The Whole Delivery

Best XI For Day 5  The undisputed choices were Muller, Kroos, and Khedira. Muller obviously with no further explanation needed, with Kroos showing once again how great his passing is no matter if he is deep or forward in the midfield. Sami Khedira has found maybe his best after a long term injury absence. Manager Jogi Low needed that so badly in his sea of injuries that now unfortunately includes Mats Hummels.  The rest was not so straight forward, but Hummels and Mehrdad Pooladi definitely deserved their place.  The Borussia Dormund man's fine header broke the game open for Germany before Pepe tried to break Muller's head, while Merhdad did so well to hold firm on the left for Iran while also providing a great ball that Ashkan Dejagah could have given the Persian princes a great victory.   Geoff Cameron throughout the day did as best a job on Asamoah Gyan as a centerback could do and wasn't responsible for that tremendous backheel he set up Ayew ...

Photo from UEFA.com  Projected Formation:                    Eduardo  Pereira - Alves -Pepe- Coentrao     Veloso - Moutinho -  Meireles     Nani                       Ronaldo                    Postiga  The Runthrough  The long ongoing search for an out and out top striker for Portugal continues in the 9th year after the international career of Pauleta. For a system swarmed in midfield wing talent, it has gone quite bizarre for the other country on the Iberian Peninsula to still not develop a line leading man who puts the fear into the other side like Cristiano Ronaldo has so famously done cutting in. It is the same conundrum that plagues Portugal and prevents them likely from repeating a fine semifinal result in 2006. A Craigslist search m...

Photo from UEFA.com The strongest European Championships in recent editions will take place next summer in Poland/Ukraine, as playoff favorites Croatia, Czech Republic, Ireland, and Portugal join the other 12 countries into the finals. In the tie that certainly was most in the balance, Portugal finally showed their offensive might with a 6-2 emphatic victory over Bosnia & Herzegovina side. The scoreline may appear as a match of one way traffic, but it was far from the case. Bosnia replied after two great strikes from a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick and a Nani rainbow gem to score through Zvjezdan Misimovic from the penalty spot right before half time. And just when the Iberian power thought it was assured of a smooth evening after Ronaldo's second and Senad Lulic's sending off, the Bosnians showed continued resilience down 10 men with Emir Spahic's poaching finish to make it 3-2. But the host eased their nervous fans' fears with another class goal, a left footed...

Photo from AFP Um, how the hell did this happen in training ? Portugal suffered a major injury blow today after it was announced winger Nani would play no part in the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ after damaging his collar bone. The Manchester United star is thought to have suffered the injury in training on Friday and will be replaced in the squad by Benfica midfielder Ruben Amorim. Nani's absence will disrupt the plans of Portugal boss Carlos Queiroz, who was counting on the 23-year-old following an impressive season at Old Trafford. A statement on the Portuguese Football Federation's official website read: "Following the injury to the left clavicle suffered by Nani, a daily assessment of the damage and the completion of medical tests, we have concluded he is unable to be competitive. Seriously in training? In training? With their match in a week's time? Just so damn stupid from Queiroz to have this happen on his watch. But nevertheless, injuries are apart...