Euro 2012 final 23-men squads, discuss them as they get revealed

[noikeee]

Portugal

Goalkeepers:

Rui Patrício (Sporting)

Eduardo (Benfica)

Beto (CFR Cluj)

Defenders:

Ricardo Costa (Valencia)

João Pereira (Sporting)

Pepe (Real Madrid)

Miguel Lopes (Braga)

Fábio Coentrão (Real Madrid)

Rolando (FC Porto)

Bruno Alves (Zenit)

Midfielders:

João Moutinho (FC Porto)

Custódio (Braga)

Carlos Martins (Granada)

Ruben Micael (Zaragoza)

Raul Meireles (Chelsea)

Miguel Veloso (Genoa)

Forwards:

Nani (Man Utd)

Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas)

Silvestre Varela (FC Porto)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

Hugo Almeida (Besiktas)

Nélson Oliveira (Benfica)

Hélder Postiga (Zaragoza)

Two major surprise in the inclusions of defensive midfielder Custódio and right-back Miguel Lopes, both still uncapped and both Braga players. You would have expected perhaps Hugo Viana (also from Braga) and Atlético Madrid's Sílvio to fill in for those places in the squad, but excellent form for both of them throughout the second half of the season convinced national team manager Paulo Bento.

Other talking points are the inclusions of young forward Nélson Oliveira, still slowly breaking in into Benfica albeit recently given his 1st cap and also the highlight of last Summer's Portuguese U20 World Cup squad; and winger Silvestre Varela who has been out of Paulo Bento's options for a long time.

Out of the team, permanently so, remain Ricardo Carvalho and Bosingwa who have antagonized Paulo Bento personally, plus the players who retired freakishly early after the 2010 World Cup: Simão, Paulo Ferreira and Tiago.

Personally I'm OK with the squad, would only consider bringing in Viana for Custódio or Micael, perhaps Sílvio too but he has not had a great season, hindered by injuries. Portugal's current generation is very short on quality backup options, so got to play with what we've got...

[Razzler]

What are the Portuguese expecting from this tournament (I assume you are Portuguese). Are they quite positive, tricky group

[skybluedave]

Not that I know, but you'd think they'd be delighted to just get out of the group. Proper tough

[Razzler]

You'd think so but just wonder how each country themselves view it. Obviously everyone knows about England as we're all here so even fellow Europeans get an insight into our media and expectations but we don't see much the other way

[noikeee]

What are the Portuguese expecting from this tournament (I assume you are Portuguese). Are they quite positive, tricky group

I'm portuguese, yes.

The expectations aren't high, everyone's aware that Germany is just superb, Holland are World Cup finalists, and we've had a lot of bad experiences against Denmark recently, to the point I'd name them as our bogey team (albeit the press is being kind enough to not remember this). That being said there's cautious optimism that we have a shot, it's been repeated over and over again that some of our best tournament performances have been in Groups of Death (ex Euro 2000), and conversely we often bottle it when the group is easy. I'm all up for taking lessons from history but am very suspicious it doesn't really works like this.

Worth mentioning that Paulo Bento seems to have been doing a genuinely good job tho. The team is gelled as a strong unit which is remarkable for a suspiciously patchy, unbalanced generation of talent. In any other group I think we'd be comfortably through. Germany will probably be too much for us and unfortunately that's our opening match, only chance we'll win it is if Germany's over-confident. Other than that, can't see why can't we beat Holland and Denmark, regardless of the excellence of Sneijder, Robben, Van Persie and Eriksen, we'll have to be at our very best tho and both matches will be tight no matter what.

[ShyBaldBuddhist]

What kind of formation are Portugal playing these days? The squad looks a defender or two short and has an abundance of striking options. Also how is Quaresma doing? Thought he looked a huge talent a few years ago but he's just disappeared since and not fulfilled his potential imo.

[noikeee]

What kind of formation are Portugal playing these days? The squad looks a defender or two short and has an abundance of striking options. Also how is Quaresma doing? Thought he looked a huge talent a few years ago but he's just disappeared since and not fulfilled his potential imo.

