Portugal NT Player Call-up

[untxi.livejournal.com]

Paulo Bento, the Portuguese National Team manager, announced this afternoon in Óbidos, Portugal the list of the 23 players who will travel to Ukraine and Poland this summer and play in Euro 2012.

GOALKEEPERS

Rui Pedro dos Santos Patrício


Eduardo dos Reis Carvalho


António Alberto 'Beto' Bastos Pimparel



DEFENDERS

Bruno Eduardo Regufe Alves


Fábio Alexandre da Silva Coentrão


João Pedro da Silva Pereira


Képler Laveran 'Pepe' Lima Ferreira


Rolando Jorge Pires da Fonseca


Ricardo Miguel Moreira da Costa


Hugo Miguel Almeida Costa Lopes



MIDFIELDERS

Carlos Jorge Neto Martins


João Filipe Iria Santos Moutinho


Miguel Luís Pinto Veloso


Raul José Trindade Meireles


Rúben Micael Freitas Ressurreição


Custódio Miguel Dias de Castro



FORWARDS

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro


Hugo Miguel Pereira de Almeida


Hélder Manuel Marques Postiga


Luís Carlos 'Nani' Almeida da Cunha


Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo


Silvestre Manuel Gonçalves Varela


Nélson Miguel Castro Oliveira



Some more information about the Selecção das Quinas in Euro 2012...

We're in Group B, arguably the most difficult one and already called the 'group of death', along with Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.

The first game will be against Germany on June 9.
The second game will be against Denmark on June 13.
The third game will be against the Netherlands on June 17.

And finally, Portugal's main and alternative kits, respectively...



---

Alright, just a few final things...
I decided to make this post in order to see if I could sway some of you - at least those who are still allegiance-free or whose respective National Teams will not be playing this summer (sorry about that by the way, if thats the case...) - into supporting Portugal.
Now, I know we're not exactly Spain looks-wise, but we're still pretty damn cool and hopefully this will finally be our year (ok, now I'm sounding just like the Liverpool supporter that I am...).
Anyway, hope at least some of you enjoy the post!
(Oh, and yeah, we have really looooooong names, I know...)

Comments

[ziphertis.livejournal.com]

Ugh, that group.

Like, I'm Dutch, so obviously I'll be supporting Holland above all others, but I really like Germany and Portugal too! I don't want either of them to go out in the group stage! But one of them has to! This tournament is already stressing me out.

[ziphertis.livejournal.com]

my teams are: portugal, netherlands, germany

Well hello friend. I have the same problem. Totally already posted this upthread, but am posting it again because this is going to be shit. Did you list those in order of preference? ;)

[untxi.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I know. Me too, and it hasn't even started yet!
And that's the best case scenario... Because the worst case scenario has only one of those 3 going through (along with Denmark). I think it would take a catastrophe for that to happen, but still - the stress!

(YOUR ICON DOES THINGS TO ME)

[yukimeru.livejournal.com]

The names of the kings are the bestest XD those really do go on forever

I should be used to long names since, well, I live in Brazil and there are plenty of portuguese people here so it's pretty common to see giant names too. But I still laugh everytime!

[yukimeru.livejournal.com]

I'm glad my NT is Brazil so I can watch the euros as a neutral and have a lot of fun seeing everyone going nuts 8D *popcorn.gif*
I have a soft spot for the Netherlands though, so let's see what will come of it.

also, yaaaay for you not liking Spain! I'm not alone in this world woohoo \o/

[untxi.livejournal.com]

Spain's provisional squad has just been announced - 21 players from every club excluding Chelsea, Barça and Athletic (who still have one game to play).

As much fun as I'd have selecting each of the players' pictures (and I'd have a loooooot of fun, believe me!), I won't do Spain! It just took me too damn long to make this post yesterday, no bloody way in hell I'll do that again the next day. Not even for Spain. :p

[untxi.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected!

Damn, the ones you mentioned really are shooooort! I mean, all of them are 1.70m or less... I guess I selectively excluded them from my mind whenever I thought of the Spanish NT collective hotness because I find none of those attractive, haha!

Cesc's height is the minimum for me, as I'm exactly as tall as him, but I usually prefer taller men. Which is funny, because Cesc is like the hottest of the hot as far I'm concerned - and that's in spite of club allegiances, because I'm quite Real Madrid-leaning (even though I'm not an actual through and through supporter). I feel almost ashamed of my little obsession, really. I mean, Xabi is objectively better than him in pretty much every aspect, but still. Cesc. Ugh.

