Manchester United beat Wolves 3-2 Â to-night in the League Cup at Old Trafford, with
debutantBebeopening the scoring for United with a neat chip
over the Wolves keeper.
Bebe looked impressive and ready to prove his worth to-night but didn't play as an out and out
striker, he instead hugged the right touchline giving strike partner Macheda the central role.
Rarely does a story read better than this. As a young boy Bebe was cared for by a charity in
Loures, Portugal. His parents were unable to consistently provide for him and so passed on the
responsibilities to a charity that claimed to be able to do just that. Upon maturity Bebe was
unemployed and living rough.
No surprise here folks, JM has way too much on is plate getting Los Blancos off the starting
line in La Liga to worry about a Portuguese team that is a total disaster. Although I do believe
that one day Jose Mourinho will take over and lead his country to World Cup glory. When will that
time be?
Provided you live somewhere near the general region of Iberia, that is.
With Carlos Quieroz unemployed and off to the sandy beaches of somewhere to ponder ways to
behave like a polite, courteous human being, there's a large hole atop the Portuguese national team
just waiting to be filled rather snappily, too, with qualifiers commenced again shortly.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal national team manager Carlos Quieroz has been fired by the Portugal
Football Federation following his six month ban for supposedly disrupting the nation's doping
agency from testing players before the World Cup. Ronaldo's league rival Argentine forward Lionel
Messi's interim national team coach Sergio Batista has been briefly extended by his homeland's
football federation.
The year 2010 has certainly not been a favorite of Carlos Quieroz. Even if some had higher
hopes, the World Cup run was met with the expected outcome for many Spain and then done but the
rest has seemingly been one mess after another.
There was the shoving match with a journalist at an airport in February, shortly followed by the
major saga in which he said mean things to anti-doping officials, who are seemingly the most
fragile people on earth.
Rumours are that Carlos Quieroz who surprised everyone by surviving the axe after Portugal's
dismal World Cup is most likely to be fired.
He has already been banned for a month by insulting anti-doping officials and is further in hot
water by alleging a conspiracy by FPF vice president Amandio de Carvalho to oust him.
This is David Villa's World Cup. Fernando Torres might have faded but Villa seems to be
relishing doing double duty.
An offside maybe but given the number of really bad calls already in the World Cup, this is not
so egregious. It all happens in a blink of an eye and Eduardo who had a stellar match was unable to
keep the ball away from Villa a second time.
Brazil and Portugal advanced from the group of death at the expense of Ivory Coast and newcomers,
North Korea. Portugal was aided by a unexpected 7-0 rout of the Chollimas and therefore built up an
unassailable goal advantage. It was never likely that Ivory Coast could emulate Portugal's feat but
they tried gallantly.
Finally, Carlos Quieroz is able to witness a performance that he must be extremely pleased about.
This could have been a potential banana skin for the immensely talented but unpredictable
Portuguese side. The last time these two sides met, Portugal won 5-3 at Goodison Park in the 1966
World Cup quarterfinal stage.
Carlos Quieroz believes that Didier Drogba received permission to wear a protective cast because
he is a superstar.
He is worried that wearing such a contraption could have proved harmful to the Portugese
players, i.e., it could potentially injure them. His complaints have no grounds.
At least one would expect that this match bristling with no mean sloths when it comes to scoring
goals would at the very least be anything but a goalless draw. But that is what it turned out to
be. It had its moments especially in the second half but there was no one to put an exclamation
mark.
Cristiano Ronaldo joined Leo Messi, Wayne Rooney, and Samuel Eto'o - all leading contenders for
the Golden Boot in drawing a blank.
Brazil must be absolutely loving the build-up to this World Cup. After all, Didier Drogba hurt
his arm a few days ago and news is breaking that Portugal and Manchester United winger Nani has
injured his collar bone in training while attempting an acrobatic kick and he will now be ruled out
of the entire World Cup.
Cristiano Ronaldo once again did not score but not because of the lack of trying. He got a
number of chances but failed to convert.
What must have heartened Carlos Quieroz was that Portugal was able to find goals from other
sources including two from Raul Miereles and the final goal by Nani.
Before the 1998 World Cup, US Soccer, advised by (future National Team coach?) Carlos Quieroz,Â
set the lofty goal of becoming a World Cup contender by 2010 a mere twelve years down the line.Â
Now that that deadline has passed, it's time to take a look at Project 2010, to determine its
success or failure.
Fantastic performance. By far Spains most complete at the World
Cup so far. Portugal set out to stem Spains passing in midfield, flood
the centre of the park, and break out on the counter in the sort of devastating fashion that saw
them flash seven past North Korea.
Un'altra delle possibili stelle del Mondiale, l'ala del
Manchester e del Portogallo, Nani, potrĂ
assistere alla competizione sudafricana da semplice spettatore.
Il talentuoso esterno, infatti, non ha superato il test decisivo per capire se c'era possibilitĂ
di recuperare dall'infortunio alla clavicola sinistra, procuratosi in allenamento,
prima di partire per il Sudafrica.
Recently, I had the chance to interview current Kansas City Wizards Manager and for player Peter
Vermes. Peter has a tremendous background in the game with a ton of experience as most of you
probably already know. I was always very interested to learn more about how Peter went from being a
U.S. international forward to a defender and then was still able to play for the national team.
