Kimi, I think you place too much importance on stats. A midfielder who scores 1 goal in 200 games may very well be better than a midfielder with 15 goals in 20 games. Goals and assists of course do matter, but it's what a player can do on and off the ball, on and off the field in each match which matters. Creating chances, while not necessarily getting assists, is in my opinion the most important role in football.
From the suggested changes you make, here:
1. Adrien I think is a better player than Mario, but that being said, Adrien wouldn't have much of an impact on the field and Bento may just be looking to give Mario some experience.
2. I think that Amorim is class. While he may be past his prime I still think he's a great player. Not an expert on the others so I won't comment.
3. I think Danny should be in there, but Mane hasn't shown me anything really to be impressed with. Postiga is in my opinion Portugal's best striker, besides maybe Almeida right now.
^Danny shouldn't be anywhere, I'm glad he wasn't called. He is always making up injuries, so he won't be called for less important matches, but when it's real competition time he is always 100% fit.... yeah, right -.-"
Honestly I think it's pretty easy to understand his choices. About 90% of the selection was absolutely predictable. The likes of João Mário, Ivan Cavaleiro have very little chances of making the actual squad so it seems a bit pointless to discuss them.
I'm a bit surprised about Danny being left out, but again he's not crucial for the team. Postiga and Almeida, despite being mediocre, are about the best we have at this sort of level and belong to those 90% I referred.
As others have said, our team's quality hovers around Ronaldo and Moutinho almost exclusively. Our chances we'll depend heavily on their form I reckon.
I'll be supporting Oranje (I love Sneijder ) and Portugal.
As for Portugal selections. Nani doesn't deserve a spot at all. I don't know why Paulo Bento prefers Andre Almeida to Cedric the Sporting RB who I think is a very good player. I'd definitely get rid of Ruben Amorim, he's very average.
So players I'd take out of Portugal squad:
Eduardo
Andre Almeida
Rolando (He's been good for Inter but I don't think you need 5 CB's)
Ruben Amorim
Rafa
Nani
Ivan Cavaleiro
As long as Spain or Argentina don't win then I am happy. Would like for it to be a team like Germany but the team I shall be supporting is The Netherlands. Hip Holland!!!
Willy C - Meireles/Veloso - Moutinho midfield looks pretty stellar. William is a monster and him and Veloso or Meireles in midfield will give Moutinho freedom to focus on creating attacks, feed CR and maybe score goals
GK - Anthony Lopes - Expected as he never played a single match on the national team. Eduardo made a good World Cup in 2010, PatrÃcio is the number 1 and Beto just gave Sevilla Europa League.
DF - Antunes, Rolando - It seems that Bento opted to have just 3 defenders on the bench, with Neto being a traditional CB and Andre Almeida and Ricardo Costa the players who can make several position.
ATT - Quaresma, Ivan Cavaleiro - If Cavaleiro was an easy name to get out of the list (i'll remember he played 8 incomplete games on Portuguese League this season), Quaresma was 1 of 2 Porto players on the list and like Gustavovskiy said he is one capable of magic moments (both being sent off and scoring an unbelievable goal).
Portugal plays in 4-3-3 and Bento opted to call 7-5-8.
On defense, i think this is a risky move because if the side back players have any problem we'll have to trust on the versatility of two players who are nothing special and make a lot of mistakes playing outside of their natural positions. If Bento had chosen to take 8 defenders he might have called 1 versatile and Antunes and Cedric Soares as side back. If the first was on the 30 list, the second has some problem i don't know what it is.
On the midfiel Veloso-Meireles-Moutinho will for sure play at the beginning. Carvalho is a solid defensive midfielder and Amorim is a guy who can play in a lot of positions. Andre Almeida can also play in the midfield. We lack a Rui Costa or a Deco, and Adrien could be the number 10 or at least a substitute to Moutinho as an 8.5.
Paulo Bento will take 8 players called "attackers". 3 strikers and 5 wingers. On the strikers, since Bento doesn't want the brasilian Lima on the national team, only Nelson Oliveira could have been called, but he is as bad as this 3. The 5 wingers, Rafa shouldn't play and so either Quaresma or another side back player could have been on the list and make it a more balanced squad.
In 2010 Moutinho was playing for years as Sporting captain and he was not good enough to go to the World Cup. Now Sporting captain is Adrien. Moutinho ended up in Porto. Let's see what happens now.
This said, the choices couldn't be much different and it is much more important to have Ronaldo recovered than creating fights. Vamos lá Portugal!
USA final selection. No Landon Donovan. I'm only a little surprised. He isn't an essential starter any more, but I would have thought he'd have been kept in the 23 as an impact player.
Levi4life wrote:
USA final selection. No Landon Donovan. I'm only a little surprised. He isn't an essential starter any more, but I would have thought he'd have been kept in the 23 as an impact player.
PCM.Daily NFL Fantasy Football Champion: 2012 PCM.Daily NHL Prediction Game Champion: 2013 PCM.Daily NFL Prediction Game Champion: 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2021
Ste117 wrote:
I have never heard something so ridiculous in my life!
Excluding Russia would not happen. You can't ban a Sports team because of the action of Putin.
If Fifa done that there wouldn't be any teams left playing.
Besides much rather have countries that are actually going to do something at a tournament than those who just turn up to make up numbers
What about South Africa in the years they were excluded from pretty much everything. It is exactly the same.
South Africa doesn't have the same world influence Russia has. So if you can't get the rest of world (UN Security Council where Russia is a permanent member doesn't allow it) to exclude Russia politically how would you do that in sports?
I'm not saying it is right or not, i'm just saying it's the reality of international relations. No one spoke about sanctions to USA (and the coalition for the freedom of iraqui oil...i mean people) for invading Iraq in 2003 or NATO countries of bombing Serbia in 1998 or Russia for their intervention in Georgia in 2008. It's like the jungle where the strongest make the rules.
I disagree with Ste about the teams that are showing up just to make numbers. The teams earned their right to be there. I remember Danmark in Euro 1992 where their players were on vacations and because of Yugoslavia war they were called last minute to participate and...won it! Go Honduras!
-.-"