A possession-based (albeit adept at counter-attacking if necessary too), wide, attacking 4-3-3:

            Postiga
Ronaldo                   Nani

         Martins
               Moutinho
           Meireles

Coentrão   Pepe   Alves  Pereira

           Patrício

Pretty obvious settled starting 11, altho I could see a major surprise with Oliveira stealing Postiga's place upfront.

I don't think there's a shortage of defenders, we've got 4 centre-backs, 2 right-backs and 1 left-back. The left-back seems short there but then Veloso, Costa, Pereira, Lopes all can do that position too, and there's no specialist left-back anywhere near 1 tenth as good as Coentrão anyway, so why bother calling someone up when an adapted player will be just as good/bad.

Quaresma I don't know, I don't follow Turkish football. I agree he didn't fulfill his potential tho. He did have a couple of excellent seasons at Porto but afterwards his form went missing, and everytime he plays for Portugal he just seems completely disjointed amongst a well drilled team in collective play.

[Lathund]

Sweden

Målvakter:

Pär Hansson, 25, målvakt, Helsingborg

Andreas Isaksson, 30, målvakt, PSV Eindhoven

Johan Wiland, 31, målvakt, FC Köpenhamn

Backar:

Mikael Lustig, 25, back, Celtic

Olof Mellberg, 34, back, Olympiakos

Andreas Granqvist, 27, back, Genoa

Martin Olsson, 23, back, Blackburn

Jonas Olsson, 29, back, West Bromwich

Mikael Antonsson, 30, back, Bologna

Behrang Safari, 27, back, Anderlecht

Mittfältare:

Rasmus Elm, 24, mittfältare, AZ Alkmaar

Sebastian Larsson, 26, mittfältare, Sunderland

Anders Svensson, 35, mittfältare, Elfsborg

Kim Källström, 29, mittfältare, Lyon

Pontus Wernbloom, 25, mittfältare, CSKA Moskva

Samuel Holmén, 27, mittfältare, Istanbul

Emir Bajrami, 24, mittfältare, FC Twente

Christian Wilhelmsson, 32, mittfältare, Al-Ahly

Forwards:

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 30, anfallare, Milan

Tobias Hysén, 30, anfallare, IFK Göteborg

Johan Elmander, 30, anfallare, Galatasaray

Ola Toivonen, 25, anfallare, PSV Eindhoven

Markus Rosenberg, 28, anfallare

[noikeee]

How's Sweden been doing? In that group they're probably the least favourites in theory, and I rate France, but see no reason why they can't stun England and home team Ukraine?

[Razzler]

Sweden

Målvakter:

Pär Hansson, 25, målvakt, Helsingborg

Andreas Isaksson, 30, målvakt, PSV Eindhoven

Johan Wiland, 31, målvakt, FC Köpenhamn

Backar:

Mikael Lustig, 25, back, Celtic

Olof Mellberg, 34, back, Olympiakos

Andreas Granqvist, 27, back, Genoa

Martin Olsson, 23, back, Blackburn

Jonas Olsson, 29, back, West Bromwich

Mikael Antonsson, 30, back, Bologna

Behrang Safari, 27, back, Anderlecht

Mittfältare:

Rasmus Elm, 24, mittfältare, AZ Alkmaar

Sebastian Larsson, 26, mittfältare, Sunderland

Anders Svensson, 35, mittfältare, Elfsborg

Kim Källström, 29, mittfältare, Lyon

Pontus Wernbloom, 25, mittfältare, CSKA Moskva

Samuel Holmén, 27, mittfältare, Istanbul

Emir Bajrami, 24, mittfältare, FC Twente

Christian Wilhelmsson, 32, mittfältare, Al-Ahly

Forwards:

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 30, anfallare, Milan

Tobias Hysén, 30, anfallare, IFK Göteborg

Johan Elmander, 30, anfallare, Galatasaray

Ola Toivonen, 25, anfallare, PSV Eindhoven

Markus Rosenberg, 28, anfallare

What do you reckon on your starting XI?

