The national team is already installed in Qatar, where next Thursday against Ghana it will start its eighth participation in a final stage of a World Cup, the sixth consecutive (group H also includes Uruguay and South Korea). In an authentic fortress in the middle of the desert, about 30 kilometers from Doha, national coach Fernando Santos works with a team that wants to realize a dream: to win the title of world champion. The coach has expressed this desire more than once and made sure that his chosen ones join him in this draft. “All players come with a huge hunger to make Portugal world champions,” he assured.
The dream nurtures the Portuguese team in what will be the last World Cup for Cristiano Ronaldo, a footballer who characterized the national team for almost two decades and became an icon on a global scale, considered one of the greatest players of all time.
At the age of 37, CR7 arrives in Qatar under enormous pressure. More than ever, he is forced to show his qualities, especially after a controversial interview in which he criticized his club Manchester United, but also coach Erik ten Hag, whom he says he does not trust. Returning to Old Trafford seems impossible at the moment and the bombshell he dropped made him even more the center of attention. Will this tense atmosphere around the player affect the team’s performance in Qatar? This is a question that will only be answered later, but there are those who say that CR7 will take advantage of the tournament to show that he is not ready yet.
After becoming the national team’s best-ever goalscorer with 117 goals, Ronaldo now aims to be one of the five footballers with the most World Cups (five), but he is still looking to surpass Eusébio as the best Portuguese goalscorer in World Cups and the only Portuguese to score four goals in a match. He also has his eye on Diego Maradona’s 16-game tally as tournament captain, but he needs to reach the quarter-finals to do so. No lack of motivation for number 7 in Portugal, which is increasingly fueled by records.
Three generations of talent
With an average age of 26.34, Fernando Santos maintains his commitment to some of the players who won him the European title in 2016. Pepe, 39 years old, and Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, remain essential for the coach, like William Carvalho. , Raphaël Guerreiro, Danilo Pereira, João Mário and even Rui Patrício, a goalkeeper who has since lost his basic role to Diogo Costa, one of the many footballers of the younger generation who are starting to stand out, including Diogo Dalot, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Matheus Nunes, João Félix, Rafael Leão, Gonçalo Ramos and António Silva, the youngest of the corner team.
In between is another generation of already established footballers, playing in the most competitive European championships, such as Rúben Dias, João Cancelo, João Palhinha, Bernardo Silva, Rúben Neves, Bruno Fernandes and André Silva. It is in this generational mix that Santos will find the balance to lead Portugal to success, even though he has lost striker Diogo Jota, who is not in Qatar due to injury. Renato Sanches and Gonçalo Guedes were left out of the selection by the national team.
Only disappointments since 2008
With so much talent on the roster, the national team’s minimum target will be to outperform the last three World Cups, having been knocked out twice in the round of 16 – in 2010 by Spain and in 2018, by Uruguay – and once in the group stage, in Brazil 2014. In other words, Portugal has fallen far short of expectations since its second best participation ever, in 2006 in Germany, when the team coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari finished fourth, after losing to the home side in the competition for the last place on the podium.
In fact, our team has only made it very far in this competition twice, as in 2002 (South Korea and Japan) and in 1986 (Mexico) it failed to progress beyond the group stage, leaving the 1966 World Cup as its best participation ever. England, where Eusébio and company shone, taking Portugal to third place, losing only to the home side at Wembley, in the semi-finals, in a game marked by tears of rebellion by the Black Panther. In the consolation match, Portugal defeated the USSR and was in last place on the podium. A dream debut followed by 20 years away from the competition.
With a total of 30 games played in the final phase, Portugal has 14 wins, six draws and 10 losses, with 49 goals and 35 conceded. Eusébio continues to score the most goals in the final stages, nine in one tournament, something no one has managed to do so far. Ronaldo counts seven, but in four final stages.
Source: DN
