It is the final roll of the dice for Portugal as their talisman Ronaldo will be looking to guide his squad against an extremely talented US. PHOTO: AFP
Lingering doubts about the fitness of world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo have left Portugal in disarray ahead of their World Cup Group E clash with the US in the early hours of Monday.
Already reeling from a crushing 4-0 defeat to Germany in their opener, Portugal face almost certain elimination if they lose to the US, and their superstar not being 100% fit is a major concern.
Their preparation for the game could not be going much worse. Although the Portugal camp insists the Real Madrid forward is fit, Ronaldo has been seen sporting an ice pack on his knee at training sessions and leaving early as his teammates continued to train, while he was far from his scintillating best against the Germans.
But forward Helder Postiga was adamant that too much is being read into an ice pack.
“I personally think that the Ronaldo talk is a bit too much, so I imagine how he must be feeling about that,” said Postiga.
But Ronaldo is just one of Portugal’s problems as they will be missing several other players.
Real centre-back Pepe has been suspended for one match after his red card against Germany for head-butting Thomas Mueller.
Fabio Coentrao has been ruled out of the tournament with a torn thigh muscle, while forward Hugo Almeida has a pulled hamstring and reserve goalkeeper Rui Patricio pulled a thigh muscle.
It is hardly the ideal preparation to face buoyant US, who began their campaign with a last-gasp 2-1 win over Ghana, avenging defeats to the Black Stars at the last two World Cups. Yet Portugal coach Paulo Bento believes that his side are simply better than their opponents.
“The best version of Portugal can beat the US,” said Bento. “We respect them as a very good team.
“They have grown up over the last years so we have to respect them. But we believe in ourselves, we believe in our work, in our quality, so we have to be responsible, we have to be in the best condition to win this match and we believe it.”
Dark horses Belgium face Capello’s Russia
Having come from behind to beat Algeria in their opening game, Belgium can reach the World Cup knockout phase by beating Russia at Rio de Janeiro’s fabled Maracana on Sunday.
Marc Wilmots’ ‘golden generation’ looked destined to make a meek entrance into the tournament after falling behind to a Sofiane Feghouli penalty in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday, but late goals from substitutes Marouane Fellaini and Dries Mertens got them off to a winning start.
With Russia having been held 1-1 by South Korea in their Group H opener, the last-16 is already within sight for Belgium, who are seen as dark horses to win the tournament after being unbeaten throughout qualification. Belgium centre-back Nicolas Lombaerts knows better than most what to expect from Fabio Capello’s side, and he expects his teammates to have a physical edge.
“Capello places lots of importance on organisation,” said the 29-year-old. “We’ll have to pay attention on the turnovers. Russia are not very physical. Our size should be an advantage.”
Meanwhile, Algeria will be looking to have some hope alive after their 2-1 defeat to Belgium, as they face South Korea in a match that can potentially end their World Cup run.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 22nd, 2014.
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