World Cup preview: Portugal
Coach: Carlos Queiroz
Key Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Previous best: Third place 1966
All eyes will be on the most expensive footballer in the world in South Africa.
Cristiano Ronaldo hit the headlines at the last World Cup in Germany due to both his involvement in the sending off of England’s Wayne Rooney in the quarter-finals, and the cheeky wink to the Portuguese bench which followed.
To make matters worse for England, the then Manchester United man scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out to reach the semi-finals.
The former World Player of the Year is now back playing on world football’s biggest stage, and his importance to Portugal has never been more apparent.
Relying on one player is not healthy, but such is the talent that the Real Madrid superstar possesses, it is hard not to turn to him. He has the all-round package, and if Ronaldo can have a good tournament, Portugal might stand a chance.
They lost out to France in the semi-finals last time, but don’t expect them to go that far here, whatever Ronaldo does.
Manager Carlos Queiroz has endured a difficult time since leaving his spot next to Sir Alex Ferguson on the Manchester United bench. Sacked as Real Madrid manager, he took over his national side in 2008. They are third in the official Fifa world rankings, behind first-placed Brazil and second-placed Spain. Quite why they are that high remains a mystery.
Queiroz didn’t enjoy a comfortable qualifying campaign, eventually defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina in the play-offs after finishing second in their group to Denmark. Reaching the play-offs was a struggle as well, as they almost lost out to Sweden.
Their recent draw with the 117th ranked team in the world, Cape Verde, has raised more doubts over whether or not they can progress from Group G.
Obviously, Ronaldo is the key player, but if you take him out of the team, then who else can step up to the plate?
The injured Nani will be a big miss, but with 22 goals in 46 appearances for Sporting last season, striker Liédson will be expected to chip in with goals if Ronaldo fails to shine.
The midfield will have to play to their best if they are to lay on goals for the like of Liédson and Ronaldo.
Simão and Deco need to provide the creativity, along with Miguel Veloso sitting in a deeper role looking to start the majority of attacks. Deco has struggled at Chelsea, and this could be his last World Cup, so he will want to finish his campaign on a high.
Question marks could be raised over the defence. A centre-back pairing of Bruno Alves and Pepe could be dodgy, as both are prone to mistakes, and at right-back, Paulo Ferreira is not a regular for his club Chelsea.
If Ronaldo is on top of his game, then the whole team will click around him.
For Portugal and Queiroz’s sake, that has to happen.
Portugal squad
1 EDUARDO (Braga)
2 Bruno ALVES (Porto)
3 Paulo FERREIRA (Chelsea)
4 ROLANDO (Porto)
5 DUDA (Malaga)
6 Ricardo CARVALHO (Chelsea)
7 Cristiano RONALDO (Real Madrid)
8 Pedro MENDES (Sporting)
9 LIÉDSON (Sporting)
10 DANNY (Zenit St Petersburg)
11 SIMÃO (Atletico Madrid)
12 BETO (Porto)
13 MIGUEL (Valencia)
14 Miguel VELOSO (Sporting)
15 PEPE (Real Madrid)
16 Raul MEIRELES (Porto)
17 Ruben AMORIM (Benfica)
18 Hugo ALMEIDA (Werder Bremen)
19 TIAGO (Atletico Madrid)
20 DECO (Chelsea)
21 Ricardo COSTA (Lille)
22 Daniel FERNANDES (Iraklis)
23 Fábio COENTRÃO (Benfica)
For previews of Portugal's Group G opponents click here:
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Brazil-a12469
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-Ivory-Coast-a12470
http://www.senore.com/World-Cup-2010-preview-North-Korea-a12471
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