GWT: World Cup - Quarterfinals - Morocco v. Portugal

[Gecklund]

He most certainly wasn't laughing. What on earth are you on about

The video I saw it looked like he was laughing. He’s also a piece of shit so I have no doubt that he’s pissed he wasn’t a star is going to find a way to blame everyone but himself just like he has his entire career.

 

[Islay1989]

The video I saw it looked like he was laughing. He’s also a piece of shit so I have no doubt that he’s pissed he wasn’t a star is going to find a way to blame everyone but himself just like he has his entire career.

Sometimes it's best to remain quiet

 

[Karterthadon]

The video I saw it looked like he was laughing. He’s also a piece of shit so I have no doubt that he’s pissed he wasn’t a star is going to find a way to blame everyone but himself just like he has his entire career.

This irrational hatred is unhealthy.

 

[gary69]

This was way too harsh a criticism tbh. He was crying and well I totally get it. He's never going to win the World Cup.

As a player, no. But he could as a manager (Obviously he doesn't lok like a manager type right now, but who knows what happens in the future. I mean Maradona got to manage Argentina).

 

[BMann]

As a player, no. But he could as a manager (Obviously he doesn't lok like a manager type right now, but who knows what happens in the future. I mean Maradona got to manage Argentina).

That was only because the AFA was being run by a crook and was in a complete shambles and instead of logic popularity decided who would coach. Someone without any coaching credentials at all.

 

[gary69]

That was only because the AFA was being run by a crook and was in a complete shambles and instead of logic popularity decided who would coach. Someone without any coaching credentials at all.

So it sounds like exactly the same thing could happen with Ronaldo

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Just read Pepe and Bruno Fernandes' post-game comments. What a couple of f***ing losers.

 

[BMann]

So it sounds like exactly the same thing could happen with Ronaldo

I don't think he has the ability to coach. But it might appeal to his ego. Portugal have several young coaches to replace Santos anyway. Fulham may be having squeaky bum time at the moment.

 

[Apex Predator]

From all the pictures I saw he we laughing and genuinely good. Dude is a piece of shit.

Pics or it didn’t happen.

 

[les Habs]

So did the ref botch this or what? Serious question. Or is Pepe, one of the biggest pieces of garbage still playing, talking out of his ass?

Anyway, job done Morocco!

 

[Nico13]

f*** you Santos.

 

[N o o d l e s]

Portugal talking like they’d beat France lol

 

[Spring in Fialta]

So did the ref botch this or what? Serious question. Or is Pepe, one of the biggest pieces of garbage still playing, talking out of his ass?

Anyway, job done Morocco!

Pepe is talking out of his ass. The refereeing favored Portugal by far. Just read the earlier comments in this thread about the additional time and the weak Red.

 

[Savant]

So did the ref botch this or what? Serious question. Or is Pepe, one of the biggest pieces of garbage still playing, talking out of his ass?

Anyway, job done Morocco!

I thought the ref was significantly more in favor or Portugal

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

So did the ref botch this or what? Serious question. Or is Pepe, one of the biggest pieces of garbage still playing, talking out of his ass?

Anyway, job done Morocco!

Not at all if anything the only controversial decision is against Morocco. Weak red

 

[Evilo]

No it was a red IMO.

 

[hatterson]

I think it was a weak second yellow, but not a totally awful call.

 

[Evilo]

2.78, new record
There was no way the goalie could anticipate someone jumping that high.

 

[Bures Elbow]

I just recently came back from Doha, where I spent three weeks watching the World Cup and exploring the country (and Dubai). Amazing experience, a once in a lifetime opportunity where I managed to catch 19 games with some close friends of mine, and meet fans from around the World. Watching every match of the selecao, seeing the final tournament for both Ronaldo and Messi (the atmosphere at Lusail stadium for ArgentinaXMexico was awe inspiring and I'll always be grateful for being able to attend), seeing Canada front row vs Belgium in the Canadian section, having a great view for the goal vs Croatia and going wild, seeing the barnburners of Cameroon vs Serbia and Serbia vs Switzerland..

Highlights include the J Balvin concert I attended directly after Portugal vs Ghana...a night I'll never forget, and provided me a new appreciation for Equadorian women. Swimming at Al Wakra Souq every few days and relaxing on the beach with fans, partying at night at various rooftop lounges, exploring the Lusail Marina and The Pearl late night for the bars, restaurants, scenery and socializing.

