Portugal, to Pick up Euro Slack?
Portugal’s recent relative successes in both Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 looks destined to lose steam in light of their
present struggles in Group A of the Euro 2008 Qualifications.
Currently, Portugal sits in 4th Place on 7 pts., behind Finland (11), Serbia (10), and Poland (10) going into the International brace of matches, beginning this weekend Saturday and continuing through the following week (Wednesday, March 28th).
With the era of Rui Costa and Figo finally played through, Portugal’s National Side is obviously going through some growing pains as their current form in the Euros suggests. Is Big Phil perhaps losing his touch with the program and bored with the current crop of talent? Or are players just not performing at required levels?
With players, however, like Christian Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma operating like wildfire on the wing for their club sides, it’s a shame that Portugal cannot benefit from such raw, wide play. Throw in the mix players like Deco, Sabrosa, Andrade, and Carvalho, and it’s a wonder why they haven’t been more productive in their Euro outings.
It will be interesting to see who Phil allows to run up front (thanks for retiring, Pauleta). Hopefully, he will go back to a traditional 4-4-2 as the one striker system of previous tournaments has shown to be futile in the end. If he opts for Helder Postiga, as the new Pauleta, and allows him to operate alone at the top it could be a lonely and frustrating week of football.
It doesn’t get any easier this stretch with matches against Belgium (Saturday, March 24th) and Serbia (Wednesday, 28th). Portugal hosts Belgium, who sits level on points with Portugal in 5th Spot, before traveling to Crvena Zvezda Stadium to try and turn the tables on 2nd Place Serbia.
Poland, on the other hand, actually has the best opportunity of Group A play when they host both Azerbaijan and Armenia who have only been able to scratch up 2 pts. between them. Only playing one fixture this time around, Finland at least has the advantage of also playing Azerbaijan on Wednesday to keep pace.
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