Posts Tagged ‘Luiz Felipe Scolari’

UEFA Champions League Playoffs: A Preliminary Look at Our EPL Opponents…

Friday, December 19th, 2008

UEFA Champions League Playoffs Draw - Italian Teams

Fabio Capello dubbed it “diabolical“. Given the picks obtained by Inter, Juventus, and Roma in Friday’s UCL draw, the term might indeed be appropriate. For how else can we define the incredible “Serie A vs. Premier League” showdown bestowed upon us, as our beloved Italian teams face off against Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal in February?

With the matches still months away, a preliminary presentation of our EPL opponents is in order. In particular, a general guess on what kind of games we will be looking at in 2009.

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Chelsea 1-0 Roma: So Close for the Giallorossi, John Terry Has a Late-Match Hammer (UEFA Champions League 2008-09)

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

Unlike Chelsea, ranking 1st in the Premier League and undefeated domestically since February, AS Roma approached their UEFA Champions League Matchday 3 fixture with extreme caution. Coming from a 0-4 home loss to Inter Milan this week-end, the Giallorossi were counting on returning iconic captain Francesco Totti to sound the charge on the Stamford Bridge fort (or at least, avoid getting killed in the process), hoping for a point or three to re-invigorate a fairly mediocre season so far.

Alas for the visitors, John Terry had other plans.

Indeed, in a match with very tight defending and not many scoring chances, had it not been for the Blues’ captain victorious headed effort in the 77th, it would be tempting to use the words “tactical solidity” and “great determination” when describing Roma’s performance Wednesday. Instead, the main consideration to be made is that much like their season debut, the Giallorossi are cruelly lacking goalscoring power. Chelsea, whose keeper Petr Cech spent the evening essentially sipping tea and eating cookies, can on the other hand be satisfied with their 7-point leader status.

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Portugal’s Euro 2008 Roster – 23 Players, No Maniche

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

The tournament debut approaching, managers from all Euro 2008-bound will soon be making their final call-up lists for this Summer’s big competition. The deadline imposed by UEFA is officially May 28, but while other coaches prefer to keep their options open by making “pre-selections” of 28-30 players, Portugal manager Luiz Felipe Scolari went straight to the point today and gave his final List of 23 who will be travelling to SwissAustria in June.

The biggest notable absentee is Inter midfielder Maniche, a player who regularly featured in the squad during the qualifier campaign. This season however, his playing time at Inter Milan and before, at Atletico Madrid) has been scarce at best, which is the likely reason why the Portuguese manager decided to drop him. Still, his absence makes for quite a shock.

If you want to know more about the selections, Portugoal.net has the full story here.  Alternatively, you can check out the discussion over at BigSoccer.com here.

Here’s the full list:

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Goalkeepers: Club:
Ricardo Pereira Betis
Quim Silva Benfica
Rui Patricio Sporting
.  
Defenders:  
Miguel Monteiro Valencia
Jose Bosingwa Porto
Paulo Ferreira Chelsea
Ricardo Carvalho Chelsea
Fernando Meira Stuttgart
Bruno Alves Porto
Pepe Real Madrid
Jorge Ribeiro Boavista
.  
Midfielders:  
Raul Meireles Porto
Joao Moutinho Sporting
Deco Barcelona
Armando Petit Benfica
Miguel Veloso Sporting
.  
Forwards:  
Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester Utd
Simao Sabrosa Atletico Madrid
Ricardo Quaresma Porto
Nuno Gomes Benfica
Hugo Almeida Werder Bremen
Nani Manchester Utd
Helder Postiga Panathinaikos