European Football Cup 2008’s Weblog

Pepe said Portugal were not too unhappy with Sunday’s performance in Basel despite losing their 100 per cent record in UEFA EURO 2008™ to co-hosts Switzerland.

Match fitness
Luiz Felipe Scolari named a starting XI with eight changes for the final Group A game at St. Jakob-Park, and an unfamiliar side, shorn of Cristiano Ronaldo and Deco among others, were beaten by two second-half goals from Hakan Yakin. However, Pepe said the success of the night was getting all the squad involved: “It wasn’t possible to win but Scolari had another objective which was to give the other players who hadn’t played as much some match time.”

Unique claim
The Real Madrid CF defender revealed that, while Portugal were striving to keep up their intensity levels in training, they were eagerly awaiting news of whom they would be facing in Thursday’s quarter-final in Basel. “We have to know first who our opponents will be, then we can prepare for the game and work out all the details,” said Pepe, the only Portuguese other than goalkeeper Ricardo to have played all 270 minutes of the UEFA EURO 2008™ campaign so far.

Impressive pairing
The 25-year-old modestly deflected suggestions that his partnership with Ricardo Carvalho was the best defensive pairing in the tournament, and possibly world football. Pointing out the merits of the squad’s other centre-backs, Bruno Alves and Fernando Meira, Pepe insisted it was too early a stage for him and Carvalho to be so eulogised: “For us to have formed the best defensive partnership in Europe, we would have to have won something together.”

Adopted home
Brazilian-born Pepe played in Portugal’s Liga for six years, with CS Marítimo and FC Porto, before moving to Spain in a €30m deal last summer, becoming a Portuguese citizen in the meantime. While retaining great affection for his birthplace, he said the welcome he had received in his adopted country had made him feel the choice to represent Portugal was a natural one: “I feel a lot for Brazil, of course, but when I arrived [in Portugal] people treated me very well, so it was good that I could do this. Now I even go back to Portugal for my holidays.”