could be a whole lot of reasons: he's still the symbol of this Portugal team, after all. He must have a say in the locker rooms (and why shouldn't he, considering); Martinez must think of him as the glue that keeps the squad together (same reason why he must have brought Pepe along, probably). And yeah, probably sponsors too.
Martinez
By the way, as a Belgian, sorry for Portuguese people: be ready to see him make a lot of unpopular, unreasonable decisions
Yea I’m already sick of him
We had plenty of players play 2 hours of football yesterday and he really didn’t do many subs or did them late. And what is worst is that the same happened a few days ago with the same group of players.
Unbelievable decisions
Happy cake day!
He really sucks with subs, and tends to stick with the one single tactical schema even if it keeps failing.
As an example, he kept the 3-man defense in Belgium while everyone was suggesting to try a 4-man version, especially as our defenders were our weak point.
Also, he kept starting with Hazard even when he was clearly not fit, not giving their chances to other midfielders.
Interesting, thanks.
Pepe did much better performance, and Jota might have been a better starter for Portugal. CR as a super sub (think Muller for Germany) could have been an option
I just watched one Portugal match, but Pepe was extraordinary. Ronaldo on the other hand…
Because martinez didn't have the balls to bench him.
This felt more like a charity farewell tour to Ronaldo than Portugal trying to be at their best.
They won't win shit with Martinez just like belgium, they will keep dominating qualifiers then fail at tournaments
Here for discussion of all things association football/soccer!
Rules
Other Football/Soccer Related Communities