USA v Portugal (Group G) Sunday 22nd June

[Johnny Canuck3]

That's a bit harsh I think. Twenty years ago, perhaps. They're decent side now, and in the World Cup on merit.

They play well enough; but they don't look like a demographic of the US population.

 

[Silva]

Eder was shocking too.

In terms of Ronaldo, his twat quotient is off the scale. It's a bit like in athletics when they have to occasionaly redesign the javelin because it gets thrown too far. The atmosphere in the Portugese camp must be awful with the utter contempt he displays for this team mates. Strange thing, maybe I was bewitched when he was an MU player, I do like to see him play well. He's a mess though now, even his free kicks are in the stands.

I think Eder can be worked into a decent striker, but at 26, I don't expect him to do a lot more than being a huge physical presence in the box - there was a play where he jammed both a CD and MD, but Nani couldn't hit a through pass in space. He could have done more with a rebound, but Howard made a highlight reel save there.

Ronaldo, when in form, is nearly unstoppable. But when he hits a slump, he's a negative presence of the field. Freelances too much on offensive movements, tries to take all kinds of shots that eventually go wide, and start pressuring everyone else to feed him plays. When he's good, he's really good, but if he's bad, drags the whole team with him, because suddenly it's not about winning or scoring goals, it's about making Ronaldo look good.