What: International Friendly
Who: Portugal (FIFA ranked 9) vs Faroe Islands (FIFA ranked 196)
When: Wednesday, 20th August 2008, 21:45 CET
Where: Estádio Municipal de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Portugal come into this game on the back of a disappointing Euro 2008 campaign, while the Faroe Islands will be hoping to get the most out of this match.

New Portugal Era

The end of Euro 2008 brought a major change to the Portuguese national squad: former Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz was installed as coach, replacing Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had signed for Chelsea prior to the competition.

This is the second stint of Queiroz at the helm of Portugal after an unsuccessful experience that ended in 1994 when he failed to take the team to the FIFA World Cup in the United States.

Queiroz is now hoping for better fortunes and has selected a 22-man squad for this friendly match with several surprises.

Several big-names have been left out of this match, such as Ricardo Quaresma, Ricardo, or Maniche. Portugal’s goal should be defended by Benfica custodian Quim, who missed Euro 2008 after sustaining a wrist injury.

The new Portugal boss also decided to not include hot prospects such as Miguel Veloso or Rui Patrício, both from Sporting, in his plans for this friendly.

Portugal have a lot to prove after a disappointing Euro 2008 campaign and Queiroz will have the difficult task of making his men forget Scolari, who was in charge for five years and took the squad to a second-place finish at Euro 2004 and a fourth-place finish at the World Cup two years later.

This will be a very important task for Queiroz ahead of the start of the 2010 World Cup qualifying, where Portugal will have to come up against the likes of Sweden and Denmark.

Faroese Dream

The Faroe Islands, coached by Jógvan Martin Olsen, should play a very defensive game, hoping to break Portugal down through counter-attack.

They finished rock-bottom of their group at the Euro 2008 qualifying without a single point and a -39 goal difference. This time around Faroe Islands were drawn in Group 7 of the World Cup qualifying and will have to play the likes of France and Romania.

This will be an important test for Olsen’s men against a squad that feature better and more experienced players, which is why the Faroe Islands are expected to pose little threat to the Portuguese side.

FORM GUIDE

Portugal

19/06/08 Portugal 2-3 Germany (Euro 2008)
15/06/08 Portugal 0-2 Switzerland (Euro 2008)
11/06/08 Portugal 3-1 Czech Republic (Euro 2008)
07/06/08 Portugal 2-0 Turkey (Euro 2008)
31/05/08 Portugal 2-0 Georgia (Friendly)

Faroe Islands

04/06/08 Faroe Islands 3-4 Estonia (Friendly)
16/03/08 Faroe Islands 0-3 Iceland (Friendly)
21/11/07 Faroe Islands 1-3 Italy (Euro 2008 Qualifier)
17/10/07 Faroe Islands 0-5 Ukraine (Euro 2008 Qualifier)
13/10/07 Faroe Islands 0-6 Iceland (Euro 2008 Qualifier)

TEAM NEWS

Portugal

Coach Carlos Queiroz will have to come up with an alternative to Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been a crucial piece for Portugal but will miss this game due to injury.
Eduardo and Danny will have the chance to earn their first international cap for Portugal’s main squad. Carlos Martins, Manuel Fernandes, Antunes, Duda and Daniel Fernandes all make their return to the squad.

Squad

Quim, Eduardo, Daniel Fernandes, Bosingwa  Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Bruno Alves, Fernando Meira, Pepe, Antunes, Miguel, Deco, Raúl Meireles, Duda, Carlos Martins, João Moutinho, Manuel Fernandes, Simão Sabrosa , Nani, Danny, Nuno Gomes, Hugo Almeida.

Faroe Islands

Coach Jógvan Martin Olsen is without veteran defender Óli Johannesen, who has over 80 caps for his national squad.

