PREVIEW
Following a 1-1 draw at home to Northern Ireland in their last outing, Portugal will hope to refind their best form in this friendly against African opposition
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
GABON
Ovono
Mouele, Pongui, Nzambe, Sambou
Tandjigora, Branger, Engonga, Kanga
Rogombe, Cousin
PORTUGAL
Patricio
Pereira, Alves, Pepe, Lopes
Veloso, Micael
Varela, Moutinho, Barbosa
Postiga
Just four months after reaching the semi-final stage of Euro 2012 and Portugal's friendly with Gabon has suddenly become a game of great importance for Seleccao coach Paulo Bento.
Rather than riding the wave of optimism that followed his side's efforts over the summer - in which they came within a penalty kick of reaching the final of the tournament - Portugal have instead suffered something of a hangover.
Just seven points have been mustered from their opening four 2014 World Cup qualification games, leaving them in third place in Group F and making Wednesday's friendly a welcome pit-stop from a downwards spiral of competitive form.
Experimentation is likely to be the theme of the evening and, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Nani ruled out through injury alongside Fabio Coentrao and Raul Meireles, there will be the opportunity to tinker and find a solution to their current woes.
Silvio Pereira, Hugo Almeida, Ricardo Costa, Paulo Machado and Helder Barbosa have all been handed call-ups and will all be given the opportunity to impress.
Gabon go into the game on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Togo and 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in their last two fixtures, and with former Rangers striker Daniel Cousin in their ranks, they do have a goalscoring threat in their armoury.
-->
Source: Goal
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Have your say and leave a comment here! Thank you!