How Will Portugal Move Forward?

Photo: Getty Images Europe

With the Seleção’s surprise triumph this summer still fresh in the football world’s mind, Fernando Santos will soon begin preparations to move the team forward. To begin this transition, Portugal will play two games in early September. First, the team will face Gibraltar on September 1^st in the first ever meetings between the two nations. Five days later, Switzerland and Portugal will kick off both teams’ 2018 World Cup qualification campaigns. Santos will likely choose a much different squad than what was selected for the European Championship. Post-tournament friendlies are typically used as a means for experimentation and as such typically involve new players, but Santos will have to balance experimentation with results. While the result of the Gibraltar match is inconsequential, Santos will surely be looking to get a win against Switzerland, who are on paper Portugal’s most difficult opponents in their qualification group. Here’s a list of who I would argue deserves to be selected by Santos.

Should Pizzi be Considered for Euro 2016 Squad?

Photo: planetbenfica.co.uk

Today, in Benfica’s 2-1 come-from-behind win at Estoril, Pizzi scored what proved to be the winner for the Lisbon giants. This goal comes during a tumultuous season for Pizzi, in which poor form in the early stages of the season lost him his starting spot in the team to the young, promising Gonçalo Guedes. Lately, however, Pizzi has earned back his starting berth with a series of incisive displays for Benfica. His goal today leaves me wondering if he should be considered for inclusion on Portugal’s Euro 2016 squad this summer. 

Liga NOS Players Rewarded by Fernando Santos; 25-Man U-21 Squad Named

Portugal head coach Fernando Santos named today a squad of 25 to face Armenia and Italy. The Portuguese National Team faces Armenia in a Euro 2016 qualification match on June 13th, before facing Italy in a friendly match three days later. Santos used this opportunity to call up a number of players who have impressed this season, both in Portugal and Spain. Danilo Pereira, Pizzi, and André André all earned calls, after excellent seasons for Marítimo, Benfica and Vitória Guimarães, respectively. In addition, Daniel Carriço earned his first call, after his excellent season saw him lift the Europa League trophy with Sevilla for the second time in two seasons. 

Santos Adds Eleven for Cape Verde Friendly

Andre Andre has finally earned a call to the Seleção after a stellar season thus far for Vitória Guimarães. He is joined by eight other un-capped players.

As promised, Portugal National Team coach Fernando Santos named an additional eleven names for the team’s friendly against Cape Verde, to be played on March 31. Because Portugal faces Serbia on March 29 and then faces Cape Verde just two days later, there is not the FIFA-sanctioned three-day rest period between games. For this reason, those who take the field in the Serbia match will not in the Cape Verde match. Because of this, Santos has called up additional players for the Cape Verde match, and his listing is quite unexpected. 

Portugal Ties Gabon

Gabon 2-2 Portugal

In what turned into quite a strange game, Portugal left the African continent with only a tie against Gabon. Pizzi and Hugo Almeida both scored for the Seleccao, but the team was unable to come away with a victory against their African opposition. Many November friendlies are rarely taken seriously. These friendlies are mainly concerned with testing new players into the national team setup, which may result in sub-par results. This, along with questionable refereeing, heat, and an uneven pitch, is what happened against Gabon.

The game started in a choppy fashion, with both teams attempting to find their feet. Gabon appeared to find theirs first, most likely due to being used to the heat and their home pitch. Only an inaccurate shot spared Portugal’s blushes in the 26th minute, as Gabon came extremely close to scoring. Gabon got their goal soon after, however. The ball was crossed in, and a clumsy tackle from Silvio brought down a Gabonese player, although the contact looked to be minimal. Nevertheless, the referee awarded a penalty, which Gabon slotted past Beto to make the score 1-0 in their favor, and stun Portugal. Portugal was stunned into action, and responded immediately. Eder was pulled down in the box, and the referee did not hesitate to award a penalty for Portugal, just two minutes after Gabon’s. Debutant Pizzi stepped up confidently, and easily slotted the ball past the Gabonese goalkeeper to level the scores. Not much more happened before halftime, and Portugal went into the locker room wondering what was happening.

Soon after the restart, Bruno Alves came close from a speculative long-range cross-shot, but nothing came of it. Portugal continued to press, and were rewarded on the hour mark. A neat one-two between Nelson and Varela left the former to square the ball to the wide-open Hugo Almeida, who tapped the ball into the empty net. But alas, Portugal’s woes were far from done. Gabon scored less than 10 minutes later, to level the scores at 2-2. From then on out, it was one-way Gabonese traffic, with the hosts controlling the flow of the game, as Portugal stepped off the gas due their large number of substitutions.

