Portugal
Cheers and fears
We can win it!” Luiz Felipe Scolari has said it, Cristiano Ronaldo has said it, and the entire squad seems to believe that they have enough quality to go all the way this summer.
But the public are not as optimistic. After the erratic qualifying campaign, there are fears that Portugal could be the finals’ biggest flop.
Is it just Portuguese pessimism? Is it just the fado, the local sad, melancholic style of music, taking over the sentiments of a nation scared of failure after enjoying such great success at the last two major tournaments?
It could be, but it could also be down to cold hard facts. The truth is that the team are in their biggest slump since Big Phil took charge in 2002.
Portugal are going into a fifth straight finals, their longest sequence, but they only scraped through from a qualifying group that did not exactly contain continental heavyweights.
Not only that but Scolari’s men failed to beat any of their three main rivals – Poland, Finland and Serbia – home or away, fermenting fears that there is a lack of leadership and killer instinct after the departures of Costinha, Luis Figo and Pauleta. Although Cristiano Ronaldo is viewed as the best player in the world by many pundits, there are concerns he may not have enough help to get the Iberian nation into the final stages this summer.
That’s where Scolari has to come in, that’s why he makes the big bucks. The Brazilian guru will have to dig deep and use his magical motivational skills to keep the squad believing that they are contenders.
Defeats in friendlies against Italy and Greece earlier this year will hardly have restored confidence, but all will be forgotten if Big Phil comes up with a big plan. Euro 2008 is expected to be Scolari’s swansong as national team coach, and he could use this fact to inspire his pupils to achieve great things one last time.
Best season
As important as Scolari’s words are, they cannot win matches alone, and he will need Ronaldo to be in top form. The Manchester United star
is enjoying the best season of his career and should head into the finals on cloud nine.
The Madeira-born winger scored eight goals in qualifying and will have to keep producing this summer for Portugal to have a chance
of going far. He failed to live up to his potential at the last World Cup, scoring only once in five matches.
With Ronaldo at his best, anything is possible for Portugal. If Deco manages to regain full fitness and Nuno Gomes delivers the
goods up front, the team could become a formidable force.
But failure to get the best out of their favourite son and continued struggles to find the back of the net would spell disaster for
the Euro 2004 runners-up. They would be heading home early to the melancholic tune of the fado.
Interview with Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari
Interview with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo
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