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Where Will Portugal Finish?

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2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup: Colombia

7K views 122 replies 14 participants last post by  Josué 
#1 ·
We're a little late on a thread or any mention of this one considering everyone is busy concentrating on the start of the club season. However, Portugal are competing in this tournament after being absent from the 2009 tournament. We last competed in Canada 2007 where we lost to Chile in the knock-out stages with the infamous meltdown from our youngsters.

So far we've played 2 group matches where we drew against Uruguay (0-0) and won against Cameroon (1-0).

We're currently the leader in Group B on 4 points.

Group B

Portugal - 4
New Zealand - 2
Uruguay - 2
Cameroon - 1

Squad List

1 GK Michael Domingues 03/08/91 (aged 20) Benfica
2 MF Pelé 09/29/91 (aged 19) Genoa
3 DF Tiago Ferreira 07/10/93 (aged 18) Porto
4 DF Nuno Reis (c) 01/31/91 (aged 20) Cercle Brugge
5 DF Roderick Miranda 03/30/91 (aged 20) Benfica
6 MF Júlio Alves 06/26/91 (aged 20) Atlético Madrid
7 FW Nélson Oliveira 08/08/91 (aged 19) Benfica
8 DF Cédric Soares 08/31/91 (aged 19) Académica
9 FW Amido Baldé 05/16/91 (aged 20) Cercle Brugge
10 MF Lassana Camará 12/29/91 (aged 19) Real Valladolid
11 FW Caetano 04/20/91 (aged 20) Paços de Ferreira
12 GK Tiago Maia 09/18/92 (aged 18) Santa Clara
13 DF Luís Martins 06/10/92 (aged 19) Benfica
14 FW Alex 08/27/91 (aged 19) Santa Clara
15 MF Danilo Pereira 09/09/91 (aged 19) Parma
16 DF Serginho 02/21/91 (aged 20) Beira-Mar
17 MF Sérgio Oliveira 06/02/92 (aged 19) Beira-Mar
18 MF Ricardo Dias 02/25/91 (aged 20) Beira-Mar
19 GK Luís Ribeiro 04/19/92 (aged 19) Sertanense
20 DF Mário Rui 05/27/91 (aged 20) Gubbio
21 FW Rafael Lopes 07/28/91 (aged 20) Vitória de Setúbal


Leading Scorers

Nélson Oliveira - 1

Our next match is on Friday, August 5th vs New Zealand.
 
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#3 ·
Don't know about the US, but I'm in Canada and Setanta Sports are showing every single game.

Anyhow, Oliveira boys and Caetano are the best players on the team. Not the greatest of squads but it looks like we will win our group at the very least.
 
#4 ·
Mika looks like a very good keeper in the making, hopefully Benfica loans him out to a club where he plays every game.

Or keep him as a backup goalie to Eduardo..Artur is secure but a bit average.

The centreback pairing and Cedric at rb look decent as well, leftback against cameroon was a bit poor and easily beaten, mario rui looked a bit better in the second half as his replacement.

Danilo-Sana make a interesting cm pairing to watch..sana was excellent vs urugauy but missed the cameroon game due to injury.

I think the teams strongest lineup is possibly:

-----------------------Mika----------------------------
-----------Reis---------------Roderick-----------------
Cedric-----------------------------------------Mario Rui
---------------------Danilo-----------------------------
-------Pele/Julio Alves----------Sana---------------------
----------------S.Oliveira--------------------------------
--------Cateano-------------N.Oliveira-----------------------

Or maybe play another forward in place of pele/julio alves in a more offensive 4-3-3
 
#5 ·
I watched the second half of the game vs Uruguay and the first half against Cameroon and was not impressed. There is a serious lack of creative talent in this squad. Surely that there are some good players here but nothing spectacular and nothing that gives any hope of anything better than a QF place.
 
