FIFA World Cup 2010
Portugal
 PortugalPortuguese Football Federation Best Results
World Cup Third Place, 1966 African Cup of Nations Runners-up, 2004 |
Portugal's national soccer team has had great performances in recent years. It was the runner-up of the Euro Cup 2004, which Portugal hosted, and the fourth place of the 2006 World Cup.
However, Portugal still misses a major title but hopes to get its first one in the 2010 South Africa World Cup.
The Portuguese team has huge expectations this year. The Selecção das Quinas has world famous players such as Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe. But beside that, the Portuguese team has an ace up its sleeve that could result very handy: its coach, Carlos Queiroz, has extensive playing experience in Africa. Queiroz coached the South African team at the beginning of the decade and in his playing years he played with Mozambique, so the Portuguese team could greatly benefit from his experience.
Qualifying Stage
At the beginning of the qualifying stage, the performance of Portugal raised many doubts and confusion among its fans. During the first five preliminary matches, the Selecção das Quinas only managed to win one match and people began to think Portugal, once a favorite, could be left out of the World Cup. However from the sixth game on, Portugal began to rise and shine on the field beating Hungary and Malta. Portugal finally qualified in the second round of UEFA's qualifying stage, defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0. This way they woke up from the nightmare that almost left them out of the South African World Cup.
Players
The press and especially the fans are pinning their hopes on the world famous Real Madrid star, Cristiano Ronaldo. This dependence on the team's captain could end up being the team's stumbling block, since Ronaldo hasn't been able to escape the injuries that haunt him for some time, not even in the most important stages for the Real Madrid team. However, as long as he plays, there's no doubt Ronaldo will know how make the cut in the key moments, as usual.
In addition to their star striker, Portugal also has great talent on defense. The defenders Pepe and Bruno have already shown their dominance on both ends of the court and are reinforced with the help of Ricardo Carvalho. In the midfield is expected to see the stars Deco and Simão making mischief too.
Head Coach
Coach Carlos Queiroz is a Portuguese coach, born in Mozambique when the country was known as Nampula, a Portuguese colony in East Africa. Queiroz is credited as the discoverer of the young figures of the "golden generation" of Portugal during his first experience as coach of the national under-20 team, between 1989 and 1991. These figures include Luis Figo, Rui Costa and Victor Baía among others.
Queiroz acquired extensive experience as the assistant coach for Manchester United in his two terms under the lead of Sir Alex Ferguson (2002-2003 and 2004-2008). Queiroz achieved his greatest success with Man U. He also leaded Real Madrid during the 2003-04 season. Queiroz guides the Portugal National Team since mid-2008.