Watching the Mexicans and Brazilians attempting to sneak into the Single women only section of Katara beach by Westbay (near downtown Doha), only for security to appear and run them down

Now onto the colossal failure of that fateful quarter final.

Watching the first match against Ghana made one thing readily apparent that we all already knew: We have ZERO IDENTITY. After 8 years under Santos our style revolves around static movement, and relying on individual brilliance to bail us out of difficult situations. It was clear that we lacked a cohesive game plan that took advantage of the talent at our disposal. We were frustrating, underwhelming, and stressful to watch. In fact, you could feel the stress emanating from the players themselves as that match ( and others) wore on. We lacked so much composure, and easily panicked in certain situations throughout matches.

We had a pk completely change the course of that game, and Diogo Costa showed his inexperience with nervousness almost costing as the win ( he is a fantastic shot stopper and will be a fantastic gk in the future). Against Uruguay we were full value for the win ( Nuno Mendes our best player before the injury) but had 10 minutes of insanity when Santos decided to play William as the solo midfielder alongside Bruno and Bernardo..leading to Valverde and Bentacur blowing him up until the entrances of Palhinha/Nunes completely titled the field in our direction again as they matched the intensity and pace/power those two Uruguayans possessed.

Vs Korea while playing mostly a reserve team we played with damage control/result mitigation in mind and while in control we never moved the ball quickly and used rapid interplay with vertical passes in between the lines...the few times we did they couldn't cope. This is a paradox because in the 90th minute we inexplicably sent the majority of our team up to try and score off a corner, leading to the counter and goal. I'm still partially deaf via the Koreans going wild directly behind me.

The Swiss game was magical, and I had front row seats to the first two goals. I'll always cherish that game. HOWEVER, if you all rewatch it you will see that the opening 10-15 minutes was very similar to the Morocco match, where we were struggling to impose ourselves and mostly kept things to the outside. A moment of brilliance (again) really opened that entire game up, causing the Swiss to move further up the pitch and attack, while our confidence absolutely soared!

Morocco - They did what they had to do to win, and did it exceptionally well. Good for them. For us, we lost a golden opportunity to make the semi-finals and possibly win a World Cup with one of our best generations ever ( I say one of, because with Ronaldo in severe decline we lack a world class difference maker who can take someone on one v one and have no fear in absolutely aggressively going at the opposing team like He, Figo, Rui Costa, or even Deco did).

1- We lacked no urgency, intensity, or "vontade". They wanted it more, they fought for it more. Ruben Neves was a horrendous choice for this matchup, he has been crap the whole tournament (and honestly seems to have severely stagnated at Wolves, he's incredibly one dimensional now whereas a few years back had was more vertical, incisive, and press resilient). Joao Palhinha's ability to win the ball, close down and smother opposing players, his energy, tenacity, power, drive etc was IDEAL for this match. He was the perfect player, and fresh. Even keeping William, while slow and not as good defensively, would have been better, as he atleast has a supern IQ in terms of passing and positioning/movement around the centre of the park (something I grew to appreciate in person)...whose speed of thought and passing was what we sorely lacked in that turgid first half

2- We had ZERO interplay in the centre of midfield in and around the last 30 yards of the field. It's as if Santos took everything that was amazing about the Swiss performance, the swift one twos, the creative interplay and vertical passing/movement in between the lines, and decided to instead implement a slow passing game across the backline and centre circle before unleashing long balls outwide to fullbacks...something that would never threaten a low block that had strong fullbacks like Hakimi would could close down Gurreiro etc at will.

3- We never pressed them, and it took their goal for us to aggressively close them down. the second we did you could see how they mostly coughed it up in dangerous areas or almost immediately..which led to that 5 minute period after we conceded where we looked so dangerous before the half.

4- We panicked again and were so unorganized in that chaotic second half. When we had to keep the ball on the deck, have Ramos/Felix/Ronaldo continue to make diagonal runs to pull the defense and have Bruno/Bernardo/Otavio make vertical creative passes or quick interplay, we launched the ball up field and into the box time and time again...that did not suit our players AT ALL. We dont have Werghorst up front to somehow cause chaos, and Morocco had a better backline to deal with that.

For all of that, we still had chances that should have led to us tying it and winning afterwards. They were barely hanging on, already missing Mazrouzi and Aguerd, with Saiss coming off and the rest of their team literally running on fumes. Diogo Costa made a mistake, and it made us go behind, but it doesn't rest solely on him. He made fantastic stops in that match, and in others (like Uruguay etc), and we had talent on the field to easily win this game.

