Portugal
Appearances at World Cups
The Portuguese team appeared in the final part of world cups first in 1966 and immediately won the bronze medals of the tournament. Legendary Eusébio was the power in the team's attack who became the best forward of the WC in the end. For Russian fans, the performance of European Brazilians is memorable because Portugal won the USSR in the third-place match. The next appearance of Portugal in the world championship was 20 years later. While it has turned into a permanent participant of big international tournaments in the last years.
Fernando Santos's collective went to Russia as the first in the group, though it was difficult to believe in it first. Having started the qualification with a defeat by Switzerland and several difficult victories, Portugal continued its road in a more convincing way. By the end of the qualification, they had 27 points in 10 matches, 32 goals and just 4 missed goals. It's clear much turns on Cristiano Ronaldo in this team. But coach Fernando Santos is also able to perform feats.
year | G | W | D | L | М | Total |
1966 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 17-8 | 3 |
1986 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2-4 | 4 th in group |
2002 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6-4 | 3 rd in group |
2006 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7-5 | 4 |
2010 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7-1 | 1/8 |
2014 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4-7 | 3 rd in group |
Total | 26 | 13 | 4 | 9 | 43-29 | — |
Head coach and best player
Who is Fernando Santos for Portugal? It's a coach who won the first big international tournament in the country's history with the national team! This specialist's whole career has passed between two countries – Greece and Portugal. With Greece, Santos went through the group stage in the European championship and at the World Cup and was called a coach of the decade in Greece in late 2010. He's been working with Portugal since 2014 and extended the agreement with this country's football federation until 2020 after the victory at Euro.
It was foretold about 10 years ago the national team of Portugal would die. The generation that was called 'golden' disappeared then. Figo, Costa, Pauleta, João Pinto, Nuno Gomes seemed to be something unbelievable, even Ronaldo didn't look such a strong future of the country next to them. Now it's 2018, and it's simply impossible to imagine the national team without Ronaldo, while the football player and the squad's titles are enough for all former players in total. If Ronaldo avoids injuries and reaches the World Cup in perfect shape, this tournament can easily become a peak in his career in the national team.
- Preliminary squad: Rui Patrício – Semedo, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro – Quaresma, W. Carvalho, Fernandes, Guedes – Ronaldo, André Silva.
Base camp and cities
Saturn training base in Kratovo (near Moscow) will become the base camp of the national team of Portugal. It's where the team will go from to the match against Spain in Sochi and go back to play against Morocco in Moscow. The decisive meeting where Portugal's future will be known will be in Saransk. Portugal will fight against Iran.