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Archive for the category “Portugal”

06 Jun 2012

Euro 2012 Preview – Group B

With Euro 2012 starting on Friday in Poland and Ukraine, we continue our look at the 16 teams today focusing on Group B, the glamour group of the tournament with Denmark, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands (or Holland, depending on who you ask).

The Teams
Denmark, currently at No. 9 in FIFA’s world rankings, won all four of its home games in group play, including a 2-1 win against Portugal to clinch the group. Problem is, this tournament isn’t being played in Denmark.
The one thing the Danes do have in their favor is coach Morten Olsen, currently the longest-tenured coach of any national team. Olsen has led the club as it qualified for World Cups in 2002 and 2010 and for the Euros in 2004 and 2012, and that experience will be needed for the squad to have any hope of coming out of the toughest group in the tournament.
The same can be said of captain Daniel Agger, who knows all about playing on the big stage after spending the past six years with Liverpool. Agger’s ongoing injury issues – he only played in four of Denmark’s 10 qualifying matches – are a concern for a squad that doesn’t have much depth.
The Netherlands (No. 4 in FIFA’s rankings) are coming off an ugly loss to Spain in the finals of the last World Cup but enter Euro 2012 in good form, having won nine of their 10 qualifying matches.
With Robin van Persie (48 Premier League goals over the past two years), Arjen Robben (Footballer of the Year in Germany in 2010 for his play with Bayern Munich) and Wesley Sneijder (five goals in thee 2010 World Cup), the Dutch should not have problems scoring goals (and let’s not forget Dirk Kuyt, the hardest-working man in the game), but they need to be more creative, especially if they are going to play Nigel do Jong and Mark van Bommel as holding midfielders.
“The problem with two holding midfielders is quite simple, but somehow many coaches don’t see it,” complained Dutch legend Johan Cruyff, according to ESPN. “The build-up happens too slow; holding midfielders always need that extra touch, always need to have a look when they have the ball already … plus, having two holding midfielders means there is one less creative playmaker.” 
Portugal (No. 10 in FIFA’s rankings) is led by Cristiano Ronaldo, whom ESPN ranks as the No. 1 player in the tournament, and who has 84 goals and 22 assists in 67 games over the past two seasons for his club team, Real Madrid.
The squad struggled in qualifying, though, losing to Denmark and Norway in the group stage before a playoff win over Bosnia & Herzegovina secured a tournament spot.
Then there is Pepe, who some consider one of (it not the) dirtiest players in football. As ESPN points out:
Apart from being dirty, Pepe can be termed, to put it bluntly, a big baby. Not ashamed of clattering into opponents with no intent to win the ball, a faint touch sends the defender down. The latest example of his childish behavior came in the Champions League semifinals against Bayern Munich, when Pepe writhed on the ground after Franck Ribery made mild contact with his arm.
Germany (No. 3 in FIFA’s rankings) is a three-time winner of the tournament and is consistently a favorite in any competition. The team was perfect in group play, finishing 13 points ahead of second-place Turkey. The Germans scored three or more goals in eight of their 10 qualifying matches.
The availability of Bastian Schweinsteiger, who injured his thigh in the Champions League final, was in doubt but the midfielder has been cleared to play which can only be good news for Germany, which looks to end a 16-year title drought.
“This is the best national team I have ever played for,” Schweinsteiger, capped 90 times for Germany and going into his fifth major tournament, told The Daily Mail. “Everyone expects us to win the title and naturally it is something that we also desire.”  
Did You Know?
Germany’s players will be allowed to drink, smoke,tweet and mix with their girlfriends at Euro 2012.
Games to Watch
Pretty much every one of them in this group, and when they are not busy delivering flying karate kicks to the opposition, Holland is just such a good team (plus we have to be partial to any team that has Orange as one of their primary colors). It will most likely come down to the final group game on June 17 between Holland and Portugal, but we think the Dutch will make it through.
Who Will Advance?
Wow, this is a tough one (they don’t call this the Group of Death for nothing, you know). Something really bad would have to happen to see Germany not make it out of this group, and Holland should have enough to advance as well.

For additional coverage, be sure to check out The Daily Mail, The Guardian, EPL Talk and ESPN.

