WHAT DOES SIMAO DO?

I'm not sure about you but I am struggling to see what Simao Sabrosa brings to the Portugal lineup.

The Benfica wideman has done little to justify the alleged interest in him from some of Europe's top clubs in the European Championships so far and I, for one, am wondering why Luiz Felipe Scolari picks him.

So far I have Simao take two free-kicks away from the 'best player in the world' Cristiano Ronaldo only to promptly lift each of them tediously over the cross bar. Simao is by no means a novice, in fact he scored a wonderful effort at Old Trafford a few seasons ago, but when Ronaldo is alongside you it only makes sense to let him have a go.





And as for the former Barcelona wingers corners, well I am sure Pepe and Ricardo Carvalho would rather someone such as Deco or Joao Moutinho was curling the ball onto their head, rather than Simao finding the defender at the near post time after time after time after time.

So far this seems to be a bit of a rant - okay its a lot of a rant - predominantly about the quality of Simao's set-pieces but this is not the only part of his game that has irked me.

Unlike some England's poor excuse for wingers - Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips take note - Simao has a good first touch but having controlled the ball nicely he seems to, as Lennon and SWP also do, spend the majority of his time running down blind alleys.

By the way, his finishing and composure in front of goal are not exactly brilliant either - the rushed attempt agains the Czechs being symptomatic of this problem.

Oddly the Portuguese are in the enviable position of possessing a proverbial monopoly over the world's most exciting wide men. Obviously they have Ronaldo, who is a guaranteed starter, who is backed up by Simao, Porto's Ricardo Quaresma and Ronaldo's Manchester United team-mate Nani.

Both Nani and Quaresma have superb quality with their delivery, in fact Nani has become known as one of the Premier League's finest corner takers.

Each is considerably younger than Simao and possess very similar characteristics to the Benfica man. However, they seem to be better exponents of these abilities than their national team-mate.



Personally I would prefer the Portuguese to line-up with an attacking trio of Nani, Quaresma and Ronaldo interchanging positions providing a deadly attacking triumvate. However new Chelsea boss Scolari is intent on avoiding using Ronaldo as a central striker so that leaves Nani, Quaresma and Simao competing for a spot alongside Ronaldo and Nuno Gomes.

With the Portuguese already qualified for the quarter finals as winners of Group A I expect Scolari to experiment against Switzerland. Nani and Quaresma should both start this match and I would bet that if either was to display the level of ability we already know they possess then Simao could be edged onto the bench by the time the business end of the tournament approaches.

What do you think, is Simao Portugal's weak link?