South Africa World Cup 2010 Group G: Portugal

GROUP G

Brazil North Korea Ivory Coast Portugal

Portugal

Road to South Africa

A long and winding road so rocky the 2006 semi-finalists almost spun off and missed their destination.

After a reassuring 4-0 opener away to Malta, Carlos Queiroz's team conceded two last-gasp goals at home to Denmark which seemed to knock the stuffing out of them: Three consecutive 0-0 draws followed to leave them peering into the abyss, stuck in fourth place in Group One with only three games remaining. With the soccer world on tenterhooks to see if the FIFA World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo would miss out on the big show, the Lusitanians remembered their pedigree and won their final three matches. Sweden's loss to Denmark in Copenhagen propelled a grateful Portugal into a two-legged playoff with Bosnia-Herzegovina, and they came away twice victorious by 1-0 to finally reach South Africa.

Fixtures

Portugal Kit 1 Copyright © Soccerphile	Portugal Kit 2 Copyright © Soccerphile

Portugal v Ivory Coast 15 June; Port Elizabeth
Portugal v North Korea 21 June; Cape Town
Portugal v Brazil 25 June; Durban

Analysis

A stumbling qualification that looked dead and buried at one point cannot be ignored. On route to South Africa, Portugal's biggest problem was simply finding the net.

As always, Portugal's possession-based 4-3-3 system omits a predatory striker of the likes of Didier Drogba or Luis Fabiano, two aces they will come up against in the group stage. Liedson, like Deco and Pepe a naturalised Brazilian, is the likely centre-forward starter ahead of Werder Bremen's Hugo Almeida, but his name still raises eyebrows because he has played only six times for the national team. Portugal is hoping that at 32 years of age he still has some goals in him, having twice been the domestic league's top scorer in the past five years with 102 in 186 appearances for Sporting Lisbon.

Portugal's top scorer in qualifying was Atletico Madrid's diminutive Simao, who is more of a winger than a forward. The 30 year-old, the team's most-capped outfield player behind reserve striker Nuno Gomes, netted four times in the qualifiers. Simao remains the best best for making headway against opposing defences, unless Nani can raise his game.

The defence should still be as mean as it was in 2006 with the experience of Porto's Bruno Alves and Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho marshaling the middle, augmented by the additional shield of Real Madrid's defensive midfielder Pepe. Both he and Alves (twice) added goals in the qualifiers. Chelsea's Jose Bosingwa is a flying full-back and Blues teammate Paulo Ferreira adds to the backline's reputation.

The orchestration in the middle is in the hands of some old troopers, Deco and Tiago, though the emergence of Raul Meireles adds a new option.

That leaves the diamond in the rough that is Cristiano Ronaldo. Although Queiroz's time with him at Old Trafford means he should know how to get the best out of him, the Real galactico has rarely translated his club form into international brilliance. Yet woe betide he who writes off the team with that man in its starting eleven. Ronaldo could produce a flash of genius to turn a losing situation into a winning one, as Eusebio did for Portugal against North Korea in 1966. Or, he could be marked out the game, lose his rag and strike out in more ways than one.

Portugal cannot vary their innate playing style, so can only hope to advance by doing what they know best - building slowly from the back, working the middle and engaging their high-speed flankers Nani and Ronaldo to pierce their adversaries' armour.

Assuming the first half of their qualifying campaign was an aberration, Portugal remain a technically-gifted and well-organized European qualifier who will pass the ball fluently and score some goals, but as at Euro 2008, they remain vulnerable to more muscular adversaries such as Germany or Brazil. Like it or not, at the highest level these days, skill just is not enough.

Key player: Cristiano Ronaldo

When you enter a sport's premier tournament having been crowned its greatest practitioner, you have a lot resting on your shoulders.

It is too early to say how his first season at Real will affect his World Cup showing, as injury has limited him to only nine La Liga outings before Christmas, although he started with aplomb by netting in the opening four.

Used by Queiroz as a shadow striker in a freer role than on the flank, Ronaldo failed to score and rarely thrilled throughout the qualifers. In a frustrating 0-0 draw at home to Albania the captain was even booed by his own fans for trying to dribble too much. When he is on the field, anything can happen, which includes disappointing inefficacy, stunning free-kicks, ugly red cards and spectacular goals.

