Queiroz: “The best of Portugal is yet to come”
Opposite number del Bosque heaps praise on Portugal coach
  “The best of Portugal is yet to come. That is my conviction.”
These were the bold words of national team coach Carlos Queiroz as he confidently looked forward to the last-16 World Cup meeting against Spain in Cape Town on Tuesday evening.
“The players are motivated, confident, and game by game the attitude to get over our obstacles has been constant,” continued Queiroz.
“In the last sixteen every team has a fifty percent chance. Some have a little more technique, some have a little more organisation, but the tension and the emotion is the same for everybody.
“We are talking about two great teams with the same possibilities to progress. I want to be in the quarter-finals. Nobody can be the best without beating the best.”
Trio fitness boost
The Portugal coach received good news before tomorrow’s match as injury doubts Pepe, Deco and Danny have all been passed fit to face the European Champions.
Meanwhile, Queiroz’s opposite number, Vicente del Bosque, has heaped praise on the manager of the Seleccao and admits his tactics will depend on how Portugal deploy star man Cristiano Ronaldo.
“We don’t know if he’ll play as a winger or a centre-forward, and our system will depend on that. Portugal have a good team, added to by the value of Cristiano Ronaldo. They are Ronaldo and a team behind him.
“We know them well. We saw their three matches and analysed all the possibilities. We know they only got to the World Cup through the play-offs, but Queiroz had done excellent work and they have grown as a team here.”
As for his own team, del Bosque admitted that the opening defeat to Switzerland knocked back the squad and made it hard work reaching the knockout stages.
Emotionally draining
“The defeat against Switzerland forced us to make a huge effort, but we knew how to get over the bitter taste of that 0-1 scoreline. It was enormously draining from an emotional point of view. After the game there was nothing but silence in the bus, but the team recovered by showing great character.
“We were excessively tense in the last two games because there was a big responsibility to win. But nobody can question the attitude of this group of players.”
by Tom Kundert
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Didn't we have a guy named Cristiano Ronaldo that was the most expensive player in the world? Did he even touch the ball?
Wow!!!!! I can't even see the keyboard for the tears in my eyes. DOn;t rebuttal this as I am not in a good place right now and will hunt you down and kill you .
Sorry I am a little emotional right now.
Block out all the negativity.
Focus on only one thing ... playing as a team ...you are only as strong as the weakest link.
Use each other ... promote each other ... it is not about the number of goals you have scored that you are remembered by ... look at Eduardo, he is the talk of the town (being the only goalkeeper without conceding a goal as yet in this tournament)
When you lose, don't lose the lesson. Turn every experience into an opportunity.
We are behind you all the way ... always be yourself, because the people that matter, don't mind and the ones that mind, don't matter.
VIVA PORTUGAL (from SA where all the fever is)
I believe in you portugal. Do us PROUD!!!!!!!
I think Portugal is gonna win they are gonna send Spain back to their country,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Wooho go PORTUGAL,,,SHOW 'EM!
I agree with (Joe / CT USA) we have a strong defense. Fabio, has gained my respect (did i mention i was a benfica fan). He did good at Benfica, and now I am seeing what he is really made of! Glad he is still young he is the future for the Portuguese.
I think we should in this match with the same line up that brought the 7 goals. We did great on D and O.
I know that tomorrow I will be watching the game at Buffalo Wild Wings, with a bunch of Spanish Bandwagoners wearing their jerseys not able to name two players on the Spanish team, But I tell you what I will be wearing my Jersey and Scraf (with this 90 degree weather in Sunny Cali) but you better believe Ill be the loudest guy there!
Former Spanish coach Aragones not optimistic about Spain's chances against Portugal.
Everyone talks about CR but why have people not noticed how good Coentrao is? The few smart people that mentioned Coentrao suggested he could end up being as good as Robben of Holland.
Frankly, it's time for this team to overachieve after all of the months of underachievement. I know this team can play great on both sides of the ball. We can score goals and we can defend but we'll need to do both quite well against Spain on Tuesday night. I'm pretty sure that even though Quieroz is promising to attack, Spain will have the ball most of the game so we won't be able to do that in great abundance anyway. So, we'll be forced to do what the Swiss did: the ol' "smash and grab" gameplan. We'll pick their pockets a few times and go on devastating counterattacking raids and hopefully we can bag an early goal so they'll be forced to chase the game even more desperately.
Theoretically, we are an ideal team to beat Spain with a great defense (at least better than the Swiss) and a decent enough counterattacking threat. Some of the questions that will decide the game will linger however: who will Quieroz start? The bunch that destroyed N Korea? Or the somewhat odd formation that started against Brazil? (the formation that will NOT get the job done against Spain) Next, will Spain's stars produce moments of such brilliance that even our defense will fail to contain them? Or, will they struggle to produce as they did against Switzerland, and to some extent, Honduras. (game could've easily been 6-0, 7-0, but ended up only 2-0)
In the end it will likely be by the narrowest of margins that this game is decided. I can envision another boring draw until the very end when one of these two teams will make the breakthrough and steal the win. I can only hope it will be Portugal. We will have to play an amazing game though.
