Before the quarterfinal match between England and Portugal, the Chelsea head coach gave a brief description of each player in the English and Portuguese national teams.
PORTUGAL
Ricardo. He is not my favorite goalkeeper in Portugal, but Scolari trusts him as himself. The hero of the match against England in the Euro 2004 final, he was to blame for the goal that the team missed in the final against Greece. However, while he plays well at the World Cup.
Miguel. He played with me in Benfica as a winger. Paulo Ferreira is better as a defender, but Miguel is very good at attack, he has excellent speed. He will have a real battle with Joe Cole, because Cole is better at those components of the game in which Miguel is weak.
Ricardo Carvalho. Ricky is a football player of the highest level and always plays excellently in big matches. A clean, smart defender, I am sure that Rooney will be very hard in the right central part of the field, because Ricky is very fast.
Fernando Meira. Many people doubted Meira when Andrade suffered a knee injury. Meira is tall and strong, and I hope that he will be able to adapt to the manner of playing Crouch, if he releases on the field Sven. Rooney can create some problems for him in a situation where they will be left face to face. Many people think that Meira is a quiet player, but this is not so, he slowly runs short distances, but quickly - long distances.
Nuno Valente. He is a great football player, very, very cool and able to play in big matches. He is well protected. He closes the insider position, but he may have problems against fast players.
Petty. The hard worker. He runs, crushes and controls his opponent very well. He is not so bad at playing pass and has a strong blow.
Tiague. Tiago is a very smart football player, dangerous in the penalty area. However, he is not very fast and powerful players like Gerrad or Lamps can create problems for him. He is good in the air, can help defense and, most likely, will play instead of the disqualified Coshtiny.
Maniche. He is one of the best players of the tournament. It's a shame that he came to Chelsea after the operation and could not show everyone how good he is. He plays very fast football, sees the pitch very well and always tries to play with one touch. He has a great punch, Maniche will appear on the left closer to the attacker area.
Nevermind. He is extremely motivated. He can play left and right, and perhaps due to Disqualification, Deco will move deeper to control the rhythm of the match, and will play more positionally. He has amazing dribbling and a great pass. Although he is no longer so fast, Figo is still a terrific footballer and a true leader.
Simau. He was not in Scolari's original plans, but he added a lot during the tournament. His right leg is stronger than his left. When he circles someone on the left flank, he can always dangerously hit from the right. He is very motivated because he wants to play abroad.
Ronaldo At this World Cup, he did not show himself very well. Perhaps he was affected by excessive pressure for such a young football player, perhaps his rivals adapted to his style of play. While he does not shine, and everyone in Germany still expects a good game from him. However, his talent is on the face and no one knows when he can prove himself.
Pauleta. This football player JT (John Terry, approx. Translator) knows very well, because we played against him with PSG in the Champions League. He has two amazing qualities: he knows how to hit with the first touch and plays excellently on the offside line, knows how to escape from the defenders.
ENGLAND
Paul Robinson He is an excellent goalkeeper, I hope that he will prompt louder to his defenders. England will defend quite far from its own penalty, and Paul must manage this process.
Gary Neville England needs him. Carragher is a good player, but he gives up too many long passes. Hargreaves is not as good on the flank as Neville. Gary is still very good in defense, together with Ferdinand he closes the position of someone else's insider and helps the team a lot with his raids on someone else's penalty area.
John Terry About him very briefly: the best central defender in the world.
Rio Ferdinand. He is also very good, I hope that zone protection requires a good understanding of the game from him. Ferdinand is good, but, of course, JT is better.
Ashley Cole He plays very well, does not go so much forward, but is reliable in defense.
Michael Carrick He plays on the team, not trying to become the best in the match, which is very good. It plays simply, but in his position it is the best. I think that he can become the person who gives Lampard and Gerrard the necessary freedom that they have in the clubs. Liverpool have Alonso, Chelsea Makelele. Without Carrick, Lamps are not Lamps and Gerrard is not Gerrard.
Stephen Gerrard If Carrick plays behind him, he can not worry and play as he wants: to go to the flanks, changing places with Beckham, go forward to help Rooney, who really needs it. In Liverpool, he goes to Crouch, who throws off long passes at him, here he will often have to go forward to help Rooney.
Frank Lampard Lamps is a little upset because he knows how he can play. However, in the first matches he had to play closer to the defense line, which prevented him from playing more in the attack. He is a real star, but he always thinks about the team. I hope that now he will be able to play as he does in Chelsea, and finally score. To all his critics I will say that when Lamps does not play his best football, he still plays better than the rest.
David Beckham. I admire this football player because he has to be strong; without a doubt, the team needs such players in such situations. It is not ideal for playing in the 4-3-3 scheme, when the attacker needs the wingers to move from the flank to the center, go to the goal in dribbling at high speed. David is not such a football player, but he is a smart player, why should Gerrard, for example, not move to the right to Beckham, and the two of them would create problems for the left back. Why don't Beckham and Gerrard swap places?
Joe Cole He is confident in himself, he is ready to take risks in the game and knows how to do it. If Ashley Cole is more active and bolder to go forward, Joe will be able to help Rooney from the flank much more actively. Joe can always score from his insider position.
Wayne Rooney. He has a new role, he is the only striker now. He is a great football player, but without Owen it’s hard for him. Rooney is trying hard, with his talent and dribbling, with his mobility and the ability to make the right decisions, he can always win a separate match for the team.
Peter Crouch. For my taste, he is a good football player, if he does not manage to score, he can always use his opportunities and make the defenders strain.