This hurt, this hurt a lot. A tremendous opportunity lost, and I haven't felt this way since the 2006 Semi where we lost to Zidane's PK.

A few other things to note:

Ronaldo- A privilege to watch him live for all he's done, been, and contributed to Portugal and the sport in general. However, he's not one tenth the player he used to be. He's constantly 1/2 yards off the pace, his touch is mostly abysmal, he lacks any ability to beat a player or gain a yard of space now.. that missed change in the opening minutes vs Ghana was heartbreaking...to see what he was in comparison to what he is now really hurt. He needs to come to terms with that fact that he can still be a leader off the bench as a impact sub, but his time as a starter is finished. His static play and lack of movement really limits the team as well, I saw Pepe of all players along with Bruno, Bernardo etc looking to him with arms raised at time looking for an option to drag defenders out of position or show for a "tabela'.

Ruben Dias- He was clearly injured, he couldn't jump properly and if that as the case why Santos didn't play Antonio Silva I'll never know...why call him up if you dont trust him to play when needed?

Bernardo Silva and Cancelo- While Bernardo had a fantastic second half vs Uruguay and was very incisive vs Switzerland, he was too deep for the most part in every other match, and too "timid" compared to what he's shown for Man City. We need him driving forward like he does for them evading tackles and passing in between the lines...yet he almost always seems to be at the half way line to collect and recycle, or passes it sideways. Whether it's coaching instructions or not, that's not what we need.

Cancelo- Dreadful, he's been off this year for City as well and something is clearly effecting his game. Was hoping it would be a dominant tournament for him as he's been so good for the selecao in the past.

Gurreiro- Great skill remains, but you can see how injuries ruined him as he has zero acceleration now.

Pepe- Legend, amazing how dominant he still is at 39.

Felix- Moments of genius and moments of not being involved...needs to move to a club that suits his attacking play, and gives him responsibility to grow and mature as player.

Bruno Fernandes- Really good tournament from him.

Otavio is a quality player, and his shithousing and tenacity to win the ball back is good to have as he was one of the few matching the intensity of the Moroccans. Bernardo should have come off before him.

Vitinha- Quality, deserved far more playing time after the performance vs Korea. Midfield is difficult to fit him in as we have so many options and striking the correct balance when factoring in the options in attack will be a challenge moving forward.

Ramos- Amazing debut as a starter, and his work rate, link up play, and knack of scoring will be key moving forward. He won't be a world beater ( besides on twitter, as his nickname is now apparently "punhetas"), but he will be a very good striker.

Santos= out. The team is always the reflection of the coach, and sadly this is what we see imprinted on the field. GTFO. No excuse to keep him after this colossal failure.

 

[Evilo]

Happy for you!

 

[Apex Predator]

I just recently came back from Doha, where I spent three weeks watching the World Cup and exploring the country (and Dubai). Amazing experience, a once in a lifetime opportunity where I managed to catch 19 games with some close friends of mine, and meet fans from around the World. Watching every match of the selecao, seeing the final tournament for both Ronaldo and Messi (the atmosphere at Lusail stadium for ArgentinaXMexico was awe inspiring and I'll always be grateful for being able to attend), seeing Canada front row vs Belgium in the Canadian section, having a great view for the goal vs Croatia and going wild, seeing the barnburners of Cameroon vs Serbia and Serbia vs Switzerland..

Highlights include the J Balvin concert I attended directly after Portugal vs Ghana...a night I'll never forget, and provided me a new appreciation for Equadorian women. Swimming at Al Wakra Souq every few days and relaxing on the beach with fans, partying at night at various rooftop lounges, exploring the Lusail Marina and The Pearl late night for the bars, restaurants, scenery and socializing.

Watching the Mexicans and Brazilians attempting to sneak into the Single women only section of Katara beach by Westbay (near downtown Doha), only for security to appear and run them down

Now onto the colossal failure of that fateful quarter final.

Watching the first match against Ghana made one thing readily apparent that we all already knew: We have ZERO IDENTITY. After 8 years under Santos our style revolves around static movement, and relying on individual brilliance to bail us out of difficult situations. It was clear that we lacked a cohesive game plan that took advantage of the talent at our disposal. We were frustrating, underwhelming, and stressful to watch. In fact, you could feel the stress emanating from the players themselves as that match ( and others) wore on. We lacked so much composure, and easily panicked in certain situations throughout matches.

