With a very strong roster, Portugal is making their 8th World Cup appearance, A Seleção’s best result in the international joust was back in 1966, when led by football legend Eusebio, they’ve finished 3rd place. Since then, Portugal made it once again to the semifinals in 2006, but haven’t made it further than ‘last 16’ since then, although the Lusitanians won the 2016 European Championship. The World Cup in Qatar is going to be the ‘Last Dance’ for Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best players of all time, and he will certainly make a push for the most enviable trophy in football, but its not going to be easy.
Tricky Group Stages
Portugal was drawn in an accessible but tricky group that could cause them more problems than they expect. On match-day 1, the Lusitanians will make their World Cup debut against Ghana, a very tough African side, and if Portugal takes time to get things going they are going to be surprised, and not in a good way. Match-day 2 is going to be the toughest game of the group, as A Seleção takes on Uruguay, a very fierce rival that has it sights on winning the group themselves. The last group stages game is going to be the most obtainable one for Portugal as they face Korea Republic, a disciplined side, but still a very limited team compared to the European team. Portugal should make it out of the group stages, but if they want to avoid Brazil in the knockout stages they need to win Group H.
Long Time Manager At The Helm
Portuguese manager Fernando Santos has been the national manager for the Portugal National Team since 2014, and has achieved historic results with this team, winning the European Championship in 2016 and the 2019 UEFA Nationals League 2019, two of his greatest accomplishments yet. Even tough Portugal struggled to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, finishing second place in the qualifiers (behind Serbia), and having to punch their ticket via playoffs, there is still plenty of depth and talent in this squad, and Santos has been around long enough to get to know the entire roster pretty well. His long time international experience will come in handy, and could make the difference in the tournament.
Ronaldo Wants The Trophy
The star of the team is non-other than one of the greatest footballers of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo, at age 37 still plays at an elite level, but the Qatar World Cup will certainly be his last opportunity to be world champion. Ronaldo is a highly competitive player, and we are sure he is going to give it everything he’s got in his last shot at glory.
We’ve mentioned it earlier, but the Portuguese squad is one of the deepest rosters in the competition, and with players like Joao Cancelo (Manchester City), Pepe (Porto), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Ruben Neves (Wolverhampton), and Joao Felix, to name a few, there is no shortage of firepower to compete against any team in the competition.
Recent Form Has Not Been Great
Even though A Seleção could be considered one of the candidates to lift the trophy, they’ve recently lost a big chunk of credibility that in fact, this team can make it all the way to the final, as Ronaldo’s recent struggles have been a mayor concern, but we are certain his best version will show up in Qatar. If Cristiano can find his best form, this team can make a deep run in the tournament, but winning their group is going to be crucial if they want to avoid a disappointing outcome.