[Maestroik]

Wow, a bench warmer from a Saudi club side made it. Decent squad still.

[Razzler]

Wow, a bench warmer from a Saudi club side made it. Decent squad still.

Who would that be, Wilhelmson?

[RubenJ]

Portugal have a pretty good team tbh, not an easy group but I do give them an outside chance of winning the whole thing. Ronaldo in the form of his life as well so if they can play well as a team, he could be the difference between Portugal and the rest.

[Razzler]

Ronaldo to spend most matches strolling around shaking his head at how his team mates aren't up to his standard though

[Maestroik]

Who would that be, Wilhelmson?

Yeah, I guess that's pretty much the best available for the Swedes.

[Philip Rolfe]

Sweden to make the Semis imo.

[ibra8]

I would be less optimistic if we were in a easy group as it never ends well. Having Germany and Netherlands in our group will force us to stay on our toes since day one.

I think our starting XI is good enough to go all the way, but much of our success will be dependent on Ronaldo's form.

Having said this, Germany will most likely finish top with Portugal and Netherlands fighting for the 2nd place.

[G-Man11]

Portugal

Goalkeepers:

Rui Patrício (Sporting)

Eduardo (Benfica)

Beto (CFR Cluj)

Defenders:

Ricardo Costa (Valencia)

João Pereira (Sporting)

Pepe (Real Madrid)

Miguel Lopes (Braga)

Fábio Coentrão (Real Madrid)

Rolando (FC Porto)

Bruno Alves (Zenit)

Midfielders:

João Moutinho (FC Porto)

Custódio (Braga)

Carlos Martins (Granada)

Ruben Micael (Zaragoza)

Raul Meireles (Chelsea)

Miguel Veloso (Genoa)

Forwards:

Nani (Man Utd)

Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas)

Silvestre Varela (FC Porto)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

Hugo Almeida (Besiktas)

Nélson Oliveira (Benfica)

Hélder Postiga (Zaragoza)

Two major surprise in the inclusions of defensive midfielder Custódio and right-back Miguel Lopes, both still uncapped and both Braga players. You would have expected perhaps Hugo Viana (also from Braga) and Atlético Madrid's Sílvio to fill in for those places in the squad, but excellent form for both of them throughout the second half of the season convinced national team manager Paulo Bento.

Other talking points are the inclusions of young forward Nélson Oliveira, still slowly breaking in into Benfica albeit recently given his 1st cap and also the highlight of last Summer's Portuguese U20 World Cup squad; and winger Silvestre Varela who has been out of Paulo Bento's options for a long time.

Out of the team, permanently so, remain Ricardo Carvalho and Bosingwa who have antagonized Paulo Bento personally, plus the players who retired freakishly early after the 2010 World Cup: Simão, Paulo Ferreira and Tiago.

Personally I'm OK with the squad, would only consider bringing in Viana for Custódio or Micael, perhaps Sílvio too but he has not had a great season, hindered by injuries. Portugal's current generation is very short on quality backup options, so got to play with what we've got...

Silvio has been injured all season so calling him up would make no sense.

I didn't think Micael had been playing much for Zaragoza? Presumably he's done alright for them this season if he's getting called up. Practically forgot Atletico even owned him tbh

[Lathund]

How's Sweden been doing? In that group they're probably the least favourites in theory, and I rate France, but see no reason why they can't stun England and home team Ukraine?

We did beat Holland in our last qualifier to get here, only team other than Spain (WC final) to beat them in a competitive game since Euro 2008. But then we've lost friendlies to England and Denmark, and beat Croatia. So a mixed bag really. I think we're better than we've been for many years but we're still definitely not favoured to go through. I'd say we're better than Ukraine, if not for the home field advantage. We've always done well against England, so nick a result there and anything could happen. My prediction is still 3rd.

What do you reckon on your starting XI?