We had a pk completely change the course of that game, and Diogo Costa showed his inexperience with nervousness almost costing as the win ( he is a fantastic shot stopper and will be a fantastic gk in the future). Against Uruguay we were full value for the win ( Nuno Mendes our best player before the injury) but had 10 minutes of insanity when Santos decided to play William as the solo midfielder alongside Bruno and Bernardo..leading to Valverde and Bentacur blowing him up until the entrances of Palhinha/Nunes completely titled the field in our direction again as they matched the intensity and pace/power those two Uruguayans possessed.

Vs Korea while playing mostly a reserve team we played with damage control/result mitigation in mind and while in control we never moved the ball quickly and used rapid interplay with vertical passes in between the lines...the few times we did they couldn't cope. This is a paradox because in the 90th minute we inexplicably sent the majority of our team up to try and score off a corner, leading to the counter and goal. I'm still partially deaf via the Koreans going wild directly behind me.

The Swiss game was magical, and I had front row seats to the first two goals. I'll always cherish that game. HOWEVER, if you all rewatch it you will see that the opening 10-15 minutes was very similar to the Morocco match, where we were struggling to impose ourselves and mostly kept things to the outside. A moment of brilliance (again) really opened that entire game up, causing the Swiss to move further up the pitch and attack, while our confidence absolutely soared!

Morocco - They did what they had to do to win, and did it exceptionally well. Good for them. For us, we lost a golden opportunity to make the semi-finals and possibly win a World Cup with one of our best generations ever ( I say one of, because with Ronaldo in severe decline we lack a world class difference maker who can take someone on one v one and have no fear in absolutely aggressively going at the opposing team like He, Figo, Rui Costa, or even Deco did).

1- We lacked no urgency, intensity, or "vontade". They wanted it more, they fought for it more. Ruben Neves was a horrendous choice for this matchup, he has been crap the whole tournament (and honestly seems to have severely stagnated at Wolves, he's incredibly one dimensional now whereas a few years back had was more vertical, incisive, and press resilient). Joao Palhinha's ability to win the ball, close down and smother opposing players, his energy, tenacity, power, drive etc was IDEAL for this match. He was the perfect player, and fresh. Even keeping William, while slow and not as good defensively, would have been better, as he atleast has a supern IQ in terms of passing and positioning/movement around the centre of the park (something I grew to appreciate in person)...whose speed of thought and passing was what we sorely lacked in that turgid first half

2- We had ZERO interplay in the centre of midfield in and around the last 30 yards of the field. It's as if Santos took everything that was amazing about the Swiss performance, the swift one twos, the creative interplay and vertical passing/movement in between the lines, and decided to instead implement a slow passing game across the backline and centre circle before unleashing long balls outwide to fullbacks...something that would never threaten a low block that had strong fullbacks like Hakimi would could close down Gurreiro etc at will.

3- We never pressed them, and it took their goal for us to aggressively close them down. the second we did you could see how they mostly coughed it up in dangerous areas or almost immediately..which led to that 5 minute period after we conceded where we looked so dangerous before the half.

4- We panicked again and were so unorganized in that chaotic second half. When we had to keep the ball on the deck, have Ramos/Felix/Ronaldo continue to make diagonal runs to pull the defense and have Bruno/Bernardo/Otavio make vertical creative passes or quick interplay, we launched the ball up field and into the box time and time again...that did not suit our players AT ALL. We dont have Werghorst up front to somehow cause chaos, and Morocco had a better backline to deal with that.

For all of that, we still had chances that should have led to us tying it and winning afterwards. They were barely hanging on, already missing Mazrouzi and Aguerd, with Saiss coming off and the rest of their team literally running on fumes. Diogo Costa made a mistake, and it made us go behind, but it doesn't rest solely on him. He made fantastic stops in that match, and in others (like Uruguay etc), and we had talent on the field to easily win this game.

This hurt, this hurt a lot. A tremendous opportunity lost, and I haven't felt this way since the 2006 Semi where we lost to Zidane's PK.

