I would like to see winning it it will be him..

 

[::shinji::]

This is my honest assessment of the Portuguese. Lots of nice build up play but absolutely no cutting edge upfront. Even in the group stage Portugal didn't look like scoring many goals. Pauleta must be frustrating as hell for the Portugal fans to watch. He is so easy to defend against. When the ball is played in he never gets across the defender. It says it all when you have to resort to playing Ronaldo as a center forward. However, the French on the other hand do have that cutting edge upfront in Henry. I feel if they stuck to how they played in the first half they could have put the tie to bed well before the closing minutes. They played a dangerous game sitting so deep and no matter how poor Portugal are in front of goal they were always going to get a late chance of some description.

Your assement of Pauleta is the same as almost every Portuguese fans For me, I find him infuriating to watch, like we've said so many times before....against any half decent defence, he becomes invisible. That's why his all-time best Portuguese scorer title doesn't mean sh!t to me, any peice of sh!t striker from some mid-table Portuguese league team could bag a lot of goals against tiny countries in qualifying. Especially when almost all the goals are served to him on a platter by players like Deco....aaaaahhh, just drives me nuts! Open your eyes Scolari!

Postiga....I sincerely hope he breaks a leg. How a player who scores like 1 or 2 goals a year gets an automatic spot on the NT is beyond me.

Oh well, I'm dissapointed but not upset. The semis of the WC is already a great achievment for a small country like Portugal. Well done boys!

EDIT: Gotta send a congrats to the French too. I know they were criticized a lot in the media too but they've displayed what a sold, complete team they are. Good luck in the final.

 

[JJSFC]

And more smarter than the French so I think Italy will win the Worldcup, seeing them perform yesterday and the French today Italy was better and France defended their 1-0. It would be fantastic for Zizou to hold the cup once more, if there is any player I would like to see winning it it will be him..

Seeing Zidane win the World Cup in his last ever match would be a fitting tribute, but as you said I think Itly will win and it will be all too good to be true for France and the game will end in Zidanes tears.

 

[Num Lock]

guys you are being really unfair to Pauleta, he always plays in PSG with another striker (ljuboja, Reinaldo, Pancrate, Kalou have been partnered upfront with him), Pauleta is box striker, you cannot ask him to play alone and be that efective, on top of that your midfielders seem to have an absolute lack of trust in him, Figo and C. Ronaldo always trying to go for goal instead of trying a pass to him.

i wish you could see what Pauleta does for us at PSG week in week out, i feel sad for him cuz hes the only Portoguese player i like, but im really happy that i get to see Zidane saying good bye on the biggest stage of all.

i won't take anything away from C. Ronaldo he has a great future ahead of him, but he has to stop with the dives.

it was kinda boring game cuz everybody was being careful, half our team had yellow cards, including zidane, vieira, sagnol and thuram, so its understandable that they were tip toing around the whole game.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

I have to say in my opinion it was a penalty although Henry made a meal out of it.

Carvalho was falling down and had no intention of touching Henry. Henry saw it and provoked the contact.

Still a penalty by the book.

I disagree, and you can say the same thing about the Grosso penalty if you want: Henry didn't provoke the contact, it's obvious that Carvalho brought his foot around Henry's shin. It's a foul. However, whether that's a foul or not, every player in the world knows that no ref will ever call a penalty in the World Cup Semi-Final if they player stays on his feet, so Henry fell. Thierry Henry could have stayed on his feet very easily, but he knew he got fouled and to actually get a call he had to go to the ground.

 

[JJSFC]

Postiga....I sincerely hope he breaks a leg. How a player who scores like 1 or 2 goals a year gets an automatic spot on the NT is beyond me.

It is not Postiga's fault that Scolari is a dolt and brung him to Germany, it was like bringing a lamb to the slaughter.

 

[Virgo]

that's because defences in the french league are rubbish. He scores a lot for Portugal as well against sh*t defences.

 

[Help?]

Am i the only one thinking that Henry fell, after stepping on Carvalho's trailing left foot, then? And not because he wanted to fall or because Carvalho kicked him a second before that?

 

[Vinnie Jones]

I can´t believe Reading and Manchester City are interested in Postiga. After these displays i hope they change their minds. I can´t stand him. Let him rot in secondary teams. On a side note the United fans would have a good motive to make fun of City.

 

[Num Lock]

that's because defences in the french league are rubbish. He scores a lot for Portugal as well against sh*t defences.

i wouldn't say that against the likes of Lyon or Monaco in the ligue 1 dude, even back when he played for la coruña he was good playing with a partner upfront.

 

[$teauA]

Scolari is an awesome motivator, a great coach and a terrible manager.

We dont have a lot of strikers but we definitely have much better strikers than Postiga in the country.

In the last 10 minutes btw Ronaldo played upfront, Simao and Figo on the wings.

I think the manager and the pick of the players part really screwed us in the end. Players like Maniche and Figo looked very very tired and that made Deco having to play well outside the AMC spot, picking up the ball at the defence.

I liked Scolari's job very much but with Pauleta and Figo retiring if he plans to start Postiga, I think it might be better to get another manager, because playing with Postiga is like shooting blanks

Yeah I know Ronaldo played upfront but Ronaldo is not a striker, he still went back to midfield and go the ball on his own and made runs, strikers don't do that, they stay in the box and wait for the ball to come to them. Terrible mismanagement by Scolari.

PS: I completely agree about Postiga :-puke:

 

[RuiCosta_10]

i wouldn't say that against the likes of Lyon or Monaco in the ligue 1 dude, even back when he played for la coruña he was good playing with a partner upfront.

Exactly, the problem is that Pauleta was completely alone, and he's not the perfect man for that kind of game, he can't receive a ball properly, he can't pass a ball properly, he can only finish, and you can't ask a striker to finish when you make him play all alone and force him to go back to receivie/give balls, wich is clearly not an abilitie on him, for that we should've played Nuno Gomes, and btw, Postiga can't play in any kind of role...