It's not easy to predict really, as some players are hard to fit in. But based on the squad numbers given, 1-11 would be, in a 4-2-3-1;

Isaksson; Lustig, Mellberg, Granqvist, M. Olsson; A. Svensson, Källström/Elm; S. Larsson, Zlatan, Elm/Källström; Elmander.

And that's a feasible team. Elmander is injured, and might not recover in time. Obvious replacement there is Toivonen; who might play anyway. Jonas Olsson could start in defense. Our problem is that we lack a really good left winger (Bajrami and Wilhelmsson are the ones named), whereas we have three strikers we want to play (Toivonen, Elmander, Zlatan), which could result in some funkiness. I'm like 99% certain that at least 9 of the ones mentioned in my eleven will start, barring injuries. I don't see anyone that I haven't yet named starting.

[Heartwork]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2012_squads

List building here. Only 3 non England based players for RoI - O'Dea at Celtic, McGeady at Spartak Moscow, and Keane at LA Galaxy. At present the only squad to have ZERO domestic league players.

[PMLF]

Two players playing outside Europe (Keane and Wilhelmsson).

Shame Portugal didn't call up Deco, he's certainly good enough to play for them (or for Brazil).

[Jeroen Thijssen]

Dutch squad,

currently still 29 players

GOAL						Caps	Goals


Tim		Krul		Newcastle Utd	2	0
Maarten		Stekelenburg	AS Roma		45	0
Michel		Vorm		Swansea City	9	0

DEFENSE				

Khalid		Boulahrouz	Stuttgart	35	0
Wilfred		Bouma		PSV		35	2
John		Heitinga	Everton		75	7
Joris		Mathijsen	Málaga		79	3
Erik		Pieters		PSV		15	0
Ron		Vlaar		Feyenoord	5	0
Gregory		van der Wiel	Ajax		29	0
Jetro		Willems		PSV		0	0

MIDFIELD				

Ibrahim		Afellay		Barcelona	36	3
Vurnon		Anita		Ajax		3	0
Mark		van Bommel	AC Milan	74	10
Nigel		de Jong		Man City	57	1
Siem		de Jong		Ajax		1	0
Adam		Maher		AZ		0	0
Stijn		Schaars		Sporting	16	0
Wesley		Sneijder	Inter		80	23
Kevin		Strootman	PSV		10	1
Rafael		van der Vaart	Tottenham	93	17

ATTACK				

Klaas-Jan	Huntelaar	Schalke		50	31
Luuk		de Jong		FC Twente	7	1
Dirk		Kuyt		Liverpool	85	24
Jeremain	Lens		PSV		4	1
Luciano		Narsingh	sc Heerenveen	0	0
Robin		van Persie	Arsenal		63	25
Arjen		Robben		FC Bayern	54	17

[Jeroen Thijssen]

We did beat Holland in our last qualifier to get here, only team other than Spain (WC final) to beat them in a competitive game since Euro 2008. But then we've lost friendlies to England and Denmark, and beat Croatia. So a mixed bag really. I think we're better than we've been for many years but we're still definitely not favoured to go through. I'd say we're better than Ukraine, if not for the home field advantage. We've always done well against England, so nick a result there and anything could happen. My prediction is still 3rd.

It's not easy to predict really, as some players are hard to fit in. But based on the squad numbers given, 1-11 would be, in a 4-2-3-1;

Isaksson; Lustig, Mellberg, Granqvist, M. Olsson; A. Svensson, Källström/Elm; S. Larsson, Zlatan, Elm/Källström; Elmander.

And that's a feasible team. Elmander is injured, and might not recover in time. Obvious replacement there is Toivonen; who might play anyway. Jonas Olsson could start in defense. Our problem is that we lack a really good left winger (Bajrami and Wilhelmsson are the ones named), whereas we have three strikers we want to play (Toivonen, Elmander, Zlatan), which could result in some funkiness. I'm like 99% certain that at least 9 of the ones mentioned in my eleven will start, barring injuries. I don't see anyone that I haven't yet named starting.

