2010 World Cup

[Marco D.]

How is your team favorite team doing in the qualification matches?

I must say, it doesn't look good for Portugal. Big games coming up on Sat against Denmark and next week against Hungary. Let's hope they pull out a miracle down the homestretch...

[Paul_B]

make or break game for Portugal...

http://www.livesoccertv.com/match/96533 ... l/#article

cheers
/paul

[Roy Hersh]

A fine article and thanks Paul.

I hope someone will report on today's outcome between Portugal and Denmark as I won't have the chance to watch the game.

[Marco D.]

A very disappoining 1-1 draw for Portugal. Their only goal came from newly-naturalized, Brazilian-born, 31 year old Leidson. Portugal needs to develop young stikers.

I think it is now very improbable that Portugal will qualify for the World Cup finals next year. Very sad...

[Roy Hersh]

Very sad indeed.

[Paul_B]

dominated the first half with 15 shoots on net and couldn't score a goal, then dissappeared for most of the second and reappeared near the end...

so now it is a really hard (but not impossible) job of finishing second in the group AND having enough goal differential... far from given...also hoping that Sweden doesn't beat Denmark (oct 10th) or we are out regardless what we accomplish in the last two games.. A strong win tomorrow against Hungary is a mandatory first step to Improving the odds of qualifying from tiny to possible. Leaving what should be an easy game against Malta for the end.

bascially they don't control their destiny completely and when you get in a position when you need to bring a calculator to a game to figure out if you qualify by counting goal differential you know you screwed up along the way...

cheers
Paul

[Marco D.]

dominated the first half with 15 shoots on net and couldn't score a goal, then dissappeared for most of the second and reappeared near the end...

I think they had something like 36 shots on goal and only mustered one goal. THIRTY SIX! Many games don't even have that many shots on goal between both teams!

so now it is a really hard (but not impossible) job of finishing second in the group AND having enough goal differential... far from given...also hoping that Sweden doesn't beat Denmark (oct 10th) or we are out regardless what we accomplish in the last two games.. A strong win tomorrow against Hungary is a mandatory first step to Improving the odds of qualifying from tiny to possible. Leaving what should be an easy game against Malta for the end.

bascially they don't control their destiny completely and when you get in a position when you need to bring a calculator to a game to figure out if you qualify by counting goal differential you know you screwed up along the way...

cheers
Paul

Yup... don't know who to blame... the coach? the players? bad luck? Portugal is now ranked 17th by FIFA, with the likes of Australia, USA and Switzerland all ahead of us.

All those draws and their lack of scoring haven't helped. I'll be cheering them on tomorrow... but with performances like a 0-0 draw against Albania (AT HOME), it's tough to be optimistic.

[Roy Hersh]

What's a Malta?

[Paul_B]

an island state (as of 1964) near Sicily...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta

heck Malta made it further than Canada.

cheers
Paul

[Moses Botbol]

What's a Malta?

That's a soft drink popular with Puerto Ricans...

[Paul_B]

So 1-0 for Portugal... first part of the mission is accomplished.
A boring game, mainly Hungary was not interested in winning and didn't play to win.
2-0 would have been better for goal differential but heck a win and the 3 points that come with it is what was needed.

Next game is Oct 10th. against Hungary again but this time in Lisboa. Another win would place Portugal in second place in the group, unless Sweden beats Denmark on the same day. If Sweden ties Denmark then the last games of each (Portugal-Malta and Sweden-Albania) will decide.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminar ... index.html

10/10/09 20:00 Copenhagen -> Denmark - Sweden
10/10/09 20:45 Lisbon -> Portugal - Hungary

14/10/09 Copenhagen -> Denmark - Hungary
14/10/09 Guimaraes -> Portugal - Malta
14/10/09 Solna -> Sweden - Albania

cheers
/Paul

[Marco D.]

Portugal played poorly against Hungary. Luckily Hungary played worse.

We are still alive...

[Marco D.]

The big return game against Hungary is this Saturday. If the folks on the Harvest Tour are still in Portugal, I highly recommend checking out the game with the locals at a bar/restaurant.

Denmark needs to beat Sweeden on Saturday as well to help Portugal's chance of qualifing.

[Moses Botbol]

Denmark needs to beat Sweeden on Saturday as well to help Portugal's chance of qualifing.

I thought Sweeden had a competitive team?

[Marco D.]

I thought Sweeden had a competitive team?

Sweeden has a good team, with one of the best players in the world in Ibrahimović. However, they have underperformed in this campaign, much like Portugal. Sweeden will be highly motivated to win this game and stay ahead of Portugal in their group. I'll be biting my nails this weekend.

[Moses Botbol]

I thought Sweeden had a competitive team?

Sweeden has a good team, with one of the best players in the world in Ibrahimović. However, they have underperformed in this campaign, much like Portugal. Sweeden will be highly motivated to win this game and stay ahead of Portugal in their group. I'll be biting my nails this weekend.

Is Ronaldo playing on the national team currently? When is the Portugal game in Eastern Time?

[Marco D.]

Is Ronaldo playing on the national team currently? When is the Portugal game in Eastern Time?

Ronaldo is playing. The game is being broadcast live on Setanta Sports at 3:40PM ET.

[Roy Hersh]

Nice to see Portugal gain entry ... if only by backing in due to Sweden's misadventure.

[Paul_B]

So they did it... Portugal beats Malta in the last game of the group stage and finish second in their group by one (1) little point and it took ten games....down to the last game.

But they are still not in South Africa.... their second place finish in the group earns the right to fight for that last remaining spots between best " seconds" i.e. play-offs on Nov 14 and 18th... and on Monday oct 19th we will know who Portugal will need to beat to finally earn plane tickets to South Africa?

Not very promising, things need to improve considerably in the 238 days or it will be a short stay in SA.

cheers
Paul

[Marco D.]

Although Portugal beat Malta 4-0, it was more due to how bad the Malta defense was. Portugal needs to play better to get into the World Cup.

At least they are in the seeded pot for the 2nd place team playoff spots, which means they will not have to play France, Russia or Greece. We'll find out on Monday who they play in a 2-game "Home&Away" series. Just one more team to get through....

Go Portugal!