PORTUGAL LATEST NEWS - Page 51 - TalkSoccer

Carlo Ramos · 19-11-2004, 02:35 PM

Dutch radical Islamic group planned Euro 2004 attack in Portugal: police

LISBON (AFP) - Three members of an extremist Dutch Islamic group were arrested and deported from Portugal just before the Euro 2004 football championship in June on suspicion of planning an attack, the former head of Portugal's police force said in comments published.

The men were arrested June 11 in Oporto, one day before the northern Portuguese city hosted the opening match of the championship, Adelino Salvado told the Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias.

The Dutch interior ministry last week identified the three as belonging to the so-called Hofstad group, which has been linked to the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh earlier this month.

Salvado said he suspected the group wanted to target former prime minister Jose Manuel Barroso, who resigned in July to become the next head of the European Commission (news - web sites), as well as other international figures who were in Oporto for Euro 2004 opening festivities.

The three men possessed a second-hand car with Dutch licence plates which had been bought in the name of van Gogh's alleged killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, and had made daily withdrawals of small amounts of cash from a bank at the airport.

Among the three men was El Fahtni Noreddine, a Moroccan national who at one point shared a flat in Amsterdam with Bouyeri, who holds both Moroccan and Dutch citizenship, he added.

"All the signs suggested they were preparing something," Salvado said.

Salvado said he telephoned Barroso directly and prevented the prime minister from leaving his hotel on June 11 as a safety precaution while extra security measures were put in place.

"I could not take a chance, everything indicated they were preparing an attack, and I could never sleep if I did nothing to prevent it," said Salvado, who stepped down in August.

Jose Luis Arnaut, the then deputy prime minister, represented Barroso at a gala dinner held that night in Oporto which was also attended by the president of the European Parliament at the time, Ireland's Pat Cox.

A spokesman for Barroso, a vocal supporter of the US-led invasion of Iraq (news - web sites), said at the time that the prime minister had canceled his appearance at the event because the nation was in official mourning for the death two days earlier of veteran politician Antonio Sousa Franco.

Oporto Mayor Rui Rio said in a television interview Monday he received on the afternoon of June 11 a call from Barroso, who explained the situation and offered him the choice of continuing or canceling the dinner.

"Can you imagine what kind of signal it would have sent on the eve of Euro 2004 if I had cancelled the dinner for security reasons," said Rio.

Police officials were not immediately available Monday for comment.

Portuguese police detained the three men along with 12 other young Arab men of various nationalities after receiving a warning from Dutch intelligence about the presence of potentially dangerous individuals in Portugal.

Eight of those detained were subsequently released.

The remaining seven, which included the three men later identified as being part of the Hofstad group, were brought before a court and were deported as illegal immigrants.

Dutch intelligence informed Portuguese police that Noreddine had written a will saying he was prepared to die for Islamic jihad, or holy war, Salvado said.

A similar letter was found in Bouyeri's pocket after he was arrested in a shoot-out with police November 2, shortly after Van Gogh died of gunshot wounds and a slit throat.

Dutch authorities have carried out more than a dozen arrests of young Muslims on terrorism charges since the murder of Van Gogh, whose most recent film was critical of the place of women in Islam.

Portugal mounted an unprecedented security operation for the three-week European football finals, the largest sports event worldwide after the Olympics and the football World Cup.

Among the measures adopted was the reimposition of border controls with neighbouring Spain and the use of NATO surveillance planes during the event.

**Lemmy** · 23-11-2004, 12:18 AM

Yeah, I read about this on the newspaper a couple of days ago. Good thing that these two individuals were caught before they could do anything bad.

Carlo Ramos · 23-11-2004, 11:10 PM

Thank god there was no big trouble like this. It was a well organised tournament, with good security.

