WC Semi-Finals: Portugal vs France [P]+[R]

[Virgo]

vs

vs

at Allianz Arena

Probable Lineups:

Portugal:

-----------Ricardo------------
Miguel-Meira-Carvalho-Valente
------Costinha-Maniche-------
Figo--------Deco------Ronaldo
-----------Pauleta------------

France:

----------Barthez-------------
Sagnol--Thuram--Gallas--Abidal
-------Vieira--Makelele--------
------------Zidane------------
Ribery------Henry------Malouda


All-time results:

2001/04/25 - International Friendly - France 4-0 Portugal
2000/06/28 - Euro 2000 Semi-Finals (Belgium/Holland) - Portugal 1-1 (1-2 aet) France
1997/01/22 - International Friendly - Portugal 0-2 France
1996/01/24 - International Friendly - France 3-2 Portugal
1984/06/23 - Euro 1984 Semi-Finals (France) - France 1-1 (3-2 ap) Portugal
1983/02/16 - International Friendly - Portugal 0-3 France
1978/03/08 - International Friendly - France 2-0 Portugal
1975/04/26 - International Friendly - France 0-2 Portugal
1973/03/03 - International Friendly - France 1-2 Portugal
1959/11/11 - International Friendly - France 5-3 Portugal
1957/03/24 - International Friendly - Portugal 0-1 France
1952/04/20 - International Friendly - France 3-0 Portugal
1947/11/23 - International Friendly - Portugal 2-4 France
1947/03/23 - International Friendly - France 1-0 Portugal
1946/04/14 - International Friendly - Portugal 2-1 France
1940/01/28 - International Friendly - France 3-2 Portugal
1930/02/23 - International Friendly - Portugal 2-0 France
1929/03/24 - International Friendly - France 2-0 Portugal
1928/04/29 - International Friendly - France 1-1 Portugal
1927/03/16 - International Friendly - Portugal 4-0 France
1926/04/18 - International Friendly - France 4-2 Portugal

 

[ShearerM4]

FORCA FORCA, FORCA PORTUGAL !!!

 

[Num Lock]

France:

----------Barthez-------------
Sagnol--Thuram--Gallas--Abidal
-------Vieira--Makelele--------
------------Zidane------------
Malouda-----Henry-------Ribery


[/QUOTE]


Flo would never start on the right swap Ribéry with Malouda :jambo:

 

[Virgo]

done but they switch a lot throughout the game so...

 

[MaSsiVe]

FORCA FORCA, FORCA PORTUGAL !!!

please man, not the gallows



I hope we finally beat them in a major tournament, at least Xavier won't be there to f'ck our chances up this time


2-1 for us with Deco, Ronaldo and Zidane in the scoresheet.


Hoping it's a great match for everyone to watch

 

[theo]

Should be an entertaining match, I expect Portugal to win this one.
Simao with the winner in the second half of extra time after replacing Figo at the score of 2-2. Pretty excentric, huh?

 

[smoove]

ohh my, I can't wait for wednesday, the game's played 5km from my house and our squad is training in the local stadium 300m from my house...

I won't make a prediction but I want us to win this so badly...i'll be home in lisbon the day after the final and here's hoping for some celebrations

 

[Madeira]

This is our chance; I'm extremely proud of our NT and what they have accomplished thus far. Should be an entertaining match.

I predict a 1-0 win for Portugal; Maniche to score.

Good luck to France.

 

[MaSsiVe]

Good luck to France.

that wasn't necessary....

 

[Dreath]

I thought Carvalho was banned, 2 yellows?

 

[Virgo]

I thought Carvalho was banned, 2 yellows?

nah only one against England, the other one was in the group stages.

 

[Tiago_10]

I thought Carvalho was banned, 2 yellows?

I really hope he isn't. He's been one of our most important players. That single fact would cost Portugal the match already.

And yeah Massive, ate least Xavier won't be there.
Still, let's hope Costinha doesn't repeat the "joke" from last game.

 

[MaSsiVe]

Costinha's gonna behave, he knows how retarded that handball was and fully regrets it.


nice quote on your sig btw

 

[Tiago_10]

heh, it's a classic already :amika:

Credits to kaycee2g.

 

[jumbo]

Every match with Portugal = one or both teams ends at least 1 man down

 

[::shinji::]

if France play like they did against Brazil, then we'll lose....if they play like they did in round one then we have a good chance.

For Portugal, France is one of those teams we never seem to do well against, even when we play well. This WC seems to prove that history really does repeat itself, wouldn't surprise me to have a repeat result of the Euro2000 semi..

 

[NightCrawler]

I still have that Euro 2000 game stuck in my throat... I think every Portuguese fan feels the same way...

In the group stage France sucked big time, they had to work hard in the game against Togo to pass. But it seems they're wide awake now. Didn't expect them overcome Spain but they did. And they manage to pass Brazil as well.

I guess Portugal's overall performance is superior. We managed to qualify the group stage with a clean sheet. We overcame Holland and still managed to pass England despite the abscence of our playmaker and all those yellows (thank you Ricardo once again...)

We will be facing a team with the best (in my view) defensive midfielders in the world Makelele and Vieira, let's not talk about Zidane's performance so far, I think he amazed everyone with those last 2 games. France also has one of the best striker duo in the World Henry and Trezeguet, I couldn't yet figure out why does Domenech bench him...

Now for our problems... Again in my view, Meira is to clumsy to play against Henry, he only needs a bit of space to score and we can't afford any mistakes. ValentO is to slow for both of France's wingers. I think Ferreira is more skilled to play against fast guys. We saw what happened to ValentO when Lennon came out...
The midfield is gonna be really hard, we need Deco in the best form possible and Costinha too, let's see what Maniche can do with a little more freedom that Petit didn't gave him in the game against England. Again we need to overcome that wall in front of the defence...
We lack a good striker... I'm quite certain that Scolari will insist in Pauleta and he stinks. Maybe he'll let Gomes play in the second half
Really hope he wont make one of those Pauleta OUT Simão IN moves even if we're winning, which we weren't against England.

Let's see what our boys can do. With a bit of luck maybe we can get there.

 

[MaSsiVe]

what's with "ValentO" ?

 

[$teauA]

I want France to win for Zidane but I want Portugal to win for Figo . This is probably gonna end up going to penalties after a tight 0-0 120 minutes (reverse psychology....). I'm really hoping for a cracker though, I'm tired of all these tight games. I want Portugal to score one early, like first 10 minutes. That would get the French all attack minded and would definitely open up play.

I'll be happy with either team in the final although my likeness for Zidane is making me root for France a little bit. Good luck to both

 

[Callum]

I hope france wins, I have been hoping for them to play up to their abilities and they have done the last 2 games, Zidane will not france lose, he really wants this world cup, you can just tell.

2-0 france

ribery henry.