World Cup / Maxliu / 18 November 2009 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

If you think the English press are hard on their footballers, try going to Portugal or Italy or Spain or just about anywhere. Or ask Carlos Queiroz, who is under fire despite his team's success in the first leg of their World Cup play-off.

It's common for English footballers - and English fans too for that matter - to complain about our sometimes negative press. When they've had a bad time - like the weekend performance against Brazil - they wonder why they get so much stick. "It doesn't happen in other countries," they claim.

But actually it does. And with brass knobs on. Try asking an Italian or Spanish player about the reaction they get in their newspapers when they've lost a game or been knocked out of a tournament. Talk to any of the players who have played on the Continent about what happens to their family members if they've missed a penalty or scored an own goal. In contrast we're amazingly positive.

I thought about that looking at the local papers in the airport shop in Faro yesterday on my way back from a quick holiday in Portugal. Carlos Queiroz and his team might be a goal up against Bosnia in their World Cup qualifying play-off but nobody could accuse the Portuguese papers or fans of giving the former Manchester United assistant an easy ride. And the internet message boards are just as savage.

To be honest the critics have a point. We settled down in a bar on the Algarve to watch the first leg live from Lisbon together with a rowdy group of locals who all became more and more depressed as the game went on. Bruno Alves scored a header to give them a lead, but that was the only decent chance Portugal made. Bosnia hit the woodwork three times and Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho was the best player on the pitch, making several frantic last ditch tackles and organising a defence in which his Stamford Bridge team mate Paulo Ferreira was woeful.

The cameras kept cutting to Cristiano Ronaldo, injured and sitting in the stands, and back to the man who was replacing him for the national team, Manchester United's Nani. Having come out in public and criticised Sir Alex Ferguson's management, the youngster needed to put on a dazzling show to justify his words. He did supply the cross for Alves's goal, but otherwise he was, just like he's been at Old Trafford, unbelievably average before being subbed 20 minutes from the end. Deco, booked early on, was largely anonymous.

So back in the real world I was thinking I might have a bet on Bosnia if I could get more than [3.0] for them to qualify. In fact they are [5.0] and that's sensational value.

At home in Zenica the Bosnians will have the backing of a passionate, Turkish style crowd. "Welcome to hell" say all the message boards. And while they have lost three players with yellow cards from the first leg, their key men are all available. Most of all Ronaldo is still injured and without him it's hard to see where the inspiration comes from. I've a feeling come Thursday the Portuguese press could be sharpening their knives a bit more!

Five things you might not know about Nani

1. Born this day in 1986, his full name is Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha

2. He was only two when he left his home in Praia, in the Atlantic island of Cape Verde off the coast of Senegal, to move with his family to Lisbon where he was raised by his aunt Antonia

3. He was childhood friends with Valencia's former Everton midfielder Manuel Fernandes - they grew up playing street football in Lisbon together. He also played junior football in the same team as Ricardo Vaz Te

4. They also attended classes in Capoeira, an African form of martial arts that combines fighting moves with dance. That's where his acrobatic cartwheel goal celebration comes from.

5. It didn't endear him to William Gallas and Gilberto Silva who both accused him of showboating after he'd starred in a Manchester United 4-0 Cup win over Arsenal