A few other things to note:

Ronaldo- A privilege to watch him live for all he's done, been, and contributed to Portugal and the sport in general. However, he's not one tenth the player he used to be. He's constantly 1/2 yards off the pace, his touch is mostly abysmal, he lacks any ability to beat a player or gain a yard of space now.. that missed change in the opening minutes vs Ghana was heartbreaking...to see what he was in comparison to what he is now really hurt. He needs to come to terms with that fact that he can still be a leader off the bench as a impact sub, but his time as a starter is finished. His static play and lack of movement really limits the team as well, I saw Pepe of all players along with Bruno, Bernardo etc looking to him with arms raised at time looking for an option to drag defenders out of position or show for a "tabela'.

Ruben Dias- He was clearly injured, he couldn't jump properly and if that as the case why Santos didn't play Antonio Silva I'll never know...why call him up if you dont trust him to play when needed?

Bernardo Silva and Cancelo- While Bernardo had a fantastic second half vs Uruguay and was very incisive vs Switzerland, he was too deep for the most part in every other match, and too "timid" compared to what he's shown for Man City. We need him driving forward like he does for them evading tackles and passing in between the lines...yet he almost always seems to be at the half way line to collect and recycle, or passes it sideways. Whether it's coaching instructions or not, that's not what we need.

Cancelo- Dreadful, he's been off this year for City as well and something is clearly effecting his game. Was hoping it would be a dominant tournament for him as he's been so good for the selecao in the past.

Gurreiro- Great skill remains, but you can see how injuries ruined him as he has zero acceleration now.

Pepe- Legend, amazing how dominant he still is at 39.

Felix- Moments of genius and moments of not being involved...needs to move to a club that suits his attacking play, and gives him responsibility to grow and mature as player.

Bruno Fernandes- Really good tournament from him.

Otavio is a quality player, and his shithousing and tenacity to win the ball back is good to have as he was one of the few matching the intensity of the Moroccans. Bernardo should have come off before him.

Vitinha- Quality, deserved far more playing time after the performance vs Korea. Midfield is difficult to fit him in as we have so many options and striking the correct balance when factoring in the options in attack will be a challenge moving forward.

Ramos- Amazing debut as a starter, and his work rate, link up play, and knack of scoring will be key moving forward. He won't be a world beater ( besides on twitter, as his nickname is now apparently "punhetas"), but he will be a very good striker.

Santos= out. The team is always the reflection of the coach, and sadly this is what we see imprinted on the field. GTFO. No excuse to keep him after this colossal failure.

Do you think Portugal will move on from Santos?

 

[Power Man]

2.78, new record
There was no way the goalie could anticipate someone jumping that high.

That's cool

Bu can he jump over Frédéric Weiss?

 

[Bures Elbow]

Do you think Portugal will move on from Santos?

Inexcusable at this point not to.

This was a colossal failure, and a golden opportunity lost.

Rumblings already that he will be let go in the next 48 hours, with options being Mourinho as a possible choice if Roma let him manage both. Abel from Brazil, Jardim, or Rui Jorge ( God forbid) as others....I want Conceicao as he's coached dead average Porto teams the last 5 years to championships and CL knockout phases, but he wont leave club soccer.

I'd go with a foreigner honestly: Tuchel, Luis Enrique, Herve Renard, Joaquim Low?

 

[Apex Predator]

Inexcusable at this point not to.

This was a colossal failure, and a golden opportunity lost.

Rumblings already that he will be let go in the next 48 hours, with options being Mourinho as a possible choice if Roma let him manage both. Abel from Brazil, Jardim, or Rui Jorge ( God forbid) as others....I want Conceicao as he's coached dead average Porto teams the last 5 years to championships and CL knockout phases, but he wont leave club soccer.

I'd go with a foreigner honestly: Tuchel, Luis Enrique, Herve Renard, Joaquim Low?

Mourinho would be a very intersting choice.

 

[TheShape]

Inexcusable at this point not to.

This was a colossal failure, and a golden opportunity lost.

Rumblings already that he will be let go in the next 48 hours, with options being Mourinho as a possible choice if Roma let him manage both. Abel from Brazil, Jardim, or Rui Jorge ( God forbid) as others....I want Conceicao as he's coached dead average Porto teams the last 5 years to championships and CL knockout phases, but he wont leave club soccer.

I'd go with a foreigner honestly: Tuchel, Luis Enrique, Herve Renard, Joaquim Low?

I doubt the PFF would go for this. I think Conceicao would be great, I'd also be fine with Jardim. Maybe Jorge Jesus is at the age where he'd accept a break from club football?

Mourinho ideally is best suited as a tournament coach, problem is I think he'd be too similar to Santos. Too much attacking talent here and I feel Jose would waste most of it.