#8 ·
Portugal targeting top spot, Kiwis history



Getty ImagesThough all the sides in Group B can still reach the Round of 16 at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the two-point advantage held by section leaders Portugal with one match to play gives them license to aim higher than merely scraping through. Friday’s opponents New Zealand, for their part, are dreaming of building on two creditable draws so far - their first ever points at the competition - and extending their historic campaign into the knockout stages.

The match
Portugal-New Zealand, Cali, Friday 5 August, 17.00 (local time)

The stakes
The changes in personnel and tactical system introduced by coach Ilidio Vale gave Portugal a greater spring in their attacking step against Cameroon, compared to their opener with Uruguay. Key to that were the forward forays of diminutive livewire Caetano and the clever interchanging of positions by attacking midfielders Danilo and Pele, while striker Nelson Oliveira put a wasteful first game behind him with a classy winner.

Top of the standings with four points, they have plenty of reasons to want to keep hold of first place. As well as taking on a theoretically weaker Round of 16 rival, they would also get to stay in the city of Cali, where they have been training for over ten days now and have built up a rapport with the local fans.

Currently in second place with two points, ahead of Uruguay on goals scored, the Kiwis’ pride at picking up another hard-fought draw was tinged with disappointment at not taking all three points against La Celeste. The All Whites looked dangerous in attack, particularly via the pace of Marco Rojas, returning after injury, who had a decisive role in Andrew Bevin’s 57th-minute strike, while Stefan Marinovic was again inspirational between the sticks.

A third consecutive draw may be enough to send the New Zealanders through to the next phase, if other results go their way, though one thing is for sure – they can no longer be considered the group’s least-fancied side.

The stat
22 – The number of years Portugal had to wait before recording another victory over an African side at the finals of a FIFA U-20 World Cup. Prior to beating Cameroon, the Iberian side’s last success against a CAF outfit was a 2-0 win over Nigeria in 1989. The next three meetings ended in defeats to Ghana (1993), Mali (1999) and Gambia (2007).

The words
Danilo, Portugal attacking midfielder: “We played well but we could have been a bit more clinical up front. Maybe if our finishing had been better we wouldn’t have suffered so much on the break. But we’ve still got high hopes. We want to win to stay in Cali and we know we’re capable of beating New Zealand.”

Marco Rojas, New Zealand forward: “We’re pleased with what we’ve achieved so far, but we’re also disappointed with the way we drew this game [against Uruguay], because we were close to winning it. But I think that we can already see this as a positive campaign. Now we’ll give it everything we’ve got to try and beat Portugal, who are one of the best teams in Europe.”
 
#10 ·
The boys just beat New Zealand by a score of 1-0 with a Mario Rui goal.

We could have scored more, but we played very safe and preferred to keep the ball. Possession was like 65-35 for us.

So we win our group, getting clean sheets in all 3 games.

Onto the knockout round.
 
#11 ·
We could have also suffered an equaliser thanks to the usual chicken shit approach "à Portuguesa". I'm still not impressed with this team but having in mind the possible opponents in the next round I do think we will reach the Quarters.
 
#14 ·
Looking at the overall grid of matches in the tournament we are actually in the lucky side of it as we avoid Brazil, Spain or Colombia but I still doubt we can go past Argentina or even Egypt.
 
#15 ·
Only saw the 2nd half of the match, but we were quite dominant and should have scored at least 1 more. Anyhow, Nelson Oliveira's penalty in the 1st half was enough to see us through to the Quarter-finals where we'll face Argentina, who beat Egypt 2-1.

If we beat the Argies, I feel that we can make the final but we'll definitely have to be more clinical in front of goal. Other than that, I'm content with how the defense has been playing along with the midfield who looked like a typical Portuguese NT as they were holding on to possession all game.
 
#16 ·
I get Felipe's point that this team's lack of bite up front will likely see them out vs the Argies. However, it's nice to see a Portuguese youth team showing some metal in front of their own net.