[marsyke.livejournal.com]

Nice post! I don't follow the Portuguese league very close, so I don't know them very well, so I least I know their names now.
I had friends who supported Portugal in the 2004, 2006, ... tournaments because they are so good looking. :)
Now people here support Spain (for Barcelona and stuff) and the Netherlands because they are our neighbours and a lot of Belgians play in the Dutch league (we are also jealous of their success), but I never really liked them so I'll cheer for Portugal to get second place in the group. (after Germany, my one and true football love.)

Moutinho can get in mants though, definitely a hottie

[sierragutierrez.livejournal.com]

They do that in Catalunya too! :O

Sierra Francesca María Gutiérrez Aveiro i Soler

Abuela (from Mama) is María, from her papa's mama is Gutierrez and her papa's papa Aveiro.
My Abuela (from Papa) is Francesca, Soler is my papa's name from his papa.
Sierra/Serra is mine, from the Spanish/Catalan for mountain range - as my family are from the Mountains.

Your parents were sensible, not wusses! XD

Aaand I'm rooting for Spain and Portugal, see 'Aveiro'? My Abuelo was half Portuguese, and he taught me to speak it :)

[lady-teazle.livejournal.com]

"Real" men is my way of saying they're not all male model handsome, shaved, and primped, etc., and they don't spend their off hours doing GQ fashion shoots, etc. :D Many a Germany squad - not to mention quite a few other NTs - look more like suspect line-ups down at the police station, tbh. XD

[marwa-m.livejournal.com]

idc about any nts but i'm supporting portugal for the euro

[untxi.livejournal.com]

Sorry for barging in on the conversation, but as a part Spanish Portuguese girl who's also rooting for Portugal and Spain (in that order) I must say - CHEERS!! ;)

The 'story' of your name is beautiful - I wish mine was as meaningful as yours! Mine is not quite as long (only 4 names, 2 first and 2 last), but the last and main one (from my father) is a Portuguese-friendly version of a Spanish name (meaning, they switched the ñ for a nh). It's not very common even in Spain, but someone told me it means 'cherry tree' in some Spanish regions.

My father got it from his mother, who is Gallega and had to escape the country during the war, and then settled in the North of Portugal. Coincidentally, his only living brother has been living in Barcelona for ages. Also coincidentally, I'm originally from the district of Aveiro (not from the city itself, but my native town is administratively tied to it).

So like I said, cheers!! XD

PS - Soler? You're not by any means related to that former Arsenal/current Barcelona player who, once again, coincidentally also shares that name... right?

[forlond.livejournal.com]

Nice post, I could use similar introduction squad posts for other teams.

I am allegiance-free as you put it but I'm gonna have fun watching Portugal, Spain and idk, maybe Czech, them being our neighbours and stuff. And maybe France to see if they selfdestruct as in WC.

[untxi.livejournal.com]

So could I, apart from Portugal - Spain - Italy - England - Germany, I don't know half the team members from all the other national teams.

maybe Czech, them being our neighbours and stuff
I wasn't even aware they were playing, to be honest! What group are they in? I remember the days when they were one of the national sides everyone feared playing against, when Nedved was still playing... ~good times

And maybe France to see if they selfdestruct as in WC
I'd love to see that again, but sadly I don't think that will happen. Blanc is no Domenech, and from what I've been hearing the squad is looking pretty decent nowadays... But who knows, maybe we'll have another 'coup de théatre' from good old France. ;)

[untxi.livejournal.com]

But but but...! A big part of the German squad actually look puh-ree-tee damn good in a GQ spread. ;) And I still remember that Strenesse photoshoot... oh, the memories.

But in all seriousness, I agree with you. The amount of model-handsome men in Spanish football nowadays is incredible. And then when you actually go to Spain looking for a fine specimen for yourself, you're left extremely disappointed - the guys in the street, they're all, like... normal! ;)

I think there's something evil going on in La Roja, Faust style. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense! :p

[taperkat.livejournal.com]

EEEWWWWWWWWWWW PORTO NOOOOOO. j/kj/k. Kind of. ;)

Other leagues for me : Villarreal, Real Madrid, Swansea, Fiorentina.. are you on Twitter at all? :) I tweet endlessly.

I'm actually 100% American (mom's side came over in 1732!) believe it or not. But I am drawn to Portugal. Even learning the language. It takes me about 30 minutes to read an abola article, but I don't let myself look up more than 20 words in any article now. :)

Only thing I can think of with some of the callups is that Bento wants yes men, not men who will talk back (ie: Bosingwa). And some of these choices are those.

It's really sad about the defense tbh. Pepe almost ruined my RM season for me. I hope he goes to a team I don't like and I don't have to see him. =[

[taperkat.livejournal.com]

ALSO LET US NOT FORGET WE ARE NOW 5TH OVERALL IN THE WORLD AND NOT FRANCE NOT LIGUE 1. PORTUGAL IS #5 AND I'M PROUD OF THAT :3 and i might just throw it around a bit too much

[untxi.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :) That was part of the idea, since I know the Portuguese League doesn't have much projection abroad. So introducing the boys to you is merely step one of my machiavelian plan for world domin... attempt of swaying people into supporting us!