I think Elmander is definitely out. I think Holland lacked some motivation against the Swedes.. but what I like about your team is that you have a great team of decent players. Apart from Ibra, nobody really sticks out and it should be a hard working effort. I can see Sweden clinch the top spot, or finish just after the Ukraine and proceeding to the next round.

But why Rosenberg over Guidetti?

[Suggy33]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2012_squads

List building here. Only 3 non England based players for RoI - O'Dea at Celtic, McGeady at Spartak Moscow, and Keane at LA Galaxy. At present the only squad to have ZERO domestic league players.

Verratti in provisional squad for Italy from Serie B (Pescara just promoted though iirc)

That'd be like chucking Lallana in the England squad or something.

[Suggy33]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2012_squads

List building here. Only 3 non England based players for RoI - O'Dea at Celtic, McGeady at Spartak Moscow, and Keane at LA Galaxy. At present the only squad to have ZERO domestic league players.

Verratti in provisional squad for Italy from Serie B (Pescara just promoted though iirc) That'd be like chucking Lallana in the England squad or something.

Is there much outrage/controversy over that decision I wonder? I know if someone like Lallana was in the England squad there'd be quite a stir.

[Maestroik]

Verratti in provisional squad for Italy from Serie B (Pescara just promoted though iirc)

That'd be like chucking Lallana in the England squad or something.

Ogbonna too.

[Razzler]

but what I like about your team is that you have a great team of decent players. Apart from Ibra, nobody really sticks out and it should be a hard working effort

Sweden always seem to be like that tbh, good and solid, never gonna get mugged off, no favours. This is why they annoy us

[Robokid87]

But why Rosenberg over Guidetti?

Guidetti's out injured.

[noikeee]

Silvio has been injured all season so calling him up would make no sense.

Well fair enough then but still Miguel Lopes was a surprise, there were other options, Nélson from Betis for example has been called up recently, so has Eliseu from Málaga albeit he's originally a winger not a full-back. Sílvio was on the bench for the Europa League final I believe, so he's available even if not with great match fitness?

I didn't think Micael had been playing much for Zaragoza? Presumably he's done alright for them this season if he's getting called up. Practically forgot Atletico even owned him tbh

I was slightly surprised he was called up, he is physically fragile and lacks the killer pass instinct for an attacking midfielder, but he's performed above his ability the few times he played for Portugal. I believe he's been playing almost every game for Zaragoza altho I don't follow them.

[noikeee]

Shame Portugal didn't call up Deco, he's certainly good enough to play for them (or for Brazil).

I've not been following the Brazilian competitions, and albeit I've heard he's been playing well, surely he's past it physically, particularly to play in a 3-man midfield with no designated defensive midfielder, against highly capable physical sides like Germany, Holland and Denmark? Not to mention the media frenzy it would generate to suddenly call him up again. I also believe he's retired from the national side anyway?

No question his feet are worth more than its weight in gold tho, total legend for my club (Porto), certainly one of the greatest players to have ever played for us and delivered it at the very top level.

edit - from Wikipedia:

In February 2010 Deco announced that he would be retiring from international football after the 2010 World Cup.[13]

(...)

Deco retired from international football with 75 caps and 5 goals.

He also stirred up sh*t with the then manager Carlos Queiroz during World Cup 2010, publicly calling him out.

[kpain16]

Croatia provisional squad (keeper Blažević and 3 players will be dropped, those marked with a star most likely candidates)

Goalkeepers:

Stipe Pletikosa (FC Rostov),

Danijel Subašić (AS Monaco FC),

Ivan Kelava (GNK Dinamo Zagreb),

Goran Blažević* (HNK Hajduk Split)

Defenders:

Vedran Ćorluka (Tottenham Hotspur FC, on loan at Bayer 04 Leverkusen),

Josip Šimunić (GNK Dinamo Zagreb),

Gordon Schildenfeld (Eintracht Frankfurt),

Darijo Srna (FC Shakhtar Donetsk),

Šime Vrsaljko (GNK Dinamo Zagreb),

Domagoj Vida (GNK Dinamo Zagreb),

Danijel Pranjić (FC Bayern München),

Dejan Lovren (Olympique Lyonnais),

Jurica Buljat* (Maccabi Haifa FC),

Ivan Strinić* (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk).

