The high hopes of the Portugal team lie on the shoulders of Sergio Conceicao,
Christiano Ronaldo, Luis Boa Morte and Hugo Viana. There are no new faces in the defense and will be
managed by the veteran Fernando Couto and Jorge Costa. Critics have observed that the duo are "aging"
and may need replacement. But it is a do or die situation for the golden generation of Portuguese football.
The team's world cup winner coach will stand no nonsense and is the right man to get the best out of both
the veterans as well as the youngsters. In modern day football, spontaneity is probably a misfit and
discipline is the watchword. All eyes will be on the coach.
Portugal's hopes rest on the young shoulders of Ronaldo, heir to Luís Figo
who retired along with Pauleta after the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He scored eight goals in the qualifying rounds.
Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari will always find space for wingers whom many consider a luxury. But then,
he has so many stalwarts. Cristiano Ronaldo, Simão, Ricardo Quaresma and Nani. Scolari may be grateful
for the strength in depth as all are susceptible to injury.
It is credit to Scolari that neither Luís Figo or Pauleta have been particularly
missed and with those wingers providing a steady supply of chances, the lone striker in the preferred 4-2-3-1
formation, be it Nuno Gomes, Hugo Almeida or Ariza Makukula, is almost guaranteed opportunities.
Portugal can switch to 4-3-3 or 5-4-1 depending on the situation, with another option
the 3-4-3 formation Scolari favoured when his Brazil team won the 2002 World Cup. The latter certainly solves
one problem as the left-back berth was an achilles heel throughout qualifying, with Marco Caneira, Jorge Ribeiro
and the versatile Paulo Ferreira all failing to make the position their own. Luis Miguel and Bosingwa are far
more settled on the opposite flank, while Ricardo Carvalho, Jorge Andrade, Ricardo Costa, Ricardo Rocha,
Bruno Alves, Pepe and Fernando Meira are all competing for places at centre-back.
Portugal Euro Squad
This is the official Euro 2008 Squad of Portugal:
(the deadline for nominating the Euro squad was May 28)
Goalkeepers
Ricardo
Rui Patrício
Nuno
Defenders
Paulo Ferreira
Bruno Alves
Bosingwa
Fernando Meira
Miguel
Jorge Ribeiro
Pepe
Ricardo Carvalho
Midfielders
Raul Meireles
Petit
João Moutinho
Simão
Ricardo Quaresma
Miguel Veloso
Nani
Deco
Strikers
Cristiano Ronaldo
Hugo Almeida
Nuno Gomes
Helder Postiga
User opinions and Euro 2008 betting prediction on Portugal:
My selection for the Euro2008 is Portugal. - A team with a fair chance and hopefully one which will not be supported by too many other subscribers. Does this maximise my expected gain in your competition I wonder.
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Winning team prediction = Portugal
Explanation = Ronaldo.
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I choose Portugal to win the Euro2008.
Besides Cristiano Ronaldo which is, today, the best player in the world, there is Simao, Quaresma, Nani and Moutinho that are really nice players that can make the difference.
The defense is very solid with Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Bosingwa and Ferreira (which is the worst of them but he needs to prove that he deserves to play on Chelsea so I'm predicting a nice Euro for him)
Although your choices make a lot of sense and for me the best betting opportunities are Portugal, Spain and France.
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I think the Euro 2008 winner will be Portugal. They have a lot of players with experience, many upcomming players and of course the best player in the world: Christiano Ronaldo. Therefore i Think they become champions. It's also worth to notice that they are in a quite easy group.
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