If we do lose, I would at least like us to make it difficult for the Spaniards. Not a dismal loss, like England losing to Germany, or Chile's miserly performance in a 3-0 loss to Brazil on Monday night. I want us to go out and give everything we have, win or lose.
If we do that, I know we can win, regardless of what the rest of the world thinks.
miguel-------carvalho------alves-----------coentrao----------------
----------------------pepe----------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------raul meireles------------------
------------------------deco-------------------------------------------
---------ronaldo--------------------danny----------------------------------
------------------liedson--------------------------------------------------------
2012 their will be replacments for our more experienced players who will be retiring after this tournament and others that should make the squad
EDUARDO PATRICIO BETO
RB BOSINGWA FOR FERREIRA CAUSE HE WAS INJURED MIGUEL OR NELSON FROM REAL BETIS
Cb ALVES. PEPE BACK IN defence FOR THE RETIRED CARVALHO other two cb rolando and carrico
LB COENTRAO maybe jose goncalves who is developing reallly well or nelson can convert to left back as can veloso
DM fernandes for PEPE since caRvalho is retired he converts back to defence and fernandEs takes his startingspot in dm VELOSO, AND VITOR PELE, will replace the old mendes
center midfield raul meireles, joao moutinho in for retired deco paulo machado possibly a sub or danny for the attacking mid
wingers nani for simao in starting if not retired quaresma or eliseu possibly on the bench with ronaldo a starter free role
yannick for liedson almeida on bench or makukula
starting lineup
EDUARDO
-BOSINGWA----PEPE-----ALVES-------COENTRAO---------
------------------------FERNANDES------------------------------------
------------------------------------------MEIRELES-----------------------------------JOAO MOUTINHO------------------------------------
NANI---------------------------------------------RONALDO-----
-------------------------YANNICK-------------------------------------
or ronaldo yannick swap
BENCH
NELSON
ROLANDO
VELOSO
DANNY
ALMEIDA OR MAKUKULA
QUARESMA
Let's go tomorrow and show the world that Spain aren't the only country on the Iberian Peninsula that can play football.
Forca !
Torres hasn't been right for a while now. Villa, or for that matter anyone, going up against Ferreira scares me. He's not very effective and either gives to much ground or gets beat. Neither good.
Miguel is also lacking in the defese department, but is much better going forward.
Portugal's defense has been terrific, which is a great surprise. I can only hope that Pepe will be strong for this one.
The Spanish D can be taken, Ramos is out of positon more often than not, and Puyol has slowed a bit.
Only I ask is for Ronaldo be deployed wide. He's most effective running at defenders from a wide position. He could also work well with Coentrao on overlaps. The defense will have to decide in staying with Ronaldo or Coentrao. Leaving the touch back to Ronaldo open or the cross in.
Oh yeah, Almeida should also start. People seem to think that Liedson is this nifty quick forward because of his build. It would be wrong to think that. He's a standard forward that is effective in Liga Sagres, but not so vs better competition.
The refereeing is always a scary proposition. Busquets and his flopping and hysterics are hard to take. Torres will also take the cheap shot and dive. I know that Portugal.Ronaldo has the diving reputation, but so many more teams have done so in this tourney. The Netherlands was on teh ground plenty today, for no reason at all, yet the ref bought it.
In any case, the way Portugal has played has to bring confidence. I know we want pretty all the time, but a win is a win.
Rui, get on a train and head to Nevada Smith's.
if portugal win, ill be soooo happy, but whenarent we happy when they win, even in friendlies! :D
Portugal has the defense to break up the Spanish passing game and make it diffcult to score but Spain has two strikers who can turn a aound a game with one moment of brilliance. Both these players have demonstrated they can do this. Keep in mind that Villa will likely attack from the left and go up against Paulo F.
Paulo F has a tendancy to allow his man to cut inside and play the play to his right foot for a shot on goal which is what Villa likes to do. Need to force him away from goal toward his left and force him to cross it as Spain is not much of a threat in the air.
The problem for Portugal in this game will be scoring even though Spain will give you a few good quality chances we need clinical finishing and penetration. Will CR provide the brilliance we need not only with goals but passing to set up his teammates? I have my doubts based on past performance but tomorrow is a new day to re-write history.
We have a shot but if we lose given where we can from with a limited scoring options this is a good accomplishment.
Portugal win 2-1.
It will be interesting (to put it mildly) to see CQ's lineup. I believe everyone is fit, so that won't affect the choices. We need to win, not just avoid losing, so this will be a pure decision on our overall best selection for the game.
It's a toss-up for me between Deco and Tiago, but I do hope CQ goes with Miguel over P. Ferreira.
Forca Portugal!
by the way, it irks me how no analyst is evening considering Portugal winning this game. All the futebol channels I get here in the USA, keep talking about Argentina, Brazil & Spain. Hope Portugal shocks them.
"if Portugal knows how to take the ball off Spain then they are going to have options to win comfortably. I am not optimistic about the game because I see that Portugal has a great team."
Spain have not been the same this year and if we do disrupt their passing game and keep them from dictating the tempo, we can score goals. Our defense is the strongest in the world and We can keep a clean sheet against a spanish team that lacks it's usual creativity and cutting edge.