Beto, Nelson, Ricardo Costa, Pepe(Bruno Alves), Silvio, Custodio(Helder Barbosa), Joao Moutinho(Hugo Viana), Ruben Micael(Ruben Amorim), Varela(Paulo Machado), Pizzi, Eder(Hugo Almeida)

Highlights Here

Portuguese in La Liga Roundup – 10/22/12

This weekend proved to be quite fruitful for the many Portuguese players plying their trade in their Iberian neighbor country. We’ll highlight how they fared this weekend. Player ratings courtesy of whoscored.com

Malaga 2-1 Valladolid 

Malaga continued their impressive season with yet another win, this time over La Liga newcomers Real Valladolid. Central to the success of the team this season has surprisingly been Eliseu. Typically utilized as a left back, Eliseu has gained prominence through his solid performances for Malaga this season. Eliseu was in the starting lineup for Malaga, while Sereno (who is on loan from Porto) started in the center of defense for Valladolid. Valladolid has done well this season, and sits mid-table accordingly. Duda was on the bench for Malaga, and entered the fray midway through the second half. Eliseu is credited with the assist, his third of the season in all competitions, after he squared the ball to Isco for the team’s first goal.

Whoscored.com player ratings:

Eliseu: 7.7

Duda: 6.5

Sereno: 5.9

Real Madrid 2-0 Celta de Vigo

Real Madrid chalked up a much-needed victory over a stubborn Celta de Vigo side. Gonzalo Higuain scored a wonderful cross-shot first for the hosts before Ronaldo wrapped up proceedings with his second-half penalty. Pepe and Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes, while Ricardo Carvalho was an unused substitute. Fabio Coentrao was nowhere to be seen, most likely due to an injury picked up in Portugal’s 1-0 loss to Russia earlier this month.

Whoscored.com player ratings:

Ronaldo: 7.2

Pepe: 7.2

Valencia 3-2 Athletic Bilbao

Two late goals spared Valencia’s blushes, as the hosts ran out 3-2 winners against a determined Athletic side. Neither Joao Pereira nor Ricardo Costa, who are regular fixtures in the starting eleven, featured for Valencia. Both the defenders were unused substitutes.

Deportivo 4-5 Barcelona

In perhaps the game of the season, Barcelona narrowly escaped Deportivo. Pizzi scored twice for the hosts, once from the penalty spot, the other by means of a brilliant free-kick. Ze Castro played the entire match for Deportivo, while Bruno Gama was on the field for a little over an hour. Diogo Salomao was substituted on to make his first appearance of the season, while Nelson Oliveira also saw time off the substitutes bench. Roderick, Andre Santos, and Tiago Pinto were nowhere to be seen.

Whoscored.com player ratings:

Pizzi: 8.2

Ze Castro: 5.6

Bruno Gama: 6.6

Diogo Salomao: 6.0

Nelson Oliveira: 6.1

Espanyol 3-2 Rayo Vallecano

Rui Fonte was an unused substituted for Espanyol, while Simao was nowhere to be seen.

Granada 1-2 Real Zaragoza

Helder Postiga started and scored as Real Zaragoza defeated Granada. This win lifts Zaragoza further away from the dreaded relegation zone.

Whoscored.com player ratings:

Helder Postiga: 7.6

Osasuna 0-0 Real Betis

Nelson started and played the whole match, as Salvador Agra was nowhere to be seen for the visitors.

Whoscored.com player ratings:

Nelson: 7.3

Real Sociedad 0-1 Atletico Madrid 

Tiago was an unused substitute for Atletico, while Silvio was nowhere to be seen.

