In 1965 he was presented with Ballon d’Or. A year later his nine goals in the FIFA World Cup secured the Golden Shoe. His achievements with the national team and Benfica, for which he scored 638 goals in 614 games, made him Portugal’s first football superstar. His death was particularly felt in the country he represented.
Cristiano Ronaldo: “My emotion is one of sadness. A very important person for Portugal passed away. He was a national symbol, and his passing left the Portuguese people, and the whole world, in sadness.
But it’s a part of life. It’s up to us as players to do our best on the pitch. We know that, one day, each one of us will pass away, so we have to relive the positive things he experienced during his life. He was very important. He won many trophies, both at club level with Benfica and with the national team. He’s a man who will remain in our hearts forever”.
It would be fitting if the current Portuguese team excelled at the World Cup in the year of Eusébio’s passing.
Ricardo Costa: “Portugal is like a school of football. We have a school of great players. All great players want to be playing at great moments. We will be at the World Cup, representing not only the football team, but the whole nation of Portugal”.
Portugal is the most western country of the European mainland.
In the XV century under Henry the Navigator Portugal established the world’s first truly global empire which included Brazil. Today Portuguese is spoken by over 230 million people. It is the official language in nine countries.
In 2006 the country established the world’s first commercial wave farm to produce electricity and in 2012 Portuguese chefs cooked the world’s largest omelet using 145 thousand eggs and a pan that was over 10 m in diameter.
The national team’s first FIFA World Cup qualifier ended in a 9:0 defeat to Spain (1934).
Notable Portuguese football teams include Benfica, Porto and Sporting.
One of the national team’s nicknames is Seleção das Quinas or the Team of the Five after five shields which appear on their emblem.
In charge of the Seleção is former international Paulo Bento. He succeeded Carlos Queiroz and led Portugal to the semifinals of the European Championship in 2012.
João Pereira: “Paulo Bento has the advantage of having been a player. He was an international player who represented Portugal.
He knows what it takes to succeed. He’s a coach who has his own ideas and he isn’t influenced by external factors. That’s very important. He’s a coach who communicates his ideas to us very clearly. He knows what he wants and all the players who work with him are heading in the same direction”.
Paulo Bento: “All coaches have a desire to win games. Everyone is used to that. The teams that play the best usually win. My main objective as a coach is to organize my team tactically the best I can.
You’ve got to get a balance in terms of professional and personal life. Once you have that balance, organization is easier to implement”.
Bento’s attacking philosophy is reflected in his preferred formation which let Portugal score 24 goals in 12 qualifying matches.
João Pereira: “In Portugal, for as long as I can remember, even at youth level, the most common tactical formation is 4-3-3. I have played that way for many years and it’s a system I enjoy. It’s what I’m accustomed to”.
In goal – Rui Patricio who played in all Portugal’s qualifying matches. In front of him Bruno Alves is likely to partner Pepe in central defense.
Fábio Coentrão could feature on the left and João Pereira – on the right.
In midfield Raul Meireles and João Moutinhoare capable of playing on both flanks. Miguel can switch from defense to attack very quickly.
The forward three could be Nani on the right, Cristiano Ronaldo on the left and Hélder Postiga in the center.
Ricardo Costa: “Our team is strong throughout. It’s a team at its best. If we are united and the players are doing well, then we are difficult team to beat”.
This will be the 6th time that Portugal have contested at the FIFA World Cup, but their first in South America.
In 2006 they won the award as the FIFA World Cup’s most entertaining team.
One of Portugal’s best moments came in 2010 when they scored seven times against Korea DPR.
One of their worst was a 3:1 defeat to Morocco which saw them knocked out of the 1986 contest in Mexico.
Portugal have now contested a 129 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, more than any other European team.
Portugal won six and drew three of their matches in the latest round of qualifying, but defeat in Russia consigned them to second place in Europe’s group F.
They faced Sweden in the playoff. In the first leg in Lisbon Ronaldo scored the only goal.
Paulo Bento: “To win 1:0 is the best result you can have in a playoff game. Overall, I believe we played well. We had some good periods in the game. We were solid. That was the key to us getting a good result in the second leg”.
Ricardo Costa: “In Lisbon we were able to win 1:0. Maybe the Swedes felt like getting revenge when we went over there, but our team showed great maturity. Also a phenomenon called Cristiano emerged. When he has one of his good days, Cristiano is an unbelievable player. He decides matches”.
The match in Sweden will be definitely remembered as Portugal captain’s master-class. He downplayed the brace netted by Zlatan Ibrahimović.
João Pereira: “It was a fantastic effort by Ronaldo. We started the match very well and took the lead. Then, all of a sudden, we were losing 2:1. It was a difficult moment because I felt that we had qualification in our own hands. Suddenly, we were letting it slip. Then Ronaldo appeared. He is the best player in the world and he decided the outcome of the match”.
Two more goals from Ronaldo completed his hat trick and confirmed Portugal’s place in the finals.
Cristiano Ronaldo: “I think all goals are special, at least for me they are. I know that it’s part of my culture, my personality.
I like to score goals and I think that all of them are important if we’re going to win. So, in that respect, they are all very important”.
Ricardo Costa: “In those matches, to be honest, he was phenomenal. He almost decided the outcome by himself. He was able to score goals and he worked hard for the team”.
The Portuguese were drawn in group G with Ghana, USA and Germany.
Portugal’s match against the USA takes place in Manaus on the 22nd of June six days after their opening fixture against Germany in Salvador. They’ll conclude the group stage against Ghana on the 26th of June in Brasilia.
Cristiano Ronaldo: “Well, we hope to have a good World Cup. We can’t forget that we had a very difficult qualification. We had to go through the playoffs, as everyone knows. We know that it’s an extremely difficult tournament. Our first priority is to get through the group and then we’ll see what happens”.
Watch FIFA TV VIDEO about Portugal national team:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSyYg_N3zcw
