With
Euro 2012 kicking-off - it's time to profile the countries taking part, from
their footballing beginnings to the present day.
Coach: Paulo Bento
Play-off Winners
One to Watch: Fabio Coentrao
We visit Portugal for the next in our series of Euro 2012 team profiles. Portugal played their first competitive match as a national football team in 1921. A game which they lost 3-1 to their neighbours and rivals Spain. The Portuguese had their first taste of competitive international tournament play at the 1928 Olympics, then the foremost international tournament in football, reaching the quarter finals before losing to Egypt.
Since
then, Portugal have had mixed fortunes on the international stage, qualifying
for five World Cup Finals, their third
place finish in 1966, the best position
that they’ve achieved to date. In
terms of European competition, the Portuguese have done slightly better, reaching
the European Championships five times,
their defeat to Greece in the final of Euro 2004 on home soil, the closest that
Portugal have come to winning major honours.
The
World Cup of 1966 saw Portugal produce their best ever finish in the
competition. The team which included, Golden Boot winner, Eusebio defeated
Hungary, Bulgaria, Brazil and North Korea before being beaten by eventual
winners England in the semi-final. They went on to defeat the Soviet Union in
the third place play-off, and Eusebio finished the tournament, in England, as
top scorer with nine goals.
Portugal
didn’t qualify for a major tournament again until the European Championships in
1984. There they went on a run to the semi- finals, narrowly losing out in
extra time to, hosts and eventual
champions, France, 3-2 in a thrilling encounter.
Domergue,
France's stand-in left back, put his team ahead in the first-half with a
majestic free-kick. That's how it stayed until late in the second-half when
Jordao equalised for Portugal, with a perfectly placed looping header. Jordao's
volley gave Portugal the lead in extra time but Domergue equalised from close
range for the French before Tigana's forceful run and cross from the right allowed Platini, in the last minute of
extra-time, to control the ball and smash home from six yards out, smashing
Portuguese hearts to dust in the process. A first round exit at Mexico 86 followed.
It
would be ten years before the Portuguese would reach another major tournament.
Euro 96, back in England, would see the coming of age of Portugal’s “Golden
Generation”. The group of players, which included Vitor Baia, Rui Costa,
Fernando Couto and Figo, who’d won the U-20 World Cups of 1989 and 91, had
progressed into the senior ranks and were now delivering relative success at
full international level.
Qualification
was followed by a run to the knock-out stages, where they were defeated 1-0 by
tournament runners-up the Czech Republic, Poborsky doing the damage with an
exquisite lob, leaving Baia stranded. Euro 96 however, was followed by a controversial failure to qualify for France
98.
Portugal
qualified for Euro 2000 as the best runners up. Once there, they went on a
blistering run to the semi-finals, where having been 1-0 up, they lost to a
Golden Goal penalty scored by Zenedine
Zidane. In scenes reminiscent of the above mentioned Euro 84 final, Portugal
conceded the penalty in the last minute of extra time.
There
reaction of the Portuguese players perhaps sums up the changes in the
nature/importance of football that had taken place between the two semi-finals.
Portugal’s fury at the award of the penalty to France resulted in chaos. The
referee was csurrounded and chased round the pitch as scuffles broke out
between players. The scenes, which saw Xavier, Nuno Gomes and current coach
Paulo Bento, receive lengthy suspensions, were an embarrassment to the sport
the World over.
After
a poor showing at World Cup 2002, Luis Felipe Scolari took over management of
the Portuguese. Having just won the World Cup with Brazil, Scolari took
Portugal into Euro 2004, where, as the host nation, they were expected to do
very well. They lost their opening match 2-1 against underdogs Greece, however they re-grouped and went all
the way to the final, defeating England and Holland on their way.
There
they would again face Greece, and again they would lose, this time 1-0. The
result was a huge upset and a massive disappointment for Portugal, who had been
convinced that victory over the minnows from the Aegean would be, more or less,
a formality. Greece, however, proved yet again, that in football, nothing is
ever a forgone conclusion Scolari went on to take Portugal to the World Cup
semi-final two years later, but he would leave after being knocked out in the
last eight of Euro 2008.
Following
defeat in the last sixteen of World Cup 2010, and a doping scandal, Carlos
Queiroz was replaced as coach by Paulo Bento. Bento, a member of the “Golden
Generation”, managed to secure Portugal’s qualification for Euro 2012 via a 6-2
play-off win over Bosnia.
Under
his tutelage, Portugal have only lost once competitively, against group winners
Denmark, and look an altogether different proposition. The players look happier
and more unified, the trademark flair and attacking style of play is back, and
the results in qualifying and the play-off bear this out.
Portugal
have a number of exciting, world class players such as Ronaldo and Nani. Nani
has had a decent season at Manchester United although he has found himself to
be second choice to Ashley Young many times term. Ronaldo, by contrast, is the
first name on the team-sheet for Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid. The number 7 has
been in scintillating form for Los Merengues scoring a staggering 46 league
goals and weighing in with numerous assists as Real swept to the La Liga title,
racking up more than one hundred points.
That
said, keep an eye out for Fabio
Coentrao. A skilful left back with pace
to burn he can also play as a left winger and is an excellent crosser of the
ball, Coentrao plays his club football with Ronaldo at Real Madrid in Spain and
has forged an almost telepathic
understanding with his fellow countryman down Real's left side. So much so in
fact that he has climbed in front of, Brazilian, Marcelo in the Real pecking
order and regularly gets the nod over him for the big games.
Predicting
how Portugal will fare in Poland and Ukraine is difficult, they certainly have
the tools to put a run together and make it to the semi-finals, however, it
depends on whether they can produce their best football on the big stage.
Notoriously slow in qualifying and famously slack in friendlies, recent results
such as their 1-3 defeat at home by Turkey, whilst hardly morale boosting, do
little to cast light on how the Portuguese will acquit themselves in the
tournament proper. What that result did though, was again expose the Portuguese
weakness in central defence, they may struggle against teams who keep the ball
well and press high up the pitch.
With
Paulo Bento they have a coach that all the players respect, which is vitally
important at international level, and things would appear to be on the rise for
them again after a few barren years. Portugal have been drawn in group b along
with Germany, Denmark and Holland. This is the so called "Group of
Death" and it is unfortunate for Bento's men to be in it because they
would have been almost certain to emerge from any of the other groups.
Germany are favourites to finish top, with Holland following close on their
heels and I would expect that this will end up being the case. Whilst Portugal
are not without hope, they will have to be at their very best throughout the
Group stage to have any chance of seeing off such strong rival teams.
By Neil Patterson
Email: neil.b.patterson@gmail.com
Facebook: http://goo.gl/MJce0
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Neil1980
