[Dani Portista]

Portugal 3 (Figo, Sa Pinto, Capucho)
Wales 0

A satisfactory result in my opinion. I thought we played quite well, but were a bit lucky to keep a clean sheet.

Vitor Baia looked like a clown at times
Figo was his usual class
Nuno Gomes missed a one-on-one
Capucho's chip was world class
Joao Pinto was ok
Couto's long balls were good
Rui Costa caused problems

Overall, a good performance, but nothing to get too excited about.

Overall team performance 8/10


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FROM DA UK PORTISTA
VIVA O PORTO!

 

[mfa]

I hope in the euro we have the same finalização (concluding?...) rate we had last night...
Hope J. Pinto cut his hair before he go to Holland,it can be dangerous if he can not see the place where he falls,and would be good to see the ball too.

 

[mfa]

Baía needs some scares like that...hope he learns something and be more carefull when we play an important game.

 

[Ola]

Portugal beat Wales 3-0 in Euro 2000 warm-up
CHAVES, Portugal (Reuters)(DS) - Portugal cruised to a 3-0 home win in a friendly against Wales
in their last match before they head to the European soccer championship finals beginning in
Belgium and the Netherlands on June 12.
Wales, however, looked like taking an early lead when forward Craig Bellamy shot from the
right in the 12th minute but hit the bar.
Portugal then settled into the game and a good cross from Carlos Secretario on the right
found striker Luis Figo who shot from just outside the area but saw the ball go over the bar.
Figo was on target soon after and opened the scoring in the 21st with a direct free kick from
an acute angle on the left just outside the area wich powered its way through a wall of Welsh
defenders.
Visitors Wales missed another chance to score after 28 minutes when Portuguese goalkeeper
Victor Baia ran forward then lost control of the ball.
Baia, who was out of action for months until recently after knee surgery, then had to stop a
free kick by Gary Speed which he parried before recovering possession.
Portugal went 2-0 up after 44 minutes when another burst of speed by Luis Figo down the left
opened up a space in the Welsh defence and crossed inside the box to striker Ricardo Sa Pinto
who was waiting on the right and blasted the ball home.
In the second half the pace relaxed a little as the Portuguese trainer took advantage of a
comfortable lead to try out six substitutes, who took some time to come together as a team.
Wales created few chances for their visiting supporters to cheer and their porous defence
often allowed Portugal's swift forwards to find space inside the penalty area and several more
opportunities to score.
Substitute Nuno Capucho scored Portugal's third in the 66th from the left when he lobbed the
ball from the edge of the penalty area over the head of Welsh keeper Mark Crossley.
Another substitute, Nuno Gomes, wasted two chances to score after bursting through to an
unmarked spot near the left post. Once he headed the ball at an acute angle past the right post,
and in the final minute received the ball on the six-metre line but miskicked and sent it over the
bar.

 

[ST]

Baia was not good at all, really bad positioning. I'm dissapointed with Nuno too. He should have scored on the two super chances he got or at least hit the goal. Capuchos goal was a beauty though. I think we should have won by more considering Wales poor excuse for a defence, but with 6 second half subs it was as u say satisfactory. We had good movement I think and our strikers got into good positions all thru the game. We also crossed the ball well into the box and got a goal from it.

 

[SLB]

I disagree I thought it was an excellent performance and people can say it was only wales but remember they held brazil for 60 mins and were unlucky to lose by 3 whilst we were unlucky to only win by 3 and if we play anything like we played today against england i am confident we can win.
O.k defensively we were a bit dodgy at times but thats what the next 10 days are for I thought rui costa was out of this world as nearly every time he had the ball he made a goal scoring opportunity figo was his usual class and somebody who i also thought was brilliant was JVP as not only was he good on the ball but was excellent of it in trying to win back the ball.
Yes o.k baia wasnt great but i was encouraged by the way he was confident at crossing and the 2 mistakes he made were understandable as the one where he came out he thought he was closer to th line and the free kick he dropped was going at a very quick pace and did well to gather the ball in the end.
Nuno gomes did miss one or two sitters but was unlucky with his header and his positioning was pretty good.
secretario was as usual bad defendeing but was suprisingly good going forward although his crossing was dissapointing at times.
and capucho's goal was excellent.
The passing around of the ball was great and i think this was the kind of performance we needed before we played england.
As for the final team i am not to sure on whether to play one or two trincos but i would probably go for one and up front my choice would be sa pinto and j.pinto as they always seem to create many chances when they play together.

 

[dragaoazul77]

I thought the game was a positive note for portugal but again nothing to get excited about..england is england..and they have a very deep team with world class players...
portugal i think will get into trouble early with england but will eventually hold more possession as the game progresses..anyway i think sa pinto did very good and he should start in the first game...lets hope our boys get it done this time around...

