Portugal - Albania
Despite being within touching distance of group leaders Denmark, Portugal will be fairly disappointed with their start to the qualifying campaign. Of most concern will be the fact that they lost their first home game 2-3 to Denmark, thereby heaping unnecessary pressure on the squad for the road ahead. Additionally, the frontline, while full of fancy tricks, looked short on finishing quality against Sweden on Saturday, and will need to improve against a gutsy Albanian side.
On paper, however, Portugal are by far the strongest side in the group. Of course, tired old clichés about games being played on paper come to mind, but Portugal should realistically have enough quality to claim a playoff place, at the very least, by the end of the campaign. The fact that players like Quaresma and Danny were on the bench against Sweden, not to mention injured players like Deco, Carvalho, Maniche and Simao in reserve, indicates the Portugal have far more depth than their rivals.
After two games, Albania were indulging in delusions of grandeur after finding themselves top of the group, but a 2-0 loss away to Hungary sent them plummeting to fifth position, albeit on the same points as Hungary and Portugal above them. Still, they would certainly have taken four points from three games if offered beforehand.On Wednesday night, however, the Albanians face their most crucial match of the campaign. If they can scrape a draw, or even put in a respectable performance in defeat, it will prove to the rest of the group that they are there to compete. If the Portuguese attacking pressure overwhelms them, it will be a major blow to confidence and alert the other sides that they can be bullied. In reality, Albania do not have enough depth to seriously challenge for a qualification place, but they are more than capable of ruining other team’s campaigns.
Portugal
Portugal are missing the considerable experience of Ricardo Carvalho, Maniche, Simao, and most significantly Deco, whose absence was certainly felt in Sweden. The only change to the starting line-up could come in the form of Danny or Quaresma replacing Nani.
Probable Starting X1 – Quim- Bosingwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Paulo Ferreira – Meira, Meireles, Moutinho – Danny, Ronaldo, Almeida
Albania
Despite their loss to Hungary, it was an encouraging performance and it is hard to see Albania making any changes to their line-up in such a short space of time.
Probable Starting X1 - Beqaj – Beqiri, Vengelli, Dallku, Curri – Cana, Agolli, Duro, Skela – Lala, Bogdani
Portugal can't make any mistakes. I think they will win at least with 2 gols difference.
posted by Midnight Sun @ 22:33,
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