Spain w/o Puyol and ace scorer David Villa, may not be as good as the teams of Euro 2008 and the World Cup of 2010 but they are still a very good side. They now use Fabregas as a âfalse No 9â with Torres mainly off the bench as the CF is now not the player of two/three years ago. Nevertheless they have a 1-1, 4-0, 1-0 and 2-0 record in this tournament. They keep the ball, playing with real patience while looking for incisive runs in between defenders, and they do cause mental and physical fatigue in their opponents. 2. Portugal do have the in-form 3 goal Ronaldo and the impressive Moutinho in MF. They have won 3 in a row since they held Germany for 70 minutes before losing 1-0 in their opening game. They have the advantage of having had an extra recovery day since the QFs. However MF Veloso looks poor, and Spainâs Barcelona defenders will be really determined to âget Ronaldoâ. They will surely focus on marking him when Spain have the ball so that his threat is nullified when Portugal regain possession. IN SUM - The draw is a runner here. However I can see Spain opening up this Portuguese defence often enough to win. However against the better sides Spain donât do âcricket scoresâ so a one or two goal win looks the best bet. Views?
For some reason I can just see Ronaldo having the best game of his career and single-handedly defeating La Liga's finest. But I have been wrong about pretty much everything else so far.
If spain focus on Ronaldo then Nani will do just as much damage. I firmly believe that if Ronaldo didn't exist then Nani would be considered among the top 3 wingers in the world as his progress wouldn't have been stifled by Ronaldo when he was at united. Nani is only dramatically inferior to Ronaldo in the air in all other aspects he is either as good or marginally worse.
Portugal: Rui Patricio, Joao Pereira, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fabio Coentrao, Meireles, Veloso, Joao Moutinho, Nani, Almeida, Ronaldo. Subs: Eduardo, Custodio, Quaresma, Nelson Oliveira, Ricardo Costa, Rolando, Ruben Micael, Varela, Miguel Lopes, Hugo Viana, Postiga, Beto. Spain: Casillas, Arbeloa, Pique, Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba, Xavi, Busquets, Alonso, Silva, Negredo, Iniesta. Subs: Valdes, Albiol, Javi Martinez, Juanfran, Pedro, Torres, Fabregas, Mata, Llorente, Santi Cazorla, Jesus Navas, Reina. No Fabregas or Torres!
Same here. I don't mind if it's a bit of Ronaldo's magic that does it. I know Spain play a pure form of football, and I can appreciate it. But Jeez, sometimes I'd like a bit of excitement. If everyone tries to copy Spain's idea of football, I'm giving up watching the sport. This contest actually looks like a training game. at the moment. Portuagl just had a free-kick, which reminds how poor the corners and free-kicks have been from the so-called finest players in the World. What you need are Lambert and Fox to coach them.
I'm so bored I'm going to pick you up on your BORED OF. Despite what you hear and see amongst your peers, it's BORED WITH. I apologise. If the match proves to become exciting, I'll stop all this. Ah, Ronaldo has a free-kick. It could all change..!