They're in the quarters. If they can get a top notch coaching job and a squad that walks out with belief - they can make their own destiny.
 
#17 ·
I also agree with the fact that this team has been showing a defensive capacity that we are not used to see in our NTs (no goals allowed in the 4 matches played so far) but even that was almost gone last night. Guatemala in the second half could have scored several times as our marking, Tiago Ferreira and Mário Rui looked particularly dodgy in that aspect, was dire. Better not even talk about what happened upfront where we are witnessing the birth of a new Hugo Almeida in that horrible Nelson Oliveira.
 
#18 ·
From what I saw I think we were really lucky to be advancing.

We did control the first half mostly Ill give them that.

But only scoring on a penalty that only half of the refs would call is the scarry part.

That we could not string something up against Guatemala and score a goal - does not look promissing.

Second half Guatemala wanted to advance and played for it They had bad luck with a couple of plays.
it could have easaly been 2-1 Guatemala at the end.

I know the game against Argentina should be more open as Argentina will push to score.

Portugal needs to be fast and affective on the counter if we are to make it to the semis.
 
#19 ·
Portugal end Guatemalan dreams


Getty ImagesPortugal edged their way into the last eight with a hard-fought 1-0 victory that ended the ground-breaking run of Guatemala.

A slice of history was set to be made regardless of the victor with Portugal aiming to move beyond the Round of 16 for the first time since 1995, while Guatemala were seeking to continue their run having already gone further than any of their compatriots.

As it was, a lone penalty just seven minutes into the contest was enough to separate the teams. Nelson Oliveira cracked home his second goal of the tournament, after Cedric was needlessly brought down in the corner of the penalty area.

Portugal spurned a great chance to double their lead on 18 minutes but Caetano fired wide despite finding himself alone in the penalty area after an assist from Alex.

The Central Americans, having been under pressure, had their real shot soon after with right defender Jose Andrade attempting to curl the ball home only to see his effort clear the crossbar.

Portugal enjoyed far greater possession, but, as in previous matches, struggled to create gilt-edged openings.

On the stroke of half-time Portugal captain Nuno Reis leapt high and delivered a dangerous header that forced Roberto Padilla into a smart save.

Guatemala, knowing their tournament aspirations were on the line, started the second half in positive fashion and Jose Melgar forced Mika into an important save.

Portugal though soon had good openings of their own with firstly, Tiago Ferreira’s header going narrowly wide, and then Caetano pushing his effort wide after getting the better of his marker.

The dangerous Melgar was at it again for the Central Americans, twice hitting efforts close to Mika’s goal to rouse the locals into support of the underdog.

Seven minutes from full time came the moment for the Guatemalans. Only a stunning save from Mika denied Gabriel Navas who got on the end of a corner.

Incredibly, the Guatemalans were then denied by the width of the post when Kevin Norales’ free-kick was kept out by the woodwork, in what proved the final chance in a heroic campaign by the Central Americans.
 
#23 · (Edited)
The QF game against Argentina starts at 00:00 CET in Cartagena and here's our line-up:

Mika
Cédric - Nuno Reis - Roderick - Luís Martins
Danilo
Pélé - Sérgio Oliveira - Júlio Alves
Caetano - Nelson Oliveira​
 
#24 ·
Put up or shutup time.

Quite an attacking line-up from us, hopefully we can get the job done.
 
#26 ·
0-0 at HT

Tight game as expected but we did well in midfield. Too bad our attack goes on being completely harmless. Why not giving a chance to Amido Baldé instead of that horrible Nelson Oliveira?
 
#27 ·
Decent half.

We neutralized their chances, and as usual, Danilo was a real monster in the midfield. Caetano was our most active player up front, getting three shots off himself with one particularly good opportunity. Nuno Reis very calm and assured at the back.

This has a 0-0 written all over it, taking us to extra time and penalties, but let's see if we can get one here in the second half.
 
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