Portugal
Factsheet:
Euro 2012 Group B: 09-06-12: Germany –Portugal, 13-06-12: Denmark – Portugal, 17-06-12:
Portugal - Netherlands
FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 5
Previous European Championship Appearances: 1984, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008
Qualifying record: 10+6=2-2 27-14
Interesting facts: Paulo Bento, 42, is the youngest coach at Euro 2012.
Despite their decent scoring record, Portugal is the
team that conceded most goals on their road to Euro 2012.
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Portugal has been a major candidate to take the trophy
in any of big tournaments for the last decade. They even reached the final
once, but every time they had to leave the tournament without the Cup. They
have collected another ambitious team to conquer the European Championship. If
asked, the official statistics doesn’t mind the Portuguese to win this time:
they are ranked as the 4th best European team in FIFA Ranking. The
problem is that the 2nd and 3rd best teams are their
contestants in Euro 2012 Group B.
Paulo Bento was appointed to coach the Seleccao after Carlos
Queiroz was dismissed in 2010. He won several important matches just to fail in
the end, losing the last game to rivals Denmark. The Play-offs turned to be
successful and the team qualified for their 7th major tournament in
a row.
The times of Luis Figo’s golden generation are gone
without any senior triumph. Now it is time for Cristiano Ronaldo’s generation
to attempt the football heights.
Statistics against (West) Germany: 16+3=5-8 16-24*
The match we remember: Rui Costa got one of the
most controversial red cards in the football history, when, winning against the
Germans by one goal, he was too slow to leave the pitch while being
substituted. Germany managed to equalize, which was enough to win the group and
leave Portugal without the World Cup. This was the qualification campaign for
World Cup 1998 - the last time the Portuguese did not qualify for a major
tournament.
Statistics against Denmark: 13+8=2-3 27-16
The match we remember: The last two times in
Copenhagen were must-win visits for Portugal, where they did not pass the test
and were ought to try their luck in play-offs. However, the most thrilling
match took place in Lisboa in 2008, where yet another boring match was about to
finish with a score of 1-0, when suddenly the teams went wild five minutes
before the final whistle. At first it got 1-1, a minute later 2-1, four minutes
later 2-2 and deep inside the injury time 2-3, with Daniel Jensen leaving
Portugal in shock.
Statistics against Netherlands: 10+6=3-1 12-5
The match we remember: Only once have the Dutch won
against the Portuguese so far, with the “battle of Nuremberg” being no
exception, when at the World Cup 2006 Round of 16 match the sides received 16
yellow and 4 red cards in total, a FIFA all-time record. The Portuguese managed
to score a goal at some point when the night was young. 1:0.
Two profiles:
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro: I am not sure he will be
happy with an award for the best European player, but despite showing the most
amazing performance ever, CR7 is still not the best in the world, being
overshadowed by Leo Messi. But Ronaldo is lucky to be Portuguese, who, in
comparison with Argentinians, have the right to articipate in the most
important football tournament of 2012. Neither Ronaldo nor Messi reached the
Champions League final, so my opinion is that the Portugal captain can become
the 2012 FIFA Ballon d’Or holder if he helps his national team advance from
their group. Usually a decent performance at a major tournament counts more
than a good season. His dribbling, pace and shots will probably be the most
difficult task of German and Dutch players in the first phase of the
tournament.
The most expensive player in
the history holds the most awards among Euro 2012 participant players. I will
just remind of one achievement of him: he has scored 111 goals in 100 La Liga
matches, and 45 out of these goals are registered during the 2011-2012 season.
Fabio Coentrao: Coentrao is another representative of Real
Madrid’s Portuguese diaspora. He was one of the most prolific players of his
national team at the previous World Cup, where Portugal was stopped at the
Round of 16. He was 22 years old by then.
By the age of 19 he won the
Breakthrough Player of the Year award in Portuguese first division. 3 years
later he won the same award in Primeira Liga. He was then sold to Real Madrid
for a 30 Million Euro fee, where Jose Mourinho was in the process of building a
team to beat FC Barcelona. Mourinho uses Coentrao in the positions of a right
or left defender, winger and even central midfielder.
Coentrao is young, ambitious,
quick and skillful. His experience at the World Cup and in such a team as Real
Madrid makes him one of the most valuable assets of the Portuguese team at Euro
2012.
My prediction:
Cristiano Ronaldo’s incredible form makes Portugal one
of the strongest teams at the Euro. Ronaldo’s teammate at Real, Pepe, is the
biggest hurdle for Portugal’s opponents to score and top European class players
like Nani, Raul Meireles and Joao Moutinho are the representatives of
Portugal’s creative midfield. It is not a secret that Portugal is capable of
reaching the final, once they overcome the group barrier.
However, reaching the quarterfinals may be the
greatest ever challenge for Portugal national team. You have to be absolutely
clinical to qualify from a group where the two runners-up of the last two major
tournaments are waiting for you, along with the team, who outperformed you
during the last two qualification campaigns. Scores like 4:4 and 5:3 against
Cyprus and Iceland don’t advocate for Portugal. Several reasons could be
mentioned in favor of their failure at the Euro, including the ineffectiveness
of Ronaldo in the national team, dependency of captain’s shape, inexperienced
coach and unstableness. Portugal may be one of the best 4 teams in Europe now,
but they cannot count on quarterfinal-tickets mainly because there are
obviously better teams in their group. The Portuguese won a “Group of Death” at
Euro 2000 when nobody was expecting them to do so, but the circumstances are
very much different now. Better luck with the draw next time!
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* 6+2=3-1 7-7: played 6, won 2, tied 3, lost 1,
scored 7, conceded 7
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