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Forums - Sports Discussion - The Football Thread - 17/18 Season

I think it's fine that Portugal won, the problem is perception. I can't stand when people relate the placement in a tournament with the actual strength of the team. Silly things like if you reach the quarterfinals you are one of the 8 best teams in Europe or that in the semis there are only the 4 best teams of Europe.
Portugal won, does that make them the best team in Europe? Hell no.

Also I can't subscribe to the thought that the exclusion of Ronaldo did significantly weaken the team. Ronaldo is a great player who is able to score in a lot of situations, but so are other forwards. He doesn't do a lot for team cohesion, he barely is a nice extra that can score as a joker. He's basically useless in defense and midfield. I wasn't worried in the least when he went out. People love to forget that there are actually some really decent players in the team, players who easily fit in any high class club. If Portugal is at 100% with Ronaldo, I'd say they're about at 95% without him. Portugal as a team isn't good enough to use him at his full poptential anyway so they might as well use any other half decent player in that position.



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vivster said:

I think it's fine that Portugal won, the problem is perception. I can't stand when people relate the placement in a tournament with the actual strength of the team. Silly things like if you reach the quarterfinals you are one of the 8 best teams in Europe or that in the semis there are only the 4 best teams of Europe.
Portugal won, does that make them the best team in Europe? Hell no.

Also I can't subscribe to the thought that the exclusion of Ronaldo did significantly weaken the team. Ronaldo is a great player who is able to score in a lot of situations, but so are other forwards. He doesn't do a lot for team cohesion, he barely is a nice extra that can score as a joker. He's basically useless in defense and midfield. I wasn't worried in the least when he went out. People love to forget that there are actually some really decent players in the team, players who easily fit in any high class club. If Portugal is at 100% with Ronaldo, I'd say they're about at 95% without him. Portugal as a team isn't good enough to use him at his full poptential anyway so they might as well use any other half decent player in that position.

Agree with everything. The only thing that Portugal noticeably lost with Ronaldo out was their aerial threat, but they did gain a few things in return like dribbling and defensive contributions since Quarisma is better at those things.



I am very pro Messi and I was glad to see Ronaldo winning. He is certainly among the best 3 strikers of all time. Pepe was amazing in every match, he reminded me a lot of the best version of Canavaro last night.

Congrats to Portugal, the only team who didn't deserve to win was France, what a shameful display



#IberianMasterRace

The Iberian peninsula has won the last 3 euros. Kings of Europe.



Kerotan said:
#IberianMasterRace

The Iberian peninsula has won the last 3 euros. Kings of Europe.

After decades of German tourism they were bound to learn something about football.



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The Fury said:
Goatseye said:

Ronaldo wasn't even your best player in the competition. Show some love to Pepe and Patricio as well.

Pepe was good but I think Nani was their best player, personally. He showed determination and play I haven't seen since he was in form at Man U when Fergie was there. Patricio made some great saves in the final and kudos to my man Fonte, who after being brought into the team longside Pepe, strengthened the defence so they only conceeded 1 goal since group stage (where he didn't play).

Nani? Who wasn't even better than Renato Sanches in this tournament?

Pepe was just the pillar of their defense, which got them the cup.



Goatseye said:

Nani? Who wasn't even better than Renato Sanches in this tournament?

Pepe was just the pillar of their defense, which got them the cup.

Nani got 3 goals and 1 assist with about the same passing record as Sanches?

Not denying the latter though, Pepe was great in the Final. Portugal's defence was great in all but 1 of the games.



Hmm, pie.

The Fury said:
Goatseye said:

Nani? Who wasn't even better than Renato Sanches in this tournament?

Pepe was just the pillar of their defense, which got them the cup.

Nani got 3 goals and 1 assist with about the same passing record as Sanches?

Not denying the latter though, Pepe was great in the Final. Portugal's defence was great in all but 1 of the games.

Sanches got much more rebounds, a goal, tackles and even acted as the playmaker during most of the matches he played.

Soccer is more than just goals. Portugal didn't crumble in many of the games they played because their best weapons were in the back.



Ka-pi96 said:
Saw a question on Sky Sports this morning asking if people thought Portugal were worthy winners. So, what do y'all think?

Strictly speaking I'd say they weren't. But then again I can't really think of a team that I would consider to be worthy winners so... maybe I could say they were the worthiest team that actually showed up or something

Winning tournaments is always a mix of hard work and some luck. Portugal is a team that has showed up in every main tournament in the last 15 years. Consistently advances from the group stage aswell. It was a natural result of alot of work built through several years. One day, we were gonna get there. This time we did. It was definitly deserved, especially after losing the final in 2004.

 

I know people say those things because they like the teams that play the better looking offensive football. Portugal has done that many times before but didn't win. This time they played pragmaticly and won. It's football. There isn't just one strategy to win. But, not only did Portugal play overall one more game than everyone else with the extra times, but was running more than the french in the extra time. That is the work ofall the staff and players. I am sure that playing as they were, very few teams would be capable of stopping Portugal. Even germany would've had  very difficult time.

 

So yes, of course Portugal deserved to win. Wether people like the way they played or not.



Congrats to all Portugal supporters!