Leading up to Euro 2008 the Portuguese press has been enamored with questioning every move that Luiz Felipe Scolari has made leading up to the tournament. Who will play up front? Is the one striker system outdated? Is Ricardo still fit to be the number one goalie? All these lingering questions have demonstrated a shift in opinion towards the Brazilian boss.
On the road to Euro 2004 the Portuguese faithful were thrilled to have Scolari at the helm. An entire nation wanted to erase the memory of the disastrous 2002 World Cup disappointment. With Euro 2004 being the first major football tournament hosted in Portugal it was of the utmost importance to ensure that recent history did not repeat itself. With Scolari leading Portugal to their first ever major tournament final that it did not. Due to the success two years previous, in 2006 a quiet confidence started to set in among the Portuguese football fans. Many of the international media predictions had Portugal succumbing to defeat against either Holland or Argentina in the second round. The Portugese press however stood behind Scolari, championing the team he selected not to mention the man himself.
In this modern age of football where coaches are mere mercenaries switching jobs like Guus Hiddink, Scolari is a refreshing change. He didn’t leave in quest for a bigger pay day. He could of coached England with millions more in his bank account but stayed faithful to a country that he can’t even call his own. How many other coaches at the end of their contract would turn down such a high profile job out of commitment to his current team. He felt that he wouldn’t coach the Portuguese team effectively knowing that he would have a new job at the end of the tournament? Scolari may of ended up coaching against the English team that he’d be leaving for. In that situation how could a coach look his players in the eye and tell them to beat a team that in a matter of weeks he’d be coaching for?
That faith is now not being repaid back to Scolari which is disconcerting to the Portugese football faithful. The fans are now longing for the days where we, as Ruud Gullit termed it, “played sexy football.” The 90’s was a decade of unfulfilled promise in Portuguese football. Portugal was going into the decade with so much promise coming off the heels of back to back youth world cups championships lead by the likes of Luis Figo and Rui Costa. When it was time to break into the world’s stage at the senior level Portugal came up just short repeatedly with only a second round defeat in Euro 1996 to show for an entire decade. It’s one thing to create jaw dropping moments in a game against Luxembourg. But when pushed to the next level where teams have to grind out a result against the Italy’s or Germany’s of the world, Portugal fell short. That changed in Euro 2004 when Scolari’s men edge out Spain in a hard fought 1-0 victory and advancing to the final eight. Previous Portuguese teams would of wilted under that pressure.
Fast forward to the recent Euro 2008 qualifying. Portugal never got going in the qualifying campaign with a defeat against Poland and a draw versus Finland at the start. After playing in the biggest game of their lives a couple of months earlier in the World Cup Semi Finals versus France, a let down is bound to happen when playing on the road against Finland and Poland with all due respect to those teams. In the middle of qualifying Scolari got suspending for throwing a punch to Serbia’s Ivica Dragutinovic. To couple that effect, teams now gear up for Portugal since beating a World Cup semi finalist is an impressive feat to accomplish. Portugal no longer sneaks up on teams, they are now considered part of the football elite due in no small part to Scolari’s accomplishments.
Sometimes we the fans of the Portugal National Team take for granted the success of the last four years. A period that has seen Portugal grow in stature in the eyes of the football public. Scolari has had to deal with criticism over Portugal’s lack luster Euro 2008 qualifying campaign that saw them finish second behind Poland and only barely able to clinch their spot on the last day in a 0-0 tie against Finland.
While it made for a nervous 90 minutes the end result would have been the same be it a 5-0 win or 0-0 draw. Scolari crafted a smart game plan utilizing his remaining roster to maximum effect. With first choice defenders Ricardo Carvalho and Jorge Andrade injured, Scolari gave Pepe his first start for the national team pairing him up with former Porto team mate Bruno Alves to go along with another Porto defender in Jose Bosingwa. Having three players in the back four that are used to playing together was key in holding a Finland team in check. The fact that it was not an epic performance hasn’t pleased many in the press who still dream of the days where Portugal would win with style, but never after the opening round. It may be the end of an era for Scolari after Euro 2008, but to paraphrase the Joni Mitchell song, some people don’t know what they’ve got ’til its gone.
