The opening quarter final sees Portugal take on Czech Republic and for me Ronaldo & his fellow team mates will take their place in the semi finals after 90 minutes of football
Portugal only started playing against Germany when they fell a goal down and were unfortunate not to snatch a late draw. They then cruised to a 2-0 advantage over Denmark before becoming complacent and letting their opponents back to 2-2 before snatching a late winner. Finally they fell behind to one of the hot pre tournament favourites Holland before moving up the gears and winning the game comfortably 2-1 and for me they look like a team capable of making a serious assault on this title
As for the Czech Republic well quite frankly I'm not convinced and I feel they were very fortunate to progress past the group stages following their opening round 4-1 defeat at the hands of Russia who somehow managed to get themselves knocked out at the group stages. The Czech's then won 2 very tight games 1-0 to finish on 6 points and progress to this stage but those wins over Poland & Greece were far from impressive and the Portuguese are a much superior outfit to either of those 2 sides
For me Portugal have underachieved for many years but this current group of players have an excellent blend of experience, youth and most importantly world class players. Ronaldo is the obvious figure head of the team but players such as Pepe, Nani, & Coentrao all like the limelight and will thrive on a stage such as this and I feel their opponents just don't have the same quality players available to them and I think Portugal will triumph in this one. I also feel that Czech's are predictable with their attacking play and a little slow at the back so I expect Portugal to punish this severely if presented with opportunities and they could well run riot if they hit the front early
Portugal to win is my pick here... Good Luck
Portugal only started playing against Germany when they fell a goal down and were unfortunate not to snatch a late draw. They then cruised to a 2-0 advantage over Denmark before becoming complacent and letting their opponents back to 2-2 before snatching a late winner. Finally they fell behind to one of the hot pre tournament favourites Holland before moving up the gears and winning the game comfortably 2-1 and for me they look like a team capable of making a serious assault on this title
As for the Czech Republic well quite frankly I'm not convinced and I feel they were very fortunate to progress past the group stages following their opening round 4-1 defeat at the hands of Russia who somehow managed to get themselves knocked out at the group stages. The Czech's then won 2 very tight games 1-0 to finish on 6 points and progress to this stage but those wins over Poland & Greece were far from impressive and the Portuguese are a much superior outfit to either of those 2 sides
For me Portugal have underachieved for many years but this current group of players have an excellent blend of experience, youth and most importantly world class players. Ronaldo is the obvious figure head of the team but players such as Pepe, Nani, & Coentrao all like the limelight and will thrive on a stage such as this and I feel their opponents just don't have the same quality players available to them and I think Portugal will triumph in this one. I also feel that Czech's are predictable with their attacking play and a little slow at the back so I expect Portugal to punish this severely if presented with opportunities and they could well run riot if they hit the front early
Portugal to win is my pick here... Good Luck
