One has to wonder what Deco was thinking when he criticized manager Carlos Queiroz's tactics immediately following Portugal's exercise in futility against the Ivory Coast. Calling your coach out publicly is never in good form, but doing so on the biggest international stage for your sport is especially ludicrous.
Even if your comments were said "in the heat of the moment," as Deco later claimed his were, the resultant media furor surrounding the possibility of discord in your dressing room will become as great a distraction as if there were actual disunity. Heat of the moment or not, a veteran like Deco should know that the Portugal's chances diminish as the talk of them as a fractitious, fraught side increase. Disharmony off the pitch has a way of percolating on it and that is the last thing Portugal needs going into a must-win match against the well-organized North Koreans.
Not to be outdone in inane criticism of current coaching tactics, we have the Spanish, who, after their embarassing defeat at the hands of a defensive, if opportunistic Switzerland, had their former manager, Luis Aragones (of questionable motivating tactics and Euro 2008 noteriety) throw his ever illuminating two cents into the lot. Aragones was quoted as saying that "the better team didn't win, just the better organized one."
Well Louis, hate to break it to you but good organization seems to be the crucial criterion that separates the mediocre from the meteoric sides in any competition. To understand the premium put on pinpointing the appropriate formation for a side, you only have to look at the case of the English FA, which paid Fabio Cappello 9 million euros to reconceptulaize the Three Lions' formation (ed note: the fact that the impotent English cannot capitalize on their new organiational arrangements does not detract from the prime importance of such considerations). Bottom line: a well organized team is always the better team. The Swiss were well organized as were the Spanish, the essential difference is that the former were able to put their chances away.
Perhaps Luis should heed the wisdom of his former charge, Xavi Hernandez, the Euro 2008 player of the tournament and midfield maestro for Barcelona, who rightly noted that Spain wasn't "decisive enough around the goal" to win against Switzerland. Suffering under the severe misfortune of multiple missed opportunities, Spain became the seventh European Champion in in nine World Cups to lose its opening match. Where their Iberian neighbors, Portugal, didn't create many chances to begin with, Spain did not capitalize on their numerous opportunities in front of goal and are now in the uncomfortable position of having to win out to even hope to qualify for the knockout stages.
No comments:
Post a Comment