Bento Calls on Neto

Paulo Bento released a 23 man squad today for the Portugal National team’s upcoming World Cup qualifying fixtures against Russia and Northern Ireland. The biggest surprise on the list was the inclusion of Siena central-defender Neto in the squad. The defender has been impressive in Italy so far this term, and has earned his first call accordingly. Pizzi and Sereno were included for the second squad in a row, and both have yet to make their debut. Hugo Almeida missed out again. Here’s the full list:

Goalkeepers: Beto (Braga), Eduardo (Istanbul BB), Rui Patrício (Sporting)

Defenders: Bruno Alves (Zenit), Fábio Coentrão (Real Madrid), Sereno (Valladolid), Miguel Lopes (FC Porto), João Pereira (Valencia), Pepe (Real Madrid), Luís Neto (Siena)

Midfielders: Custódio (Braga), João Moutinho (Porto), Miguel Veloso (Dynamo Kiev), Raúl Meireles (Fenerbahce), Rúben Amorim (Braga), Rúben Micael (Braga)

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Hélder Postiga (Zaragoza), Nani (Manchester United), Pizzi (Deportivo La Coruña), Nélson Oliveira (Deportivo La Coruña), Varela (Porto), Éder (Braga)

Pizzi Earns Maiden Call

Paulo Bento released a squad of 23 for the Seleccao’s upcoming games against Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. Notable inclusions are Pizzi (who has enjoyed a great start to this season at Deportivo), Manuel Fernandes (who was omitted from the Euro 2012 squad), and Nuno Andre Coelho (who made the last call-up by the skin of his teeth). Rolando, Hugo Viana, and Hugo Almeida all miss selection. Here’s the full list:

Goalkeepers: Beto (Braga), Eduardo (Istanbul BB), Rui Patrício (Sporting)
Defenders: Bruno Alves (Zenit), Fábio Coentrão (Real Madrid), João Pereira (Valencia), Miguel Lopes (Porto), Nuno André Coelho (Braga), Pepe (Real Madrid), Ricardo Costa (Valencia)
Midfielders: Carlos Martins (Benfica), Custódio (Braga), João Moutinho (Porto), Manuel Fernandes (Besiktas), Miguel Veloso (Dynamo Kiev), Raúl Meireles (Chelsea), Rúben Micael (Braga)
Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Hélder Postiga (Zaragoza), Nani (Manchester United), Nélson Oliveira (Deportivo), Pizzi (Deportivo), Varela (Porto)

Pizzi Returns to Braga

Pizzi

Atletico Madrid to Braga (Loan return)

Pizzi has finished his loan at Atletico Madrid, and is set to finish the season at Braga. the winger was on loan at the Spanish club for six months, with an option to buy. Atletico have failed to trigger the 15 million euro transfer clause to bring Pizzi to Spain permanently. The reason given was not that they did not believe Pizzi to be good enough, but rather a shortage of funds. Pizzi settled well in Spain,making six appearances, mainly from the bench, and scoring once. For a twenty-two year-old who has never played abroad, I would say he did well.

Zeca and Pizzi Score First League Goals

It was a good weekend for Portuguese abroad, as Panathinaikos’ Zeca and Atletico Madrid’s Pizzi scored their first league goals. Both joined their clubs at the beginning of this season, and both have enjoyed varying degrees of success. This weekend, however, was a success for them both. First up is Zeca.

Zeca

Olympiacos 1-1 Panathinaikos

After making the switch this summer from Vitoria Setubal to Greek giants Panathinaikos, Zeca has cemented his place in the starting eleven. Out of Panathinaikos’ eight games so far this season, Zeca has started all eight, and has usually played the full ninety minutes. It’s not hard to see that Zeca is an important piece to the Panathinaikos puzzle, and he proved that in Saturday’s derby against Olympiakos. After making a well-timed run into the box, Zeca received a pass from a teammate and poked the ball home. That goal made the score 1-0 and although Olympiacos would later score, the fans will forever be attached to Zeca. Panathinaikos are now sitting on top of the Greek league. Click here for the highlights from TvGolo.com.

Pizzi

Atletico Madrid 3-2 Levante

Switching peninsulas, Pizzi also scored his maiden goal for his new club. Pizzi is currently on loan from Sporting Braga to Atletico Madrid. Atletico have secured a season-long loan with an optional deal to purchase the player for 8 million at the end of the loan. After his performances on Sunday against Levante, Atletico may be getting their cash ready. Pizzi has made the majority of his appearances for Atletico off the bench, and Sunday’s match was no different. The winger was substituted in at half time, taking Tiago’s spot. A little over twenty minutes into the second half, a perfectly weighted ball from Jose Reyes found Pizzi’s run. The winger took a brilliant first-touch and coolly slotted the ball through the goalkeepers legs with his left foot. It was a simple enough looking goal because Pizzi did everything right. With Falcao out injured, maybe Pizzi can be the goal-getter that Atletico desperately needs. Click here for the highlights from TvGolo.com.