Are you convinced Cristiano Ronaldo is the finest player in the world? Do you believe Filipe Scolari will guide Portugal’s new golden generation to the final of Euro 2008? Well maybe you should listen to our new podcast, where we pick through the bones of Portugal’s defeat at the hands of Italy last night at the Letzigrund Stadium in Switzerland. We’ll ask and answer the questions you yourselves may have about this ‘disaster’: Why did Scolari pack the midfield with ageing unfit players? Why was Ronaldo so ineffective? What positives can Portugal take from this result in the run up to Euro 2008?
In part 2 we review the previous weekend’s Liga results and discuss the possible resemblance between Porto’s new hot-shot striker Ernesto Farías and Chaci from the American 1970s sitcom, “Happy Days”. What’s more, we’ve discovered the heartwarming reason why Lisandro Lopes makes funny gestures with his hands every time he scores a goal. Both Benfica and Sporting stick to form, letting their fans down the second they believe they might have a chance in pegging back Porto’s now 10 point lead in the Liga. We’ll be looking into the rumours that Camacho is going to escape Benfica to return to the managerial hotseat of the Spanish national side and we’ll also try to reason why players like Belenenses’ Zé Pedro are unlikely to get a look in to Scolari’s Selecção. Last but not least, we’ll have a look at Boavista manager Jaime Pacheco’s no-holds-barred wrestling display against Paços de Ferriera.
Finally, in part 3, we look forward to the upcoming Taça de Portugal fixtures. The word of the week is “assobios“, we’ll tell you what it means and why Sporting left-back Pontus Farnerud was on the recieving end of a few of them. Finally, we answer k’s question about the main rivalries in Portuguese football.
We’ll be back next Monday, in the meantime, feel free to send us any comments or questions, either on the site or by e-mail at info@footballportugalpodcast.com
Thank you for listening.
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This podcast has now been removed
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Nice! Thanks!
I didn’t catch the Italy v. Portugal game but given your report it’s what I would have expected with the squad Scolari chose. Don’t get me wrong though, I love what os conquistadores did in Euro2004 and WC 06 but I think both Scolari (and the fans) need to let a lot of them go. Scolari really needs to take into account current performances rather than what they’ve done for the team in the past. Like wanting to bring Figo back? I think it’s time to let go. Also, I love Deco but lately he’s had a rough time to say the least…and I agree that João Moutinho should play and could be the new (and possibly better) Deco. I also wouldn’t mind more Nani. Oh, and was Simão not called up or did you mention him and I didn’t catch it?
Put simply: I hope Scolari makes changes soon.
Hey Andrew! Simão wasn’t called up, he isn’t fit and I can only hope that’s the reason why Scolari didn’t call him into the squad. I think Simão is possibly one of the most effective “extreme” players in Europe and he’s an essential part of the Portuguese team but I think his power in international football is as a substitute, as he demonstrated against Brazil last year.
In the last couple of days Scolari has been telling the Portuguese press that Portugal doesn’t have leaders like it had in 2004 and 2006, he says there are no Coutos, Rui Costas or Figos. This is such sh*t, Scolari is such a terrible manager, I remember in 2004 when he played his first game against Greece with Couto in defence when the whole world knew Carvalho was such a better player.
Simão was a fantastic captain of Benfica, Moutinho is a fantastic captain of Sporting, always leading by example, Ronaldo could be an amazing captain of Portugal but when you have your manager saying that you’ll never be as good as Figo, what chance do you have? There are so many great managers in Portugal at the moment (Jorge Jesus, Carlos Carvalhal, Carlos Brito and Manuel Cajuda spring immediately to mind) it seems a nonsense that the FPF are willing to trust such a gifted bunch of players with a guy who can’t even be bothered to watch them play.