The 2012 UEFA European Championship - Poland/Ukraine - The Thread!

[Locke]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

Im surprised it took this long to be honest. After a brutal WC qualifying campaign, I thought they might get rid of him before the final started. When they didn't, I thought nothing short of an appearance in the Final would keep his job. When they went out in the second round, I was expecting it to happen. Glad he's gone, but they are in such a big hole to qualify for 2012, it may be too late already.

Queiroz really did nothing with these players. With the talent he had at his disposal, I never really saw a good performance from a Queiroz team. Honestly, outside of a pre WC friendly with Cameroon, I never Portugal play a good game. They barely made it in to the WC, and were less than impressive doing so.

I believe Paulo Bento will become the new manager. I'm not thrilled with this, but any change for this team is a good one. But like I said, given their position in Euro qualifying, it may be too late. 6 games left, they will probably need 5 wins. Gonna be tough.

Fair enough, but lets face it, they're not exactly in a group stuffed with contenders. They were expected to take this group in a laugh, and they'll make it through to the Euro because their group is honestly that weak. Portugal has the least reason of anyone to complain about the FIFA/UEFA seeding system. Its the only thing thats been keeping them even moderately competitive for the past few years.

This is a team ranked 8th in the world.

Norway, Denmark, Cyprus and Iceland. The only team that should have given them trouble is Denmark as they were in the same WC qualifying group. And they shouldnt be dropping points to the group's whipping boys like Cyprus.

[GirlySports]

Come on 7-0 against North Korea! Brazil could only score 2 on those guys!

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by Locke

Fair enough, but lets face it, they're not exactly in a group stuffed with contenders. They were expected to take this group in a laugh, and they'll make it through to the Euro because their group is honestly that weak. Portugal has the least reason of anyone to complain about the FIFA/UEFA seeding system. Its the only thing thats been keeping them even moderately competitive for the past few years.

This is a team ranked 8th in the world.

Norway, Denmark, Cyprus and Iceland. The only team that should have given them trouble is Denmark as they were in the same WC qualifying group. And they shouldnt be dropping points to the group's whipping boys like Cyprus.

You make it sound like there's a great injustice going on in Euro qualifying in that Portugal has an easy group, but the other bigger teams have a tough way in. I don't see much of a difference between Portugal's group and the groups with Spain, Italy, Holland, England Germany etc. They should go thru, but it doesn't always turn out that way. Denmark will be tough to beat twice and I think they are going to have to in order to go thru. Dropping points to Cyprus at home is inexcusable. They should be embarassed by that.

Portugal is definitely not the 8th ranked team in the world, I have problems putting them in the top 20 at this point. They've been brutal and they should use the benefit of the ranking system they get. But they haven't and it's pretty sad.

Given how bad things have been for Portugal lately, at least they're not France.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

You make it sound like there's a great injustice going on in Euro qualifying in that Portugal has an easy group, but the other bigger teams have a tough way in. I don't see much of a difference between Portugal's group and the groups with Spain, Italy, Holland, England Germany etc. They should go thru, but it doesn't always turn out that way. Denmark will be tough to beat twice and I think they are going to have to in order to go thru. Dropping points to Cyprus at home is inexcusable. They should be embarassed by that.

Portugal is definitely not the 8th ranked team in the world, I have problems putting them in the top 20 at this point. They've been brutal and they should use the benefit of the ranking system they get. But they haven't and it's pretty sad.

Given how bad things have been for Portugal lately, at least they're not France.

Sorry, that didnt come out right about the seeding. Many teams pull out the 'woe-is-us' card in regards to seeding because they land in a group with a major power (Germany/Spain/England <-Qualifiers only/Holland) and are in tough to qualify.

Whereas I would suggest that Portugal have a fairly easy group, Denmark are not exactly world beaters and realistically Norway, Cyprus and Iceland never had a chance. If Portugal were in the same seeding category as those 3 countries and got into a group with a Major power and Middle power, they more than likely would not qualify based on their form displayed over the last 6 years.

How they're ranked 8th is a mystery to me. They've done nothing to show that they warrant it. They havent had a solid result against a middle or major team in recent memory.

Thats one thing we can agree on. At least they're not France. Well, not yet anyways. They're on a pretty big downward trend.

[d_phaneuf]

I would rather be France than Portugal to be honest based on talent and I think Blanc is a better manager than anyone Portugal can get short of the special one leaving Madrid

[GirlySports]

I think Portugal being 8th is fair. Soccer unlike other sports has a ranking that goes back many years and major tournaments are given alot more points. Since they don't really play that many matches, the ranking doesn't change that much. Different than say tennis where they play every week and players lose or gain points defended from the year before on a weekly basis.

So how many games has Portugal played since 2004? 40? 50? can't be much more than that. And friendlies hardly count for anything.

So their record

2004 Euro finalists
2006 World Cup semifinalists (4th place)
2008 Euro quarterfinalists
2010 World Cup eighth-finalist

As bad as they are looking now, you'd be hard-pressed to find 10 teams that have a record better than this. Obviously drawing Cyprus, losing to Norway and perhaps not qualifying for Euro 2012 will knock them down into the teens, but for right now, I think their 8th ranking is justified.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

^^^Well that's why the ranking system is silly. It should be about right now, the current squad. Figo, Simao, Deco, Pauleta were all huge parts of Portugal's runs in 04 and 06. All have retired internationally.

