ThePortugueseGunner
Active Member
Really liked the look of Bragança especially, looked a very quality footballer.
Portugal has a really special group of talent both at U21 and absolute levels. They look like the best team in that tournament and they look like they should maybe be favourites for the Euro cup (though dunno if Santos is a good manager? He's over-conservative and **** like most international managers, I guess?-- and yes, I know he won the Euro cup with Portugal, but don't really rate that Euro cup win too highly when they won on game in normal time against Wales).
First time I can remember being envious of our little neighbors
Our U21 team plays typically decent soccer--maybe they'll actually go far in the tournament because the good team spirit / good technical level goes along way at that level--but my god, if you compare that squad to U21 squads in past years, the gulf in talent is massive. Our U21 squads used to be loaded with massive talent. that one's got Brahim and then some more or less interesting ones like Barrenetxea, Pedrosa (would make a good LB back-down signing for Arsenal, IMO), Cuenca and Guillamón maybe?, Manu García I like but he's light-weight a bit like Bragança, Villar is doing well at Roma but I don't see anything that interesting there...
Far cry from teams of the last decade or so that were absolutely loaded with pearls.
Btw, Nketiah yesterday for England...really poor. Brewster came on and immediately upped England's level. Aside from really poor all around play, if a poacher finishes like that (had a golden chance), not much future...He needs a loan. Seems to have lost a bit of confidence and spirit.
If Bragança gets lucky enough to have managers who care for him and give him opportunities with some consistency, he will definitely be a part of future Portugal squads.
Totally agree with you regarding the Euros. All the stars in the universe aligned - it was great, but as it happens a lot of times, it was enough to fool most fans. Fernando Santos was never a great coach, and still isn't. Luck eventually ends, it's inevitable. Just look at the World Cup, we got eliminated very soon by Uruguay. You can't always expect to get lucky, you have to actually try to win games.
Keep in mind that Santos is one of the few managers that managed Portugal's "Big 3", and he failed tremendously at Sporting and Benfica. He won a title at Porto, but it was their fifth in a row, it wasn't a work of art by him...
