In Vienna tonight, as locals digest and dissect the details of their opening defeat to the Czech Republic, different translations of the phrase "We wuz robbed" will not (I'd imagine) be too far from many lips. They came; they gave their all; they huffed, puffed & probed; they (sadly) lost their captain and main man Alexander Frei;1 but they ultimately lacked that little bit of extra class that might (otherwise) have earned them a precious 3 points.
So while one couldn't fault them in terms of effort and enthusiasm (attributes best exemplified by Stuttgart's ferociously combative Ludovic Magnin), they now face into their remaining two games both pointless and Frei-less. It's very hard (even with enthusiastic home support) to fancy their chances.
The same cannot be said for Portugal. After reaching a final and a semi-final in their last two major tournaments, the Portuguese (rightly) enter Euro 2008 as many people's third favorites (behind Germany & Spain). Tonight their attacking men went up against some gigantic Turkish defenders, with little Simao Sabrosa finding himself (at one stage) being booted about 15 feet into the air by the 17 Foot (24 Stone) Gokhan Zan (aka - "Gorkan the Mighty". Grrr!).
Rather than letting this upset him unduly, he joined the rest of his compatriots in picking himself up, dusting himself down and getting on with the job of comfortably overcoming the Turkish colossi. Though all eyes (including, if possible, his own) were on Cristiano Ronaldo, the outstanding creative presence in the Portuguese midfield was someone I'd almost written off as disinterested, sluggish and past his best. Deco, my little friend, I apologise - you've still got it going on.
He pulled those invisible strings, he was tidy and precise at all times, he controlled the center of the pitch with total authority…or at least that's what I thought. Back in RTÉ HQ, Eamonn Dunphy was spewing forth a rather different theory. Not only did he suggest that those pundits who'd backed the men in maroon/wine2 were suckers who might as well rip up their betting slips, he also hilariously described Deco as "self-indulgent in midfield".
Further proof, as if it were needed, that the Dunph-meister just articulates the first thing half-baked opinion that pops into his head, regardless of (often) substantial evidence to the contrary. When even the be-gelled and twinkle-toed Cristiano turns in an admirably unshowy/unselfish team performance, it's hard not to see this (early days though it may be) as a clear statement of intent.
Portugal are looking very tasty aren’t they? Two lovely goals tonight, and some great play against tough opposition.
Ronaldo is hard to like, I’ll admit. Everything about him screams “all flash, no substance”, but after this season I’ve had to reluctantly admit that he’s the real thing. Dunphy, on the other hand has not allowed such trifles like 42 goals in a season to get in the way of his views, and still thinks Ronaldo’s an over-rated show-off. But then he spent the 80’s refusing to admit that Michel Platini was anything better than fair.
June 8th, 2008 at 1:47 amI thought the Turks did ok, in patches, but just didn’t have any real penetration. They’ll still give the other two teams in the group a decent game.
RE: Ronaldo & Dunphy - the whole thing is pretty amusing. Basically Dunphy thinks (as does Giles to a less vehement degree) that Ronaldo is a tit, and it’s this personal dislike that fuels his dismissal of him as a world-class player. It’s not (as you point out) the first time he’s taken such a stand.
Even if Ronaldo is (and he very well may be) a bit of an idiot, I can’t but admire his complete self-confidence and indifference to hostility. He just laps it up and keeps going (and grinning). In terms of his ultimate legacy I still don’t think he’ll prove to be as great as, say, Messi - but that’s probably just me betraying my own bias (I love the little fella!).
Anyway, Deco, Moutinho & others showed (tonight) that Portugal are far from a “one man team”. Semi-finals at least I reckon.
June 8th, 2008 at 2:05 amPortugal’s Pepe is the New Beckenbauer - the fabled wunderkind who’s been a long time in the post. W Carvalho and both handy and elegant Bosingwa, it’s hard to see P lose many goals. But without a striker?
June 8th, 2008 at 7:44 amDave, it’s surprising that Pepe isn’t better known. Didn’t Madrid pay 24 million quid for him or something? I was pretty impressed with Bosingwa too - and, of course, Carvalho is as steady and solid as they come.
Up front it’s a different story. It’s incredible that they’re still relying on Nuno Gomes and haven’t unearthed anybody good enough to parter/replace him.
It’s a problem they’ve had for years. Pauleta may have scored 47 goals for his country but he obviously saved ‘em all for times when I wasn’t watching! In major tournaments he consistently flopped.
We know they’re very good at getting people into advanced positions, so they might get away with it, but in tight, nervy games in the knock-out stages it might come back to haunt them.
June 8th, 2008 at 12:56 pmThey said the same about the French in 98, mind you. They didn’t really have strikers, but the quality of the rest of the team was such that they were always able to scare up goals from somewhere. Germany are the big goal-scoring team this year. It would be interesting to see how Portugal fare against them
June 8th, 2008 at 1:16 pmFrance’s triumph that year was particularly impressive considering that they had poor old Stéphane Guivarc’h up front. Guess how many goals he eventually went on to score for his country? That’s right - one!
Portugal and Germany are scheduled to meet in the semis (and I think they will) so we may get to see exactly how Portugal fare then. Wouldn’t have given them much of a chance of beating Germany before last night, but now I’m not so sure…
P.S: Is it just me or doesn’t (Swiss coach) Kobi Kuhn have a great look of an elderly Jack Lemmon?
June 8th, 2008 at 1:33 pm