Midfielders:

Luka Modrić (Tottenham Hotspur FC),

Ognjen Vukojević (FC Dynamo Kyiv),

Tomislav Dujmović (FC Dinamo Moskva),

Ivan Perišić (Borussia Dortmund),

Ivan Rakitić (Sevilla FC),

Niko Kranjčar (Tottenham Hotspur FC),

Milan Badelj* (GNK Dinamo Zagreb),

Ivo Iličević* (Hamburger SV).

Forwards:

Eduardo (FC Shakhtar Donetsk),

Mario Mandžukić (VfL Wolfsburg),

Nikica Jelavić (Everton FC),

Ivica Olić (FC Bayern München),

Nikola Kalinić* (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk),

[noikeee]

Looks a decent side albeit far from a vintage Croatia, perhaps outside chance of nicking 2nd place from Italy, who shall be weakened given that great partnership Cassano-Rossi was dismantled and that's left them with obvious attacking issues?

[Razzler]

Tournaments are always tighter than you think and in a 4 team group and with tense opening games a draw can throw it all for a loop

[kpain16]

If I had to bet on it, I'd say we'll end up the group with all losses and one draw. Since we never lost against Italy, not that it means much, it could be that game.

[Barry Cartman]

Guidetti not made it

[Lathund]

I think Elmander is definitely out. I think Holland lacked some motivation against the Swedes.. but what I like about your team is that you have a great team of decent players. Apart from Ibra, nobody really sticks out and it should be a hard working effort. I can see Sweden clinch the top spot, or finish just after the Ukraine and proceeding to the next round.

But why Rosenberg over Guidetti?

Galatasaray's doctor ruled Elmander out, but the national team's doctor believes he will be ready in time. Alexander Gerndt the likely replacement if he doesn't make it.

Guidetti is injured. Inflammed nerve in his thigh.

[noikeee]

If I had to bet on it, I'd say we'll end up the group with all losses and one draw. Since we never lost against Italy, not that it means much, it could be that game.

Bit pessimistic, no? I rate Ireland as a solid defensive side, but no way on earth they have the same talent as Croatia. Can't see you losing to them unless it's a set piece or something.

Then again I've read Bilic is the sort of manager that doesn't give a stuff about tactics which I find a big disadvantage.

[Astafjevs]

Verratti in provisional squad for Italy from Serie B (Pescara just promoted though iirc) That'd be like chucking Lallana in the England squad or something.

Is there much outrage/controversy over that decision I wonder? I know if someone like Lallana was in the England squad there'd be quite a stir.

It raised a few eyebrows, but mainly because Prandelli hasn't called him before at all, rather than the fact he is in Serie B. He isn't going to make the final squad, but it's still strange. Especially when you consider Aquilani isn't even in that 32-man list.

You compare it to someone like Ogbonna - not many people looked at that as strange because he was called up (and capped) before.

[kpain16]

Bit pessimistic, no? I rate Ireland as a solid defensive side, but no way on earth they have the same talent as Croatia. Can't see you losing to them unless it's a set piece or something.

Then again I've read Bilic is the sort of manager that doesn't give a stuff about tactics which I find a big disadvantage.

Ireland is exactly the kind of side we can't beat. Not only that but I can see us conceding some set piece goal. In 4 years we played one good game - Turkey away. The rest was pure garbage. We were saved by having a ridiculously easy group in qualifiers and even there were topped by Greece who we dominated and kept conceding corner goals. We lost against Georgia and scraped some wins against low rated sides. In the playoffs we got Turkey who looked even poorer and in worse mental condition than us.

Player by player we have a pretty decent squad but our play is slow as hell, boring and not effective. We look much more likely to beat some sides that dominate us than a team like Ireland that is going to wait for us to attack them.