**Frank Cunha** · 13-12-2004, 05:13 PM

not bad for a country of less then 10 million people

FC Porto
2 CL [European Championships]
2 Intercontinental championships
1 Uefa Cup
1 European Super Cup

Benfica
2 CL [European Championships]
1 Latin Cup [a international tournament the open the door for the CL, European Cup

Sporting
1 European Cup of Cups

World Cup AA team
bronze medal `1966 in England

National teams
AA team
1 Silver medal in the Euro 04
1 bronze medal in the Euro 00
1 bronze medal in the Euro 86

some of the youth wins
U20 World Cup Champion
1989, 1991

Toulon Tournament in France
Portugal won twice

European cup winners U18
1994, 1999

Portugal won the European Cup U 17

2003, 2000, 1996, 1995, 1989

tyrus · 14-12-2004, 11:45 PM

keep it down franky or somebody might say were lucky

**Frank Cunha** · 15-12-2004, 03:23 AM

nice accomplishment by our country

**Frank Cunha** · 04-01-2005, 01:52 PM

the league rankings for 2004

the rankings done by IFFHS,

1. Espanha, 1.189,0 pontos
2. Inglaterra, 1.184,0
3. Itália, 1.010,0
Brasil, 1.010,0
5. França, 999,0
6. Alemanha, 899,0
7. Argentina, 850,0
8. Portugal 742,5
9. Holanda, 693,0
10. Peru, 682,5
11. Colômbia, 659,5
12. Turquia, 637,0
13. Escócia, 633,5
14. Bélgica, 605,5
15. Grécia, 594,5
16. Rep. Checa, 549,5
17. México, 547,5
18. Ucrânia, 541,0
19. Rússia, 536,0
20. Chile, 528,0

**Frank Cunha** · 28-01-2005, 04:56 AM

Portugal -1-England-0
goal scored by Daniel Candeias, second win for Portugal in the International Algarve Cup

photo of the team

http://www.fpf.pt/dnoticias.php?suba...1&sub..._from=

**Frank Cunha** · 30-01-2005, 01:02 AM

U17 Portugal won the U17 tournaments, England was second, Joe Garner of England was voted the best player of the tournament

Portugal won the Algarve Cup for U17, Spain won the U16 Santarem tournament

here is the photo of the U17 Portugal celebration
http://www.fpf.pt/dnoticias.php?suba...from=&ucat=21&
today Portugal -3-France -0
Portugal 1-England-0
Portugal -1-Norway-0

here is a photo of the Spain team celebration
http://www.fpf.pt/dnoticias.php?suba...from=&ucat=21&

Spain defeated Portugal in the final 4-1
__________________
SL Benfica, SC Beira-Mar, Metrostars
SM Murtoense Ladies Soccer team

**Frank Cunha** · 30-01-2005, 01:03 AM

U17 Tournament
Best player Joe Garner (Inglaterra)
best scorer : Kevin Monnet-Paquet (França)
best goalkeeper: Rui Patrício (Portugal)
Equipa Fair-Play: França

Classificação Final:
1. Portugal
2. Inglaterra
3. França
4. Noruega

**Frank Cunha** · 30-01-2005, 01:04 AM

U16 tournament
Best player Níguez Esclapez (Espanha)
best goalscore : Níguez Esclapez (Espanha)
Best goalkeeper: Frederik Larsen (Dinamarca)
Equipa Fair-Play: Portugal

Classificação Final:
1. Espanha - 3 jogos / 9 pontos (9 golos marcados - 3 sofridos)
2. Escócia - 3 / 4 (5-5)
3. Portugal - 3 / 4 (4-6)
4. Dinamarca - 3 / 0 (0-4)

**Frank Cunha** · 30-01-2005, 01:05 AM

Joe Garner under 17 could be the best player coming up for England in a long time according to people watching the games

aragrev · 30-01-2005, 02:29 AM

Who are some of these kids playing for now? What club is Joe Garner tied to?

**Frank Cunha** · 30-01-2005, 01:00 PM

you my go to the England web site, they my have the result and teams they played for

**Frank Cunha** · 07-02-2005, 08:18 PM

Portugal will wear a new uniform black and white to help fight racism
here is a photo of Jorge Andrade [Corunha] and Ronaldo [MU]

http://www.fpf.pt/dnoticias.php?suba...from=&ucat=21&