It is now more then 24 hours since the disappointing loss to Denmark, a loss that has sent our National side to the playoff zone and one final attempt to qualify for Euro 2012. Portugal will face either Turkey, Bosnia, Montenegro or Estonia in a home and home in November and the Quinas should not take any of these countries for granted.
The Portuguese will need to fix a few areas of their game if they hope to advance to next summers tournament, injuries are part of the game but inadequate replacements are a big concern to the fans and the country itself.
The Four Keys for Portugal advancement:
1- The Player Selections
Coach Paulo Bento needs to make better selections for Portugal especially when replacing injured first team players, his Sporting bias is well noted and more importantly he needs to stop selecting players that are not even playing regular minutes with their main clubs.
Joao Pereira is a capable back up but with re-emergence of Bosingwa, the right back needs to reclaim his starter spot on the National side. Ricardo Costa and Eduardo do not play regularly enough to make an impact if needed and Rolando was terrible in both games and has not performed well for Porto this season. Eliseu was asked to play out of position and against a stronger opponent his game was flawed.
2- The Defense
The Defense was horrible against Iceland and you would have hoped that they would not perform the same way against Denmark but a disgusting performance was again exposed and this time to the horror of Portuguese fans.
When healthy the starting four should be, Bosingwa, Bruno Alves, Pepe and Fabio Coentrao with the backup selections being Silvio (Atletico Madrid), Sereno (Cologne), Daniel Carrico (Sporting) and Ruben Lima (Hajduk Split). It is a young 2nd team but the key is hoping that not all four starters will be out a the same time.
The Quinas could always bring back center back Fernando Meira (Real Zaragoza) for veteran leadership and keep an eye on Pedrinho (Lorient) and Ruben (Maritimo) who play right and left back respectively. Rolando and Joao Pereira will need to earn their way back onto the National side.
3- The Strikers
Hugo Almeida should be back in time for the home and home playoff but the striker spot has been one of Portugal's sore points for many years and although Helder Postiga has scored the odd important goal he is to often a non factor in games and Nuno Gomes best days are behind him.
It is time that Bento bring in some young blood and three Portuguese players have accounted for more then 30% of their clubs goals so far this season. Eder (Academica), Rudi(Cercle Brugge) and Wilson Eduardo (Olhanense) all players are younger then 24 and may give the National side a spark which is needed at this position.
4- The Captain
Anytime Portugal underperforms a look is taken at the #7 Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo needs to grow up and be a captain, shaking his head, raise his hands and not running back to cover men cost Portugal the 2nd goal in the game against Denmark. The Portugal captain needs to act mature on the field and play with his heart instead of just his talent if the National side is to succeed or give up the arm band. Honour, Pride, Dignity and Leadership is what this position is about.... Its time he put his ego aside and understood this.
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