Bilić is tactically insane. He has his own vision of the game where tactics are irrelevant.

[Philip Rolfe]

Bilić is tactically insane. He has his own vision of the game where tactics are irrelevant.

[kpain16]

Now that you mention it, it does make sense to compare these two.

[CaptainPlanet]

Nélson Oliveira is the next big thing, would love him to show the world what he can do at the Euros.

[noikeee]

Now that you mention it, it does make sense to compare these two.

Not really, they're polar opposites, Villas Boas is a massive tactics nerd. He just happened to strangely try a tactical model that didn't really fit Chelsea's players and managed to annoy the whole squad in the process.

[noikeee]

Nélson Oliveira is the next big thing, would love him to show the world what he can do at the Euros.

That's a strange claim to make. I rate Nélson, he is a complete forward in that he's strong, technically adept, has good movement and is fairly clever, but he's not the next big thing unless he starts to actually score any goals. He's also behind another kid of the same age in Benfica's pecking order (Rodrigo), and shown himself to crumble under pressure a few times for Benfica.

He is probably going to become Portugal's best forward since Pauleta but highly doubt he's going to be world class.

[CaptainPlanet]

That's a strange claim to make. I rate Nélson, he is a complete forward in that he's strong, technically adept, has good movement and is fairly clever, but he's not the next big thing unless he starts to actually score any goals. He's also behind another kid of the same age in Benfica's pecking order (Rodrigo), and shown himself to crumble under pressure a few times for Benfica.

He is probably going to become Portugal's best forward since Pauleta but highly doubt he's going to be world class.

But he turned world class in my FM09 game

[FaceCrusher]

Nélson Oliveira is the next big thing, would love him to show the world what he can do at the Euros.

Don't know if he's the next big thing, but is certainly Portugal's next "biggish" thing. I would put him in the starting XI straight away, we all know that Postiga and Almeida are decent on their day but their potential is rather low and rarely make the difference. Basically we can't count on them to do much more than pass de ball back and score some sitters, they're stupidly easy to mark.

[ibra8]

That's a strange claim to make. I rate Nélson, he is a complete forward in that he's strong, technically adept, has good movement and is fairly clever, but he's not the next big thing unless he starts to actually score any goals. He's also behind another kid of the same age in Benfica's pecking order (Rodrigo), and shown himself to crumble under pressure a few times for Benfica.

He is probably going to become Portugal's best forward since Pauleta but highly doubt he's going to be world class.

He's still raw and he certainly has to work on his finishing. Plus lose the bad habit of trying to win the game alone. Tough this is something that I partly blame on his past managers. The last u20 wc was a good example. The tactic was pass the ball to Nelson and pray he comes up with a goal.

But he his a natural talent and if he has the will to improve can easily become a top player.

Got say that even with his current flaws, Nelson would be in my starting XI.

[Jeroen Thijssen]

Galatasaray's doctor ruled Elmander out, but the national team's doctor believes he will be ready in time. Alexander Gerndt the likely replacement if he doesn't make it.

Guidetti is injured. Inflammed nerve in his thigh.

Does that keep him out until the Euros???

Gerndt is rubbish. Surely you have better alternatives?

[noikeee]

Agreed on the selfishness issue and I think that's something that goes away with age, plenty of youngsters are too selfish then get better.

Not sure on the starting striker, I think it's a coin flip between Postiga and Nelson, whilst Postiga has a bad rep in Portugal and hasn't been a consistent goalscorer for ages, he's actually been rather good for the national team and links well with the wingers and midfield in a possession game. Think I'd back Nelson for a more counter-attacking play tho. Almeida is probably the best finisher of the 3 at the moment but is far too static.

[Lathund]

Does that keep him out until the Euros???

Yep, seems that way. He's apparently very weak in that leg.

Gerndt is rubbish. Surely you have better alternatives?

He was pretty good the couple of seasons before moving abroad, mostly based on that I guess. I don't keep track of all our players really, but for 7th choice striker I don't think we can greatly improve on him.