Saturday, July 1, 2006 at Gelsenkirchen, Germany
England has shown no reason to hope that they could beat a healty, fully available Portugal, however minus Deco, and Costinha, and with a questionable Ronaldo who knows?
As usual, England has a vastly superior squad, big match experience, more stars, more valuable squad, more “in demand” payers by big clubs, a better age mix, more firepower, better center backs, better strikers, better midfielders, etc etc, but if you are an English fan, you shouldn’t be confident. This is one of those mystical unknowns, like why England never beat Romania or Sweden, two greatly inferior sides to them.
I think Portugal is applying perfectly the tactics of minimal and efficient football, taught by Scolari. In difficult matches, they do it very well and in easier matches they are also able to play a refreshingly attacking football. That’s one of the main changes that Scolari brought: EFFICIENCY! Wait until they get a chance, score, and be patient again. Playing this kind – I think they will be able to overcome England another time.
Even if the record is against Portugal, this is only statistics and long time gone. What counts is to be physically an mentally fit come Saturday – and I’m sure they will be.
Costinha and Deco are definitely out – and maybe we see a different line up than many expect. Perhaps Tiago will take decos place and act like a playmaker (a role he sometimes has at Lyon), – a change on the left back is also possible. Things, that every Portugal fan should be perfectly comfortbale to leave in Scolari’s hands.
