(R16) Portugal (p)0-0 Slovenia - Monday 1st July, 2024

[Smiley Culture]

I think it's top football, in general. It's data obsessed and a dull watch to suit playing the percentages and nullifying opposition. Flair and creativity are dirty words and unless it's some miracle equation, football people aren't really interested and the entertainment value of football has suffered and it's not just this tournament, so often Premier League games are talked up and then a 0-0 draw is played out and everyone is bored stiff watching it. 

[MUFC]

10 hours ago, Bluewolf said:

It will be Germany mate... 

Depends if the ref shits it like he did in their last game.

[Michael]

19 minutes ago, Machado said:

He refuses to accept it's over for him. Surrounded by yes man, no one in his family to tell him enough is enough, cries on the pitch every other game. All very sad to see.

Portugal show a lot of incompetence playing against teams who sit deep. We played one open game, against Turkey, and that brought the best out of us. I think the game against France goes to pens again.

It's funny how you blame him(Ronaldo), when he's the one being selected by the manager. Martinez never had to select him. Fernando Santos was the manager who was the first to drop him, he took that mantle. Martinez has obviously selected him because he rates him, he could have easily continued not selecting him, like Santos did, if he didn't rate Ronaldo. You can't blame Ronaldo playing for Portugal when he is called up. Him crying and being emotional is due to his passion and perfectionist mentality of winning. 

Why does he need members of his family to tell him what he should do in his footballing career? He is being selected by the Portugal national team, so naturally he is obliging them by playing for them.

I never was the biggest Ronaldo fan in his prime, because I saw the slight arrogance in him and the media drooling over him. I still admired him though because he was of course very talented. But in recent years, even though he's past his prime, I've gained more respect, just due to the fact that he is still performing at a high level at his age and in such great physical shape. Even at Man United 2 years ago, he had a record of scoring a goal every 2 games. At Juventus from 2018 to 2021, he had a scoring record of almost a goal every game. All this achieved during his mid to late 30's.

At international level, he's always scored goals, even in recent years. For example, since the start of 2023, he has scored 11 goals for Portugal. Portugal have players like Jota, Goncalo Ramos and Andre Silva that can play at the tip of the attack in Ronaldo's position, yet the manager prefers Ronaldo. You can't blame Ronaldo if the manager has faith in his abilities over others.

[Rucksackfranzose]

2 hours ago, MUFC said:

Depends if the ref shits it like he did in their last game.

You mean calling an offside offside and a pretty usual procedure before Germany's first goal a foul?

[Rucksackfranzose]

6 minutes ago, Michael said:

It's funny how you blame him(Ronaldo), when he's the one being selected by the manager. Martinez never had to select him. Fernando Santos was the manager who was the first to drop him, he took that mantle. Martinez has obviously selected him because he rates him, he could have easily continued not selecting him, like Santos did, if he didn't rate Ronaldo. You can't blame Ronaldo playing for Portugal when he is called up. Him crying and being emotional is due to his passion and perfectionist mentality of winning. 

Why does he need members of his family to tell him what he should do in his footballing career? He is being selected by the Portugal national team, so naturally he is obliging them by playing for them.

I never was the biggest Ronaldo fan in his prime, because I saw the slight arrogance in him and the media drooling over him. I still admired him though because he was of course very talented. But in recent years, even though he's past his prime, I've gained more respect, just due to the fact that he is still performing at a high level at his age and in such great physical shape. Even at Man United 2 years ago, he had a record of scoring a goal every 2 games. At Juventus from 2018 to 2021, he had a scoring record of almost a goal every game. All this achieved during his mid to late 30's.

At international level, he's always scored goals, even in recent years. For example, since the start of 2023, he has scored 11 goals for Portugal. Portugal have players like Jota, Goncalo Ramos and Andre Silva that can play at the tip of the attack in Ronaldo's position, yet the manager prefers Ronaldo. You can't blame Ronaldo if the manager has faith in his abilities over others.

That's one possibility of interpreting it, another one is it was the disappointment of missing the chance of declaring himself the player, who secured Portugal's advancing to the next round.

[Tommy]

4 hours ago, MUFC said:

Depends if the ref shits it like he did in their last game.

What exactly did he do wrong?

[Spike]

Ask that woman in Las Vegas about Ronaldo’s ability to penetrate defence. 

Edited July 2 by Spike

[Mel81x+]

I think it's time to retire the Ronaldo project. It's nice if you want to give him a run-about in the last few minutes of a game but he's lost his effectiveness. Both the cross from Silva as well as Vitinha get buried by a sharper Ronaldo and you're also making the moves by Leao and Silva ineffective by forcing them to play high crosses into the box when that is not their style of play at all. Martinez is lucky that the opposition were so bad at converting because had it not been for that one fact this team would be out of the tournament by now. 

I think they'll beat France, but they've got to start tinkering with their striker option to see what can be done. I also think if Ronaldo is told to sit one out after this latest performance, he might be more willing to listen to it. On the flipside maybe this kick up his nuts is exactly what he needed to start performing again. But I am more inclined to let him sit things out and let the team play a different way. 

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Michael said:

It's funny how you blame him(Ronaldo)

He's partly to blame for actually missing the chances, no?

[Dr. Gonzo]

Rather than rely on an old legend now playing his club football in a retirement league, perhaps Portugal should be treating Ronaldo the way Uruguay is treating Suarez. Still a valued member of the squad, but not someone to be relied on for 90+ minutes.