You know, I wish I could see it. I really do. The attractiveness of the Portuguese players, I mean. Because I love them, but for some strange reason I have this inate, complete inability of finding them even the least attractive! I don't know why, it's always been like this. There has never been one single Portuguese player I've ever fancied. (Now André Villas-Boas, on the other hand...)

Speaking of neighbouring countries, the Portuguese and the Spanish also have a long-lasting, strong love/hate relationship. I know many people who I think would support Spain if Portugal was eliminated, but I also know many who'd say 'I'd rather die than'. I'd be really curious to know if the same happens the other way around, I mean, if the Spanish would support us if they were no longer in the tournament or if they'd rather support a completely different country out of old pride.

I see Moutinho is getting a lot of love around here. ;)

[zparklemotion.livejournal.com]

Since my own country (Norway) once again proved absolutely woeful and failed to qualify I guess I'll be supporting Portugal and Cristiano :3

And in Scandinavian solidarity I'll be rooting for Sweden and Denmark (in that order lol).

[forlond.livejournal.com]

They're in Group A with Poland, Greece and Russia. They're our eternal rivals (us - Slovakia - being the younger sibling in this rivalry) so it will be with a side order of schadenfreude if they don't go through ;D

Do they still have that fabulous black and white striped kit? Kitten of war from my icon looked good in that.

[untxi.livejournal.com]

That's ok, I sort of reacted the same way when I read you support Benfica. ;) It's all fine though, we both know hating Porto or Benfica comes with the jersey we pick. No way around it.

YES. I DO. Since not very long, but I've been wanting some friends 'cause, you know, Tweeter is fine and all, but tweeting can get kind of boring when all you see is football-related news you can't share with anyone, plus the odd tweet from random-footballer-number-27 who will never answer you back regardless of how witty you think your reply was. So, the username is @Elllipsis (with 3 L's).

That's amazing, that you were able to trace your roots that far back! And I completely understand, origins are super important. Even if you've never been there in your life, something just draws you to it. Congrats on learning Portuguese, I know it's not easy! (And of course you read 'A Bola', you total Benfiquista, you! :p)

Haha, yes men, love that expression! But I agree, he doesn't want his authority to be questioned - which I respect and understand, since lack of authority/firmness/respect was what undermined us under Queiroz.

I wouldn't say he almost ruined it for me, but yeah, Pepe isn't exactly my favourite person in the world either. Did you see the party though??? It was *perfection*!!
Oh, and I'm really sorry about Villareal btw. :( That was so dramatic, I really feel for the fans and players. And to think Zaragoza stayed up amidst all that corruption... nothing against the club or the fans, but Agapito Iglesias is a despicable man.
Other sides I really like (though I wouldn't exactly consider myself a fan, not yet anyway) are pretty much all the Basque teams in La Liga (especially Athletic and Real Sociedad), and Sampdoria in Serie B. And I didn't mention it before because it's such a small and unknown club from a regional league in Portugal that absolutely no one will know it, but it's super important for me as it was the first team I've ever supported (because of my father) and the first stadium I've ever went to - Clube Futebol União de Lamas. It's also the only club I'd support above Porto, which is saying REALLY, REALLY A LOT.

[untxi.livejournal.com]

Haha, absolutely LOVE rivalries! They're one of the best things in football (when done right).

No idea! I haven't seen them play in ages, so I really don't know what their kits look like right now.

[untxi.livejournal.com]

Wow, I didn't mean to write you an essay... Sorry about that. =/

[taperkat.livejournal.com]

Totally added you. :) (@myrla_cat)

I haven't seen the RM party yet. I was way, way too crushed by relegation. Still am, actually....

don't even get me started about zaragoza. Their goalie.... is Roberto. Yeah. Frango Roberto, of Benfica, last season. HOW THE HELL DID THEY PAY 8M FOR HIM?!

he's still screwing my season up .. him and Falcao... EVEN NOW FOR ANOTHER TEAM IN ANOTHER LEAGUE SLDFKJSDLKFJDF *headbash*

I know of União de Lamas! .. the name! and.. that's about it. I now have teams in the top 3 leagues since Portimonense just got relegated... though if they change top flight, I'm not sure how that will work.. or if Leiria goes bankrupt, which it feels like they will.. or... ah, Portuguese footy is always exciting.

I READ RECORD TOO. Just abola is more relevant to my interests, tee hee :P

[yeats.livejournal.com]

excuse you.