Well, let’s see, after the 4 -0 win over Malta, in what it was basically a practice game, Portugal reverts to its old ways of complacent soccer and complacent coaching. After being ahead since late in the first half, the team began to loose steam, as compared to the seemingly better fit Danish players. Denmark played the perfect game, so let’s give them credit. Long clearances, dominating air game in the back, long passes, few but effective sprints down field with the intent of wearing out the Portuguese midfield…brilliant for them, lousy for us. Queiroz watched as his team lost steam, as Maniche and Deco became more tired and less effective, and as the 4 defenders continue to run into the trap of playing up field and progressively having more trouble back tracking. Carvalho and Pepe push up together, as do Ferreira and Bosigwa. This is a no-no against a fast counter attacking team.
Here’s why Queiroz is having trouble and will have trouble at this level. He replaced two forwards with two forwards, when the team was up 1 - 0 and loosing steam. In came Nuno Gomes and Danny for Simão and Hugo Almeida. At that point it was obvious that Maniche and Nani were out of gas, and Deco needed help. Nani was finally replaced at about 3 minutes from the end by Joao Moutinho. By the time Moutinho was acclimated to the game, and knew which goal he was defendgin, the score was 3 -2, game over.
Queiroz is atrocious from the point of view of seeing the game from 1,000 feet up and act pro-actively. He’s a reactive coach, and his reaction today was not so good to say the least. His biggest mistake, not to beat a dead horse, was blowing 2 substitutions on forwards which were still threatning the Danish goal, disregarding a visibly tired midfield and not yelling at his defense to stay back and not commit.
But it is not all Queiroz’ fault. At the end of the day the professionals on the field are the ones who have to answer. Nani, Danny, Nuno Gomes and company missed a litany of goals, but worse, Portugal’s defense plain sucked in the last 10 minutes. Carvalho is a shadow of what he used to be in the air, as he’s shown against Germany in the world cup and now against Denmark. He can’t mark inside the 6 yard box if his life depended on it. And what about these boys habit of turning their ass and back to the ball on a shot?. What’s up with that? And Quim who brought back memories of Ricardo on that pathetic attempt to stop the second goal.
What would I have done? Thanks for asking. I would be shouting at my players to play strong defense instead of spending the game standing cross-armed, leaning against the bench cover, wondering what to do next. I’d be pacing the sidelines motivating my players a la Scolari. I would have taken Maniche and Simao out in minute 60 putting in Danny (in a more conservative role) and Carlos Martins to shore up the midfield. I would then have waited and put Bruno Alves in for Hugo Almeida or Nany, depending on how the game developed and move Pepe in front of both Carvalho and Alves, essentially playing with two sweepers (Meirelles and Pepe) and stopping the Danish incursions.
We all know by now how Nordic countries play; Basically they try to wear you out, they counter attack. Queiroz didn’t seem to understand that, or was hoping the the latin skill would make up for difference in conditioning and sheer determination. He was out-coached, out-smarted and out-foxed. Let’s hope he can do better against Sweden, because their better, more fit and more skillful than the Danish. This one hurt!
Goals: 1-0, Nani (42 m); 1-1, Bendtner (83 m); 2-1, Deco (85 m, penalty kick); 2-2, Poulsen (89 m); 2-3, Daniel Jensen (90 m).
PORTUGAL – Quim; Bosingwa, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira; Deco, Raul Meireles, Maniche; Nani (João Moutinho, 87 m), Hugo Almeida (Danny, 71 m), Simão (Nuno Gomes, 71 m).
DENMARK – Andersen; Jacobsen (Silberbauer, 44 m), Laursen, Agger, Andreasen (Bernburg, 88 m); Daniel Jensen, Tomasson, Christian Poulsen; Rommedahl, Bendtner, Lovenkrands (Borring, 70 m).