 

[ST]

Hee hee, btw what about that crazy tackle from JVP? Anyway, after some reflection I think this was a nice showing by our boys. They were a little shaky at first but when they got into gear Wales could only watch the poetry in motion Another positive note: we scored! Always nice..
On the negative side I think Secretario is a real weakness. He's good offensively but I'm not looking forward to see him defend against say Beckham..he will get killed.
As for one or two trincos I think one is sufficient. However with two we can have say Bento and Sousa, because Sousa is also great offensively. The main thing is to attack, thats where our strenght is so lets use it as much as possibly. I'm still confident we can beat England and any other team and we have just as good a chance as anyone of doing great in euro 2000!

[This message has been edited by ST (edited 03-06-2000).]

 

[NelsonD]

Why id it, we always start off every football match poorly. If we continue with that lack of initial focus, England will punish us early.

OPn a more positive note, I think the boys played well, especially Rui Costa. I know thge media all of a sudden has a hard-on(I hope I can type that) for Figo, but I still think Rui is our most dangerous, and skillful player. Joao Pinto played really well, the second goal was a direct result of intelligence and poise, followed by great finishing by Figo and SaPinto. Nuno and Rui also combined well, but Nuno has to settle down a bit, I think he is still a bit too nervous and anxious. Once he gets comfortable, he can be a scoring machine!!!!

All in all, I have a great feeling about Euro2000.
Viva Portugal
Viva o Joao Pinto(o jogador mais internacional de Portugal)

 

[Dani Portista]

Yes mfa, JVP needs a haircut...In Euro 96 our commentators were joking that there was a barber's strike in Portugal.

But our wing backs will need to be at our best to cope with the likes of Beckham, Hamman, Petrescu, Hagi, McManaman and Rink.

I can already imagine the spaces that will be left when Secretario and Dimas go on a wonder...

 

[Santamaria]

It was a good show i think. I'm a bit concerned about the full backs going forward as england will drop the ball to shearer in the channels all day (esp the right-our left- side behind Dimas)and he'll win free kicks?

England seem only to be able to score from setpieces at the moment. Our defenders have to keep their discipline (Costa and Couto??).

[This message has been edited by Santamaria (edited 03-06-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Santamaria (edited 04-06-2000).]

 

[Marco]

am i the only person out there that likes Dimas?

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FOREVER PORTO!
FOREVER THE NORTH!
SEMPRE PORTUGAL!

http://www.fcporto-online.com

 

[Ola]

Gentlemen,

If we are looking for discipline from Couto and Costa then I suggest we put our flags away and call it a day.

Marcoa, as for Dimas well he simply sucks. How in the name of God he ever played in Italy no one will ever know. However, I do know that once you have been relegated to play in Turkey well your career is pretty much finished. Personally I don't think he shoud have been one of the 22 that were picked. SCP is simply pissing money away by buying this guy. Nice hair though!

[This message has been edited by Ola (edited 04-06-2000).]

 

[Marco]

one of my Italian friends is a huge Juve fan...he told me that he simply loved Dimas and was ruined the day he found out he was transfered. I do feel that he does get a bit ambitous at times with his attacking but all in all I think he is okay for the national team. I thought he played fantastic for the seleccao against Romania when we lost 1-0.

However Secretario is simply the worst player on our national team.

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FOREVER PORTO!
FOREVER THE NORTH!
SEMPRE PORTUGAL!

http://www.fcporto-online.com

 

[ST]

Dimas has always done good for the seleccao, so who cares about his club futebol? And he was not bad in Juve at all really.

I think everyone here will agree on Secretario. He's kinda useful coming forward though..

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SEMPRE VIOLA

 

[SLB]

Secretario is good going forward but not crossing but his defending is awful.
Dimas although i thought he played badly in italy and in belgium i thought he impoved a lot agaisnt wales and at benfica he was one of our best players.
I bet JVA was dissapointed he didnt get to benfica earlier because Dimas would have been a good free transfer!

 

[Santamaria]

I'm not criticising Dimas, it's just in the system against Wales he plays as a midfielder when we've got the ball. I like this system but it has it's weaknesses.

Sporting play the same and in the cup final it was Rui Jorge who (in a conventional back 4) should have been helping Andre Cruz out on the goal Jardel scored. The system can be caught out by the early ball, as delivered by Rubens Junior.

 

[RedEagle]

I like our fullbacks going forward when we play with two defensive midfielders system . It generates offense, but our fullbacks are not cafu or roberto carlos, they are Dimas and Secretario! So with that, we should only play with one trinco!. Just my opinion.