Portugal

Second only to France as the most hated team at the World Cup, Portugal set out to overturn a dismal qualifying campaign to once again reassert their worldwide prowess. Naturally this hatred stems from jealousy, England have been knocked out by Portugal in the quarterfinals of the last two competitions they have qualified for – 2004 and 2006 – and in 2002, they got beaten in the quarters by Brazil, a nation who many of the current Portuguese squad are controversially from.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s previous assistant Carlos Queiroz is the man in charge of Portugal and his popularity is not high amongst the Portuguese supporters. Only 1 win in the first 5 qualifiers left Portugal on the brink of embarrassment, and Queiroz took his fair share of the flack. However, a last minute winner by Bruno Alves in Albania created some momentum.

Portugal snuck into second place behind Denmark, squeezing past Sweden into the play-offs where they were drawn against Bosnia and Herzegovina. 1-0 home and away does not show much of a beating, but they did comfortably outplay their eastern opponents.

One potential worry, apart from the group they have been drawn in, is that main man Cristiano Ronaldo failed to even score in qualifying. Anyone who can remember his glory days at Manchester United may have noticed that he tends to overcomplicate things in big matches, trying so hard to create something glorious, he forgets to simply run at his opponents. Also, he does get surrounded by three men as soon as the ball reaches his wondrous feet.

Come the start of the tournament though and no doubt Ronaldo will be back to his same eye-winking, greasy self. Although, he is not the only attacking option they have, usually adopting a 4-3-3 formation. Nani is finally coming into his own at Manchester United and it is hoped he will carry this form into the finals.

In the middle of the front three is one of the Brazilians. Liedson’s years of residency in Portugal means he has finally achieved national citizenship, much to the annoyance of some in the country. However, his 3 goals in 7 caps has done a little to quieten the critics. Expect him to be among the scorers in South Africa.

Behind these three lightning players, Deco and Raul Meireles will conduct. Deco being the creative playmaker, whilst Meireles is more akin to playing a typical box-to-box midfielder role. Expect these two to be running the games, competitive but inventive when on the ball.

One of the most expensive defenders in the world, Pepe, will sit in front of the back four, providing a domineering force in midfield. The Real Madrid star is another man born in Brazil but his doubts remain only in fitness, having picked up a knee injury in the second half of the season.

The back four go on to show the class that Portugal possess, with Paulo Ferreira, Bruno Alves, Ricardo Carvalho and Miguel providing a world-class defensive line. Expect Carvalho especially to be a commanding force, organising his defence and generally keeping goals to a minimum.

Unfortunately for the Seleccao das Quinas, their poor form in qualifying meant that they did not make one of the seeded sides when the groups were made in December. Due to this they were always likely to find themselves in a group with one good side, however, for the Ivory Coast to land in that group also was extremely unfortunate, as Group G became the “Group of Death”.

Brazil may prove too good an opponent, yet the Ivory Coast are beatable, meaning the Portuguese’s first game in the tournament against the Elephants, is probably the pivotal one. If a draw occurs, the outcome may well possibly be decided on goal difference, so good luck to North Korea.

Portugal clearly have the talent, some of their players are the best in the world at what they do. Yet, their performance in qualifying was less than inspiring. Their group in South Africa is hard, but they will probably progress over the Ivory Coast. Portugal’s main problem though, is that their players are all exceptionally talented individuals. The skills, the tricks and the flicks all look good, but the lack of team players may well cost them. They will look to individuals to provide moments of inspiration in every game. A task surely too tall if they want to win every game in the finals.