Steven Petrov
The Paw Print
Argentina was the last team from the so-called “6 Big Contenders” (Brazil, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay and Spain), and after spending two weeks looking into each one of these football “giants” history, trophies, best players, and future expectations for the upcoming Mundial, now it’s time to analyze a group of teams that is never to be underestimated – the “Always Second”. The reason for putting teams like Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and England in the same “group” of teams is simple. They have all had their special “moments” on the football field over the last century, but they have always failed to win the most prestigious trophy in football/soccer – the World Cup.
The national football team of Portugal has always been struggling to keep a consistent and qualitative performance in all of the International tournaments that it has participated in throughout the years. Having never won the World Cup or the European Championship competitions, “Seleção” has been known as a tough opponent, made of phenomenal individual players, but unable to produce as a team. The country’s nickname is very similar to the Brazil’s “Selesao”, due to the historical events and interactions between the two nations that took place back in the 15th century. I don’t know if this interaction has anything to do with the fact that some of the world’s best players have come exactly out of these two football nations, but I would like to believe so.
Portugal has qualified for only 5 out of the 19 World Cups that have been held so far. The team’s first major success came in 1966’s Mundial, where the “legend” of the Portuguese football, Eusebio led his country to the bronze medals. “Seleção” lost the semi-final against the host and future champion, England with 1:2 and failed in reaching their first final. However, the most spectacular performance in the tournament was by far the quarterfinal of Portugal against North Korea. After the first half the Koreans had a 3:0 lead and were sure to go through to their first semi-final in the World Cup competition. The tournament’s top goal-scorer (9 goals) and one of the world’s best players at that time, Eusebio, had a different plan for the second half. He scored 4 goals and single-handedly “destroyed” the North Korean team. If Eusebio was Portugal’s inspiration in 1966, Cristiano Ronaldo has been walking into his idol’s footsteps by helping “Seleção” to reach the final of Euro 2004 and the 4th place in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, with the promising future to even surpass the great Portugal legend. Portugal failed to win the European Championship as a host country in 2004, and C. Ronaldo, as well as all of the other great Portuguese players – Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Nuno Gomes etc., went through a huge disappointment, but came back even stronger 2 years later in Germany’s 2006 World Cup. Winning all 3 of its group stage games, “Seleção” placed first in Group D Subsequent victories against Netherlands (1:0) and a penalty shootout thriller against England (3:1) sent the Portuguese at the semi-finals against France. Unfortunately for Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates, Portugal lost their semi-final match with 0:1 and also lost the third-place game against Germany with 1:3. Cristiano Ronaldo is considered as one of the most complete players to ever play the game and has been breaking all kinds of goal-scoring records in the recent years. Real Madrid’s winger has gained a tremendous amount of experience, confidence, and has also improved his game significantly since the 2006 World Cup. Portugal’s hopes for achieving something “special” in Brazil next summer lie almost fully on Ronaldo’s genius. “Seleção” has a great team with world-class players, but everyone knows that if Cristiano Ronaldo is not at his best, the team will struggle, because they need their goal-scoring “machine” to lead them to the trophy that has always been a dream for “Seleção” as well as for Ronaldo himself. The talented number “7” has won every single club award, and will have the chance to add the biggest trophy in his collection, next summer in Brazil.
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