Portugal versus Argentina, international friendly, preview
Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal are gunning to take on Lionel Messi’s Argentina in what will be a mouth watering encounter at Stade de Genève in Switzerland.
The venue for the match is hosted by a neutral country but the encounter is anything but a peaceful one. Portugal comes in to the match in fantastic form under their new manager, as they are unbeaten under Paulo Bento’s guardianship thus far.
However, Portugal’s results have not been that spectacular as they have drawn two of their last five matches. Nonetheless, Portugal did achieve a relatively comfortable victory over Spain in their last international friendly encounter.
It was a morale boosting victory for the Iberian giants over their continental neighbours as the World Champions were played off the park.
The vibes surfacing from Portugal's camp before the match are modest to say the least. Several players have come out in the media and stated Portugal’s intent to win in Switzerland against Argentina. Whereas others have touted up the idea of using the tie
as a practice encounter for their EURO 2012 qualification campaign in March, 2011.
A war of words has already been initiated before the match, as Portugal’s midfielder, Danny, stated in his recent interview, “Argentina are one of the best national teams on the planet but we are at the same level. We've come to Switzerland to win the match.
We know they are tough rivals and have some of the best players in the world playing at the best teams in the world. Ronaldo and Messi are different players, but to me Ronaldo is the best".
Argentina
Argentina’s camp has been all about Lionel Messi in the lead up to this marquee tie against Portugal in Geneva. Messi has been in spectacular form for Barcelona in the Spanish Primera Division but will he reproduce the same form for the South American giants
on the international arena?
Argentina has been in a good run of form as well.
After their humbling defeat to the German national team in the quarter finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Sergio Batista took over as the Argentinean national team coach following the exit of Diego Maradona.
At first, Sergio’s appointment was met with some resistance but players have now made their peace with the 1986 World Cup winner.
Out of their last five international matches, Batista’s Argentina have won three, but the other two have ended in defeats for the South American giants.
Additionally in their last international match, Argentina defeated their arch continental rivals, Brazil, in a thrilling encounter thanks to a last minute Lionel Messi strike.
Sergio Batista has been speaking about Cristiano Ronaldo in his pre-match notes. When the Argentinean manager was asked about a possible man-marking approach to deal with Ronaldo’s pace, he stated:
"I don't like to set one player to mark another one wherever he goes on the field. My teams are not used to doing that. I don't even know whether Ronaldo will play on the right or left side. What I can say is that the player who will mark him will have to
be very experienced”.
Team news
Argentina’s squad has some noticeable absentees in the shape of Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez. At the back Walter Samuel is also excluded from the squad, which is scheduled to face Portugal.
However, Lionel Messi is fit and ready for the match from Argentina’s side. Di Maria has also been selected by Batista alongside Palermo’s young playmaker, Javier Pastore.
Expected line-up: Sergio Romero, Javier Zanetti, Nicolas Burdisso, Ezequiel Garay, Marcos Rojo; Ever Banega, Javier Pastore, Esteban Cambiasso; Lionel Messi, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Angel Di María
Portugal, on the other hand, are equipped with an almost fully fit squad with the exception of Pepe and Carvalho. Real Madrid’s defensive lynch pins miss out due to fitness issues.
Therefore, it is expected that Rolando and Bruno Alves will start for the semi-finalists of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Up front, Bento might opt for an attacking line up of Quaresma, Ronaldo and Nani.
Raul Meireles, Liverpool’s goal scoring midfielder is also the Portuguese squad courtesy of his fantastic form for the Reds in the English Premier League.
Expected line-up: Eduardo, Bosingwa, Bruno Alves, Rolando, Fabio Coentrao, Miguel Veloso, Raul Meireles, Joao Moutinho, Ricardo Quaresma, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Nani
Key Players
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the players to watch out for in this match without a doubt. Both have been in competition in the Spanish Primera Division but their tussle goes beyond that.
In the UEFA Champions League, Messi and Ronaldo are two of the highest scorers in the competition as well. At the FIFA 2010 World Cup, the duo failed to lead their respective teams past the early knockout stages of the tournament. It is once again a matter
of Ronaldo versus Messi as the showdown in Geneva nears initiation.
Prediction
Argentina do have Messi and Pastore in their ranks but lack of a target man in conventional terms puts them at a huge disadvantage. Portugal have a formidable attacking line up and midfield thus they are the favourites to nick this one by an odd goal.
Predicted score line: 1-0 to Portugal.
The views expressed by the writers are his own and do not reflect the editorial policy of
http://www.bettor.com/
Tags: