By Myles Palmer
The Sven documentary was on Sunday night and the Portugal game was on Saturday night.
I wondered : Could anybody radically improve England in the way that Big Phil Scolari has galvanised the pretty footballers of Portugal?
Not really. You can make ball-players tackle, but you can’t make tacklers skilful.
The Sven documentary on C4 was tabloid TV.
Quite intelligent, but it told us nothing new.
Just confirmed what I had figured out long ago : Sven-Goran Eriksson is a working playboy who came out of the dark,cold forest of Tromso and found that he liked sunshine, luxury and the Latin lifestyle, preferably in capital cities like Lisbon,Rome and London, where he can enjoy the dinner party circuit.
The film ended on a note of optimism, saying Sven might still win 2004 or 2006.
Dream on !
After the World Cup I said that Sven had to choose between playing Heskey and playing football.
And he chose Heskey.
Why? Because he doesn’t think England can play football.
Last week, when I was looking forward to Portugal-Brazil,to seeing Figo take on Roberto Carlos, I had forgotten that we were going out on Saturday night.
Went to a jolly 21st party at the Ukrainian Club, then came home and watched the video.
It was a perfect nightcap for that time when you’re in a good mood, but tired, slightly sozzled, not ready to go to bed .
An electrifying spectacle played in a monsoon.
No Figo (injured), Portugal chasing and tackling ferociously, Rui Costa covering every blade, some new faces, Costinha restored in the anchor role, Fernando Couto two yards quickerthan I’ve seen him in years.
It was utterly compelling.
I HAVE NEVER SEEN PORTUGAL PLAY SO AGGRESSIVELY, not since they butchered Pele in 1966.
After 8 minutes, Pauleta glided in to guide home a world class cross from Conceicao, after a short corner.
Pauleta is a beautifully balanced poacher.
Under-used at Deportivo, he has found true happiness at Bordeaux.
After that Ronaldo looked as old as Rivaldo, tackles flew,Gilberto was bruisingly competitive, crunching into Pauleta’s foot, wrestling player after player to the ground.
Rivaldo missed a sitter, Edmilson did risky stuff at the back,Roberto Carlos hit the bar twice.
Such fun to see so many evasive skills working on overdrive.
Ronaldinho is as bouncy as a gymnast and as strong as a welterweight champion.
He was pulling out all the stops, playing the football of abundance.
An abundance of cunning, an abundance of flair, an abundance of elasticity, an uncanny knack of stretching his body but also stretching moments of time, as he suspends opponents in their own indecision, freezing them as they try to read his varied deceptions.
Trying to get the ball off Ronaldinho is a nightmare because he can always put it where you can’t reach it, so you have to let him go or foul him.
He has been a star since scoring a stunning goal against Venezuela in the Copa America in 1999.
Ronaldinho is the most resourceful footballer now playing, a player who is a non-stop bubbling fountain of ideas.
He took on Simao and tangled just outside the box and played for the penalty and fell inside the box and got up to score sweetly, forcefully from the spot.
So it was 1-1 after 65 minutes.
Beautifully balanced with half an hour to go and Deco, the Porto playmaker, a naturalised Brazilian came on, and when Pauleta obstructed Roberto Carlos the Israeli ref waved play on and Portugal attacked and Rivaldo tracked back and clumsily tripped Deco, a silly challenge, since Deco had six gold shirts round him.
Whistle went, a melee, Carlos put his left shoulder into the chest of the ref, who was walking towards him.
So Roberto Carlos was sent off in 82.
Frustrated about the shots that hit the bar, still annoyed about the mild foul on him 30 seconds before, RC knew what he was doing and his body language admitted: I just made a mistake.
Any ref would have shown a red card.
Eventually, the free-kick was taken.
Deco fired a 20-yarder and the four-man wall jumped and the shot bounced and skidded past Marcos by his near post.
This 2-1 win was Portugal’s first victory over Brazil for 37 years.
Yes, Big Phil has transformed Portugal.
He has warned “the fat cats”.
His team has a new attitude, plenty of fire and steel.
Phil is turning Europe’s prettiest footballers into winners.
If they keep playing like this, Portugal can beat anybody.
ENGLAND had a training session in Liechtenstein and won 2-0.
Didn’t watch it, only saw the goals on the news.
Turkey have been in Sunderland since last Wednesday, so England needed a training session.
I know one thing: Big Phil would not play Kieron Dyer on the left, where he looks like a fish up a tree.
Phil would realise that Dyer is the nearest thing we have to Ronaldinho.
Jeffers and Jenas have been switched to the Under 21 game against Turkey.
Saw Ricardo Quaresma, the Sporting Lisbon kid, in Friday night’s game against England.
An inventive wonderboy, might be the new Figo.
It was 2-2 at half time and then Portugal scored two fantastic goals.
Quaresma cleverly squared a free-kick to Carlos Martins, who blasted in from 25 yards.
Then England got a corner but Portugal broke away in classic Arsenal fashion, end-to-end in seconds with three passes, and the skinny Cristiano Ronaldo made it 4-2.
Fergie wants the Q-boy and has Carlos Quieroz as his assistant.
But Quaresma is only 19. Surely he should stay at Sporting till after Euro 2004 ?
31st March 2003.