Squad

Jákup Mikkelsen, Rene Tórgarð, Jónas Þór Næs, Jóhan Troest Davidsen, Egil á Bø, Fróði Benjaminsen, Leif Niclasen, Einar Hansen, Høgni Madsen, Atli Danielsen, Mikkjal Thomassen, Chr. Høgni Jacobsen, Andreas Lava Olsen, Jákup á Borg, Símun Samuelsen, Christian Lamhauge Holst, Arnbjørn Hansen, Rógvi Jacobsen.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Portugal - Deco: With Cristiano Ronaldo out of this match, the Brazilian-born midfielder is expected to command the team and guide it to victory. The former Barça star pulled out a magical performance in his official debut for Chelsea and great things are expected from him under Carlos Queiroz.

Faroe Islands - Rógvi Jacobsen: The Faroese midfielder has 50 international caps to his name and is the squad’s top goal-scorer so he will be a player Queiroz will have to look out for.

PREDICTION

This should be a walk in the park for Portugal, who need to earn a boost ahead of the opening World Cup 2010 qualifying against Malta in September. The Faroe Islands are anything but a big gun and should found themselves lost amidst the Portuguese creativity.

Portugal 3-0 Faroe Islands

Ref From Luís Mira - goal.com

Andy Johnson has finally completed his long-awaited move from Everton to Fulham for a fee in the region of £10 million, according to Sky Sports News. He has signed a four-year contract at Craven Cottage…

The striker is thought to have wanted a move back to London for personal reasons.

He had his medical over a week ago but, due to Fulham’s notoriously strict policies and fears over an old injury, it has taken until today for a new fee to be agreed in light of the injury risk and the deal has now been completed.

Everton manager David Moyes was eager to hold onto the former Crystal Palace hit-man and insisted he would not be sold to finance a move for Joao Moutinho or Diego Milito.

He later revealed that Johnson was the one who in fact had his heart set on leaving the club and Fulham were determined to secure his services as something of a replacement for fan favourite Brian McBride, who returned to his native United States at the end of last season.

The 27-year-old has been a little less than prolific for the Toffees since signing for £8.6 million in 2006, but the club have nevertheless made a sizeable profit in their sale to Fulham, as the fee is due to rise as high as £13 million based on appearances.

The initial deal was to present the cash up front, but concerns over an old injury revealed by Fulham’s stringent medical examinations resulted in a week of renegotiation over the transfer fee, which Fulham were determined to cut considerably and make contingent on the player making a certain number of appearances.

Johnson is Fulham’s twelfth signing of the summer, as Roy Hodgson looks to entirely restructure his squad in order to push up towards mid-table following last season’s dramatic last day escape from the drop.

Johnson has been capped eight times for England, but has yet to score.

Ref From Chet Winter, Goal.com

Sporting Lisbon have confirmed that they have turned down an offer from Everton for Joao Moutinho.

The Tofffees have been tracking the midfielder for much of the summer and had hoped to secure him for a fee of £11.8million.

Moutinho revealed after Sporting’s friendly victory over Blackburn on Saturday night that he was keen to leave the Portuguese club.

He also stated that he was hopeful a deal could be reached between Sporting and Everton.

However, Sporting have now issued a strongly-worded statement saying they have rejected a bid from the Premier League outfit.

“Last Saturday the Fifa agent Pini Zahavi, with a letter of representation issued by Everton FC, visited the headquarters of the society and transmitted that the English club offered €15million (£11.8 million) for the acquisition of the sporting rights of the player Joao Moutinho, with the figure eventually adding an amount not yet determined if Everton FC qualify for the Champions League,” read the statement.

“The proposal was rejected outright and it was told to Mr Pini Zahavi, who acted in the dual capacity as representative of the player and Everton FC, it was not the intention of Sporting SAD to transfer the player.”

The statement also confirmed that Moutinho would only be allowed to leave for a figure of €25m (£19.7m).

Sporting added that they were not happy with Moutinho’s declaration that ‘personal reasons’ were behind his desire to move on.

Ref From skysports.com