One to watch: Raul Meireles

Young players have been slow to emerge in Queiroz's national team, leading to suspicions the golden spring has dried up.

This 26 year-old however has cemented a place in his country's eleven since breaking into the team after the last World Cup, following solid domestic displays with Porto.

A central midfielder with a defensive heritage but who also likes to join in attacks, Meireles does not score as often as fans would like but is an important link player with his accurate passing and tough tackling. Not averse to the odd long-range pop at goal, it was his cool finish in Zenica that ensured World Cup qualification for his country in the deciding play-off.

With Deco struggling to impose himself at Chelsea and doubts growing that he can eke out another dominant tournament performance, the onus could be on Meireles to pull Portugal's strings.

Coach: Carlos Queiroz

The former Real Madrid coach and Manchester United assistant has had a career of ups and downs. An undoubtedly fine technician, he did more than anyone to nurture Portugal's famous Golden Generation, guiding the country's U20 team to two World Cups. But memories of his failure to lead his star academy to Euro '92 and USA '94 were revived in the media during the latest qualifying travails, and the country remains at best lukewarm in support of him.

Failure to land the big prizes at Sporting Lisbon and Real Madrid also chime, but it is more his deadpan persona which has failed to win over the fans. Where predecessor Luis Felipe Scolari was the flamboyant 'Big Phil', Queiroz is the studious bureaucrat who criticises his players for following playboy lifestyles instead of good old-fashioned discipline. "Work is a word nobody wants to hear." he recently intoned.

Record

1986, 2002 First Round; 2006 Fourth Place; 1966 Third Place.

FIFA Ranking

Predictions & Latest Odds

Early flight home for Carlos and Ron.
World Cup Betting

How they qualified

Second in European qualifying group 1 behind Denmark, then won a play off 2-0 against Bosnia.

On the sidelines

Luís Figo is the most capped Portuguese player with 127.
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Soccerphile says

Portugal have consistently been in the top ten FIFA World Rankings for the last five years and despite a brief fall to 17th last autumn, are currently back up to fifth position. But a quarter-final exit to Germany at Euro 2008 and a stumbling run to South Africa have raised too many doubts about the team for us to expect they will comfortably repeat their 2006 achievement of reaching the last four.

There are few teams who will be more feared 20 yards from goal, but the current crop of midfielders failed to unlock Sweden twice and Albania on one occasion in the qualifiers.

They might boast the world's finest individual talent, but while Ronaldo can dazzle, as a skipper he does not seem to possess the personality cult Diego Maradona used to haul his moderate team to victory in 1986. There is no dominant character to lead the team like Figo or Rui Costa anymore.

While they have it in them to qualify for the knock-out stages, with two superior-looking nations to overcome in the first round, Portugal are still up very much against it. "We have been handed a very complicated group," Ronaldo confirmed. "To get through we have to be at our best." While FIFA stats place them as the fifth-best of the qualifiers, the bookies rate them as the ninth most likely to win the cup, the same as Ivory Coast, their first opponents in South Africa.

A loss in the opening game with the West Africans would set them off on the wrong foot from which they might not recover. North Korea and Brazil both bring history to clashes with them, but it is hard to see the seleccao de quinas winning both. While the Koreans should prove easy meat, Brazil are surely a tougher nut to crack.

With the golden generation a fading memory, this could be the tournament to herald a cleaning out of the Portuguese closet and a fresh start, albeit with some fallow years in the wilderness. The neutral may be wishing for an Iberian derby with Spain in the second round, but inherent weaknesses in Portugal's playing staff may prevent that from ever happening.

The Squad

Goalkeepers Eduardo (Braga), Daniel Fernandes (Iraklis), Beto (Porto)
Defenders: Miguel (Valencia), Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Bruno Alves (Porto), Rolando (Porto), Ricardo Costa (Lille), Duda (Malaga), Fabio Coentrao (Benfica)
Midfielders: Pedro Mendes (Sporting), Pepe (Real Madrid), Tiago (Atletico Madrid), Deco (Chelsea), Raul Meireles (Porto), Miguel Veloso (Sporting)
Forwards: Simao Sabrosa (Atletico Madrid), Danny (Zenit St Petersburg), Liedson (Sporting), Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Nani (Manchester United)

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