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Andrew's Blog
Friday, Sept 7th - 10:00pm, Lisbon , Portugal
What a day!!!! Pre-game hype!!!
It is now 10:00pm and I just arrived at my hotel after a very
eventful day.
After eating breakfast (By the way as I was checking out the hotel
online, I realized that it was gay friendly. Living in Sebastopol ,
you know I have no problem with that, but I was getting checked out
at breakfast) and doing some work online, I headed to Baixa to shop
for my 3 girls, my mother , my wife and my daughter. I was very (too
successful) I like the European style and got a bit carried away
buying clothes for my wife. I hope it will make up for getting
looked at this morning.
I taxied to the Hotel Solplaya and met Frans. We worked for several
hours to evaluate the last summer and to plan the work for the next
year to come. The next thing I new Bobo (the polish asst. ) came
down and announced that he would go into the press conference (he
had got a press pass from the Polish press) and to observe the
training. He asked if I wanted to help out.
I said Bobo "if you know me by now, that was a stupid question", of
course I want to go. We taxied over to the National Stadium and got
out in front of the stadium. We waited with all of the Polish press
and then when he walked in and flashed his pass, that was my cue to
look Polish and keep walking. Good thing I am a veteran of these
type of situation's because I was in.
They interview one player Jorge a defender who plays at Juventus in
Italy. I walked out into the lobby and who was waiting to come in
when Jorge finished. Luis Felipe Scolari the coach of Portugal. Of
course I said hello , introduced myself and got his autograph and
then Jorge came out as Scolari went in so I asked him if more
players were coming and got his autograph.
Bobo came outside and we waited for the team to come to the field.
Portugal National Team Training -
Running and stretching - 12 minutes
Handball 10 v 10 possession in the penalty box
Goalkeepers were on the other side
11V11 ½ field - very loose, not sharp, no marking, soft passes, not
positions, at one point Scolari threw in a 2nd ball and they played
with 2 balls for 5-6 minutes (I am not joking).
At the end Simao , Ronaldo and Deco hit some penalty's and the rest
were hanging out. Then it looked like Scolari decided to do some
corners so he started without those 3. When they finished they
joined in the with the rest of the team.
To be honest , it looked like a day after the game training, not the
day before.
Green Team -
Ferreira - Chealsea
Quaresma - Porto
Tiago - Juventus
Deco - Barcelona
Miguel - Valencia
Gomez - Benefica
Petit - Benefica
Postiga - Porto
Meira - VFB Stuggart
Quim - Benefica
Yellow team -
Ricardo - Betis Sevilla
Ronaldo - Man U
Simao - Atletico Madrid
Maniche - Atletico Madrid
Caneira - Valencia
Bosingwa - Porto
Almerica - Werder Bremen
Nani - Man U
Moutihno - Sporting
Meireles - Porto
Bobo and I took detailed notes on everything including which side
the guy's took their PK"s, the corners etc.
We called the hotel for a car to pick us up, rushed back to the
hotel and jumped on the bus. We had 2 police motorcycles and 3
police cars escorting us to the pitch. It was crazy they would
swerve into the other lane and signal with their hands to get out of
the fast lane and the next lane. While we were in the city, they
would drive down the middle and literally shiver people.
The 15 minute drive took about 2 minutes and we were in front of the
Estadio da Luz. What a sight!! A guard opened a gate an we entered
the bowels of the stadium. The bus stopped , we got out walked
straight through the locker room and into the stadium.
The field is immaculate and those of you who have been on the Euro
Tour, we have stepped on a few pitches. But now I was sitting on the
bench as the boys started to play Rondo.
I snapped a few pictures of Coach Leo in his new PUMA boots that
Frans arranged for him from PUMA Holland.
Poland Training Session - 7:45pm under the lights @ Estadio da Luz
Rondo - 3 groups - 15 minutes
Running, Coordination , Dynamic Stretching - 15 minutes
Goalkeepers with Frans and Andreyz
Possession with Coach Leo - 3 X 4 minutes
7V7 plus 3 kaatzers for each team on the outside (bouncers as Leo
calls them). if you play one of your 3 outside players you switch
with him.
Shooting - Diamond on the goal in tight - 8 minutes
11V11 - 2 X 8 minutes
In contrast to the Portugal training, the boys were sharper than a
knife. The energy and confidence is very high. I think Bobo will
have Leo use the Portuguese mentality against Portugal. During the
game guy's were going at it, sliding, tackling etc. A few times, Leo
had to tell them to mellow out.
Polish Team for 11V11
#1 Artur Boruc (Celtic FC)
# 2 Marcin Wasilewski(RSC Anderlecht), #4 Mariusz Jop(FK Moskva),
#3Michal Zewlakow(Olympiacos CFP), #5 Grzegorz Bronowicki (FK Crvena
Zvezda)
#6 Dariusz Dudka (Wisla Kraków),# #8 Mariusz Lewandowski (FC
Shakhtar Donetsk)
#7 Jakub Blaszczykowski (BV Borussia Dortmund), 10 Jacek Krzynówek
(VFL Wolfsburg), #11Marek Saganowski (Southampton FC)
#9 Maciej Zurawski
Changes for the 2nd 8 minutes -
#9 Radoslaw Matusiak (SC Heerenveen) for Maciej Zurawski
#11 Euzebiusz Smolarek (Real Racing Club Santander) for Marek
Saganowski (Southampton FC)
#7 Wojciech Lobodzinski (Zaglebie Lubin) for Jakub Blaszczykowski
(BV Borussia Dortmund)
#4 Pawel Golanski (FC Steaua Bucuresti) for Mariusz Jop(FK Moskva)
Well I have not eaten since breakfast and it is now almost 11pm. I
need to get some food and some rest for the big day manana. Also, I
have to solve the problem of finding someone to attend the game with
me since the Polish Manager gave me two midline seats in row 11. Who
knows, if am a lucky I can find someone at breakfast. Just kidding
!!!!
Hope you all are enjoying the Blog's and GOOD LUCK IN LEAGUE GAMES
THIS WEEKEND.
Boa noite,
Andrew
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