PORTUGAL LATEST NEWS

[verde-rubro]

After leading Portugal to the final of a major tournament for the first time in their history at UEFA EURO 2004™, coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has named a squad which includes no veterans of the Golden Generation that won FIFA World Youth Championships in 1989 and 1991 for his opening FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Veterans absent
As Portugal travel to Latvia for the first game of their Group 3 campaign on Saturday before facing Estonia at home on Wednesday, the new squad marks the turning of a page rather than a revolution. Only three players who were not at EURO 2004™ - full-back Marco Caneira, winger Luís Boa Morte and striker Hugo Almeida - have been included in the squad, and none of them are international debutants.

Last chance
The men they were called in to replace - Fernando Couto, Luís Figo and Rui Costa - were the last survivors of Carlos Queiroz's famous youth teams, and for many, were already something of an anachronism by EURO 2004™. Most now concede that the 'Golden Generation' missed out on its best chance of glory when Humberto Coelho's side lost out to France through a late penalty in the semi-finals of EURO 2000™.

Sudden changes
Certainly, it seemed Scolari was aware that his veterans were no longer at their peak when, after losing the opening game of EURO 2004™ to Greece, he replaced Fernando Couto and Rui Costa with relative youngsters Ricardo Carvalho and Deco for the remainder of the tournament.

Lost experience
Felipão maintains that team captain Fernando Couto remains in his plans and that his exclusion from the current squad is due to injury. However, there is little doubt that Portugal will feel the loss of Luís Figo and Rui Costa's experience. Tellingly, the Portuguese Football Federation have retired the players' No7 and No10 shirts for the World Cup campaign

'Adapt to change'
"It's normal that such absences will affect us and it might take us time to get used to situations we are not expecting, but transformations have to occur with time," admitted Scolari. "If the names change, our characteristics also change a little. We have to adapt to those changes.

What we all must do is to thank all of those who helped us for one, two, five, ten or 20 years, but also give due credit and put our confidence in the younger players

In with the new
"My job is to organize the group in pursuit of our objective," added the coach. "What we all must do is to thank all of those who helped us for one, two, five, ten or 20 years, but also give due credit and put our confidence in the younger players."

Natural replacement
There is a natural replacement for Luís Figo in SL Benfica's right-footed left-winger Simão Sabrosa, while Cristiano Ronaldo can fulfil the role on the right wing. Thus Scolari is likely to stick with his favoured tactics, with Pauleta as a lone striker, for what will be his first qualifying tournament with Portugal. That will mean Deco, Costinha and Maniche in midfield and a defence which more often than not will feature Ricardo in goal and Miguel, Jorge Andrade, Ricardo Carvalho and Nuno Valente across the back.

Friendly form
Russia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg stand between Portugal and a trip to Germany in 2006 and Scolari is hoping that his side's grim form in pre-EURO 2004™ friendlies does not return. "We could afford to make mistakes then," said Scolari. "Not now. Every match is worth three points and all the points are important."

Glittering future
So it is back to business for Portugal. The Golden Generation may have failed to strike gold, but for a new generation untainted by such expectations, a glittering future may yet await.

[c.ronaldo#1]

portugal got some real skillful young players.

[Frank Cunha]

::talksocc ::talksocc

[Bentex]

well I would ::talksocc

[Frank Cunha]

she my get two years in JAIL, that sucks

[Alessandro10]

lol! thats funny

[tyrus]

Originally posted by Bentex
well I would ::talksocc

wish it was a guy? yeah we figured as much with you!

[Alessandro10]

Are you a chick??

[Inzaghi-Rules]

I tell u want else a guy wants....

a little bush

::talksocc ::talksocc

[Frank Cunha]

plenty of bush in the white house::talksocc

[Frank Cunha]

check Portugal standings or any other country

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/....html?zone=eur

[pirate]

I Estonia 6pts After 2 Games
2 Slovkia 4 Pts After 2 games
3 Portugal 3 Pts After 1 Game
4 Russia 1 Pts After 1 Game
5 Leichtenstein 0 Pts After 1 game
6 Latvia 0 Pts After 1 Game
7 Luxembourg 0 pts After 2 Games

[Frank Cunha]

twomorrow we need a win against Estonia,

[pirate]

I think Portugal will Beat Estonia

[aac/oaf]

portugal will beat everybody

muahahahahahaahahahahahahha

sorry::blush::