(Photo by Getty Images)
Posted in Cristiano Ronaldo, Denmark, Euro 2012, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal | Leave a comment
10 Jun 2010

World Cup Preview – Group G

Many commentators instantly labeled this as the “Group of Death,” and indeed it contains three teams that would be heavy favorites to advance out of any other group. Still, there’s a bit more separation among the sides than the label might imply. Brazil, although it will receive a vigorous challenge from Portugal and Ivory Coast, is so strong that it most likely will advance. And North Korea, of course, has almost no chance. That leaves Portugal and Ivory Coast vying for what will likely be second position.

Brazil is famous for being brilliant at football, great at throwing parties that involve women in bikinis dancing around in the street, and not bad at winning major tournaments. If the World Cup were to consist of some kind of football monarchy, then Brazil would be king. They’ve been to all of them, and they’ve won five (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002), making them the most successful team in the competition’s history.

Much to the chagrin of a Brazilian public who had bought into the notion of style before results, Dunga has reminded the Selecão there’s another way to win. To this point, Dunga’s way is proving more consistent: 2007 Copa America, 2009 Confederations Cup, finishing on top of CONMEBOL qualifying, number one team in the world. As a result, the cries about the style of Brazilian football have been drowned out by the victory celebrations.

The Brazilians have world-class quality all over the field, a range of attacking options to complement a stingy defense and perhaps the world’s best goalkeeper. In short, the elements that make them favorites to take a sixth World Cup home to Brazil. Whether a championship devoid of Joga Bonito will appease Dunga’s critics is another matter.

Heading into this World Cup, Portugal is something it would never have dared dream a year ago: hopeful. After a tumultuous year in which Portugal looked in shambles and danced on the edge of the World Cup nonqualification abyss, the team has turned it around.

Rather than despair about the retirement of its “Golden Generation” — Luis Figo, Rui Costa and others — recent performances have finally given rise to optimism about Portugal’s current crop. Led by the transcendent Cristiano Ronaldo, this team could do real damage, but that is only if it doesn’t stumble over its enormous first hurdle.

Regardless of this being just their fifth World Cup, Portugal have already felt a few big highs and crippling lows. They fared particularly well in the 1966 and 2006 World Cups, finishing in the top four in both. But they stuttered their way to this one, with a rather up-and-downy qualifying campaign. And the past decade has been both kind and cruel to Portugal. On the one hand, it has seen them qualify for every major international tournament — in fact, they are one of just five teams to play in every World Cup and Euro Cup since 2000. However, the ultimate goal — hoisting the trophy at the end — has eluded them; a fourth-place and a runners-up finish are the closest they have come to winning the World Cup and Euro, respectively.

Much of Africa has pinned its hopes on Ivory Coast. The team is enormously talented offensively but much weaker defensively. Plus, it drew this impossible group, with the prize for finishing second a likely Round of 16 game with Spain. This team will have to be very lucky to progress very far.

After a disappointing Africa Cup of Nations, the Ivory Coast made up for it by breezing through the qualifiers to make it to just their second World Cup. Last time around they suffered from being in a strong group alongside Argentina and Holland. This time they will see more of the same. Ivory Coast’s World Cup hopes were potentially damaged when talismanic striker Didier Drogba broke his arm in a final tune-up match against Japan. We probably won’t know whether Drogba will play until Ivory Coast’s first game, so it’s hard to predict what to expect from the Elephants until game time.

About as unsympathetic an underdog as there might be, the North Koreans play dull, defensive soccer and were fortunate to qualify. Their upside is probably limited to a draw against Ivory Coast or Portugal.

The World Cup affords the rich getting richer and pariah nations like North Korea to dispel stereotypes. But in a country as furtive and paranoid as this one, do not expect a full-fledged public relations effort to burnish its image. Even if its World Cup history includes a 1-0 victory over Italy in the 1966 World Cup, followed by a 3-0 lead over Portugal before Eusebio scored four goals en route to a 5-3 comeback win, there seems very little self-promotion emanating from within this state. The lowest-ranking team in the finals (106 in the FIFA rankigns), North Korea defeated Mongolia, Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia to qualify for the first time since ’66. That’s when the Koreans really got something to complain about after being grouped with Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal.

The highlight of the tournament for the North Koreans may have been when they tried to sneak Kim Myong-Won, normally a forward, onto the roster as a goalkeeper. The move backfired when FIFA ruled Kim can only play in goal.

Information for this preview was researched, and more team information is available, here, here, here, here and here.

Posted in Brazil, Group of Death, Ivory Coast, North Korea, Portugal, World Cup | Leave a comment

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