If the rankings were about the current squads at this point, Portugal would be hard pressed to crack the top 20.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

^^^Well that's why the ranking system is silly. It should be about right now, the current squad. Figo, Simao, Deco, Pauleta were all huge parts of Portugal's runs in 04 and 06. All have retired internationally.

If the rankings were about the current squads at this point, Portugal would be hard pressed to crack the top 20.

It's a bit silly yeah but you can't rank teams on one game. Would you drop Spain a bunch of places for getting drilled by Argentina? They just don't play enough games to have a real good ranking system. Portugal will not even play 10 games in 2011, hard to rank something like that. Games that are further back count less so those Portugal success in 04 and 06 will get weeded out to be like 1% eventually and if they don't qualify for Euro 2012 I'm sure they'll be outside the top 20.

[d_phaneuf]

The Fifa rankings are a joke, and are politically motivated as well

the US 5 years ago was the 4th ranked team in the world

I like the ELO rankings better, they have Portugal 11th

[KTown]

You've got to take the rankings for what they are. The point system they have is a good system its better than having a bunch of overpayed suits decide. We the fans can't decide because we will lean towards our home team as much as possible.

The rankings in a lot of things are done wrong, like how is Tiger Woods still the #1 golfer, well he accumulated enough points that its taking people a while to catch him. He is getting caught though.

If you judge it base on a week to week thing that won't work. Say Canada beat Mexico and the US in one week, should Canada be ranked in the top 20 or better all of a sudden. Hell no, they better do it often and consistantly because of all the beatings Canada has taken over the past decade. The czechs were ranked as hig has second in the world back in the 2000's. You can say they were overrated but the way they beat up on teams consistanly is what vaulted them, now the Czechs are getting beat up and they are falling.

People look into these things too much.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by KTown

You've got to take the rankings for what they are. The point system they have is a good system its better than having a bunch of overpayed suits decide. We the fans can't decide because we will lean towards our home team as much as possible.

The rankings in a lot of things are done wrong, like how is Tiger Woods still the #1 golfer, well he accumulated enough points that its taking people a while to catch him. He is getting caught though.

If you judge it base on a week to week thing that won't work. Say Canada beat Mexico and the US in one week, should Canada be ranked in the top 20 or better all of a sudden. Hell no, they better do it often and consistantly because of all the beatings Canada has taken over the past decade. The czechs were ranked as hig has second in the world back in the 2000's. You can say they were overrated but the way they beat up on teams consistanly is what vaulted them, now the Czechs are getting beat up and they are falling.

People look into these things too much.

No, the way Jan Koller beat up on teams is what vaulted them. How many times did they bring that guy back? I was surprised they didnt bring him in during the WC qualifiers!

Besides, whatever happened to Baros? That guy had so much potential but then he turned the suck all the way up to 20.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Locke

No, the way Jan Koller beat up on teams is what vaulted them. How many times did they bring that guy back? I was surprised they didnt bring him in during the WC qualifiers!

Besides, whatever happened to Baros? That guy had so much potential but then he turned the suck all the way up to 20.

LIVERPOOL is what happened to Baros!

[SebC]

Originally Posted by KTown

The rankings in a lot of things are done wrong, like how is Tiger Woods still the #1 golfer, well he accumulated enough points that its taking people a while to catch him. He is getting caught though.

Any (reasonable) ranking system will be a lagging indicator. That doesn't mean something is being done wrong, it's just an inherent flaw in rankings based on recent results.

[KTown]

Originally Posted by Locke

No, the way Jan Koller beat up on teams is what vaulted them. How many times did they bring that guy back? I was surprised they didnt bring him in during the WC qualifiers!

Besides, whatever happened to Baros? That guy had so much potential but then he turned the suck all the way up to 20.

Yup ever since his golden boot at Euro 2004 he's been terrible. Its sad that we rely on him to score goals.

As per koller he was a beast but the man that made the team what they are was Pavel Nedved, that guy was awesome!

[Locke]

I think VFF is going to love this:

Former Argentina boss Diego Maradona is interested in taking over the Portugal job after Carlos Queiroz was sacked last week, according to reports.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...ro2012&cc=5901

[d_phaneuf]

please happen

He will line Ronaldo up at Left Back, Nani will be in net

it will be fantastic

[d_phaneuf]

Ben Foster (Birmingham City), Robert Green (West Ham United), Joe Hart (Manchester City)

Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), John Terry (Chelsea), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa)

Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Joe Cole (Liverpool), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Aston Villa)

Darren Bent (Sunderland), Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur), Kevin Davies (Bolton Wanderers), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

[rubecube]

The Dutch cut De Jong for being a dirty POS.

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/new...e-seven-months

[NBC]

^ And Capello named Kevin Davies for being a dirty PoS. It all balances out.

[KTown]

Scotland vs. Czechs in a key matchup this week.

If the Czech lose they can almost throw there qualifier hopes out the window.