Luis Rafael – FC Porto
I think I have talked a few times about Rafa since I first saw him play with the youth teams of Porto. Probably is one of the top 5 players of the team and of the all generation, an incredibly skilled player that can do whatever he wants with the ball. Rafa’s crossing skills are top level, not only for his age but among any other professional player, he is just as good at it as anyone you might think about, loves to attack and loves to be in the middle of the penalty area. This season he played 30 games, after a slow start and playing from the bench, Rafa was able to regain his spot and played ever since, he also find his way to the net in 2 occasions.
João Nunes – SL Benfica
The best one of the two center defenders during the Portuguese run in the Euro last season, he played like a captain and acted like one too. João looked like a class player, always showing good positioning and impressing technical skills for a defender. One year later and with 15 games under his belt with Benfica B (one third of the possible games), I think that João became a more mature player and all the aspects of his games are influenced by this years’ experience. He should remain as one of the rocks of the team, just like last year.
Dinis Almeida – CF Reus
One of the unknown players to me, Dinis was playing in the Portuguese third division and then moved to Spain to play for
CF Reus. In the Spanish third division, he played a total of 944 minutes in 14 games that he entered. From my research, Dinis looks like a medium sized defender who primes for his positioning, helping the wing back and always ready to solve his problems with a strong tackle. And also seems to have great heading skills that help to score some goals from corners but also defensively protect his team, of course.
Unfortunately, Dinis gor injured in the game against Brazil and was replaced by Nélson Monte, a player that has been called regularly for this team but with very little game time.
Rebocho – SL Benfica
Rebocho is a very versatile player that can play as a wing back in both side but that will have a very hard time to grab some minutes in the world cup. Rafa will not allow him to do so; he just brings a lot more than Rebocho. The young player from Benfica is a great defender, an energy player that always gives 100% on the pitch. But the truth is that he has some technical flaws that but Rafa in front of him. He could maybe fight for the sport as a right winger but he is left footed and that doesn’t help him.
Domingos Duarte – Sporting CP
Last year, Domingos had a good Euro but started better than he finished. In my opinion, Domingos wasn’t prepared for the harder games, he needed more experience and more games to develop some of the points that he failed in the games against Serbia and Germany. I am talking about the positioning in particular. In the U-19 Portuguese championship, clubs like Sporting will have a very easy time winning unless the main clubs play against each other and for that reason, defenders won’t be presented to lots of problems and their development will be slower because of it. Players need problems to become better, to learn from it, and that doesn’t happen in the youth leagues for big clubs. This season he didn’t play much and for that reason I don’t know if he will be ready this time, but he should still be a starter for the team.
Mauro Riquicho – Sporting CP
A player very similar to Rebocho, two guys with tons of energy, biggest intensity of the team and amazing defenders, Riquicho has been the right back for this team and is a very important piece of it. The reason why he is so relevant in this team is because of his capacity of equilibrating the defense when Rafa acts like a second winger. It is vital that a team is balanced, and with another right back Portugal could be caught on their back foot when Rafa is on the other side of the pitch, or Rafa would feel that he couldn’t go into the opponent’s penalty area. And this is way Riquicho defensive awareness and intensity, is a big factor to the team’s success.
The Portuguese Scout 