Road to Euro 2008: Portugal

 Thus Portugal classifiedsemifinals 1-0. After Scolari's exceptional performance
Âwith the Portuguese team he was offered the
During the qualification phase Portugal entered Groupposition to coach England but he decided to remain
A only losing one game and managing the secondwith Portugal for two more years.
place after a very exciting match against Finland. TheÂ
Finns needed a triumph in Oporto while for theThe Team
Portuguese a draw was sufficient. At theÂ
end, the scoreboard remained 0-0 and the teamThe side-midfields are Portugal's strong potential as
coach by Filipe Scolari moved forward to the nextwell as their main problem. The situation is strange in
round.the Portuguese team as it has big side-midfielders in
Âthe attack as in the lateral
On the other hand, Poland dominated the groupdefense…all are outstanding players
achieving the supreme position being the only teamand with clear preferences for the right side. Cristiano
that won over Portugal from the group. There is alsoRonaldo, Quaresma and Simao are three incredible
the worth seeing clash between Portugal and Serbiaplayers who play in the right side; Bosingwa and
in the city of Lisbon…a mix ofMiguel are excellent laterals who offer good
action, aggression and Coach Scolari's 3-gameperformances with their local as well as national
suspension after an intent of aggression toteams.Â
DragutinovicÂ
ÂThe only situation with Scolari has been his difficulty
During the Portuguese's last game they obtained theirto close the left side gap and this has been seen in
best qualification throughout the team's history;several occasions basically the 4-2-3-1 that he
despite having lost the final against Greece. To thisemploys regularly instead of a new 3-4-3 game
match Portugal came in with surprises especially asstrategy with a very defensive player.
they had played a stronger rivals only a few weeksÂ
before; Spain, Holland and England were defeated The Star Players
against a host team that seemed to have all in favor.Â
ÂIt is well known that Portugal has the new era young
Luis Felipe Scolari - The Coachfootball Winner of the Golden Boot, Cristiano Ronaldo
Âwho is currently playing for the Manchester United.
Scolari can be defined as the best PortugueseRonaldo has it all…speed, strength,
football coach during the entire history of Portugal.agility...but his weakness continues to be the lack
Âsolidarity in the game, although is also an error that is
The Brazilian coach has helped Portugal enjoy thebeing worked on for him to become the "perfect
glory arriving at the EURO 2004 final and to theplayer".Â
semifinals of the past FIFA World FootballÂ
Championship, matching the best record of theAlso, there is Anderson Luiz de Souza 'Deco' who
Portuguese national team in this competitioncurrently plays for the FC Barcelona where he enjoys
something they had not experienced since 1966.great creativity and initiative in the game attacks,
Âexcellent game vision and strong shots. Without a
During the World Championship Portugal won overdoubt, Deco is one of the 'souls' of the team
teams such: Holland and England in quarterfinals andspreading his winning character to all of his
semifinals respectively, but lost to the French in theteammates.