Portugal national football team

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:National football team The Portugal national football team is the national football team of Portugal and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation.

Portugal has never won any major competition at senior level, but they usually play very attractive football and can produce some great performances, playing head-to-head with the world's best national sides. They reached their first major final at Template:Ec2 (which they hosted) losing to Greece.

Portugal's best performance yet was in the Template:Wc, in their very first World Cup appearance, when they reached the semifinals and lost only to eventual world champions England. Led by their legendary player Eusébio, they put up amazing performances, knocking out previous World Cup champions Brazil and fighting back from a 3-0 result in the quarterfinals against North Korea, winning by 5-3. Portugal eventually finished in third place and Eusébio was considered the best player of the tournament.

The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup saw results that to Portugal's supporters were appalling. In 1986 Portugal arrived in Mexico as semi-finalists of Template:Ec, but a player uprising in Saltillo (later named Saltillo Affair) against poor conditions, followed by harsh punishment against key players involved in the uprising, undermined player confidence. Although they did beat group favourites England in the first game, they lost the remaining games to Poland and Morocco (which turned to be Morocco's first win ever in the World Cup).

Months before the start of the Template:Wc, Portugal lost in the Estádio do Bessa against Finland 1-4. This proved to be a preview of things to come, when Portugal (for some the dark horse in the competition) failed miserably to get through the group stage, after losing to the United States in the opening match 3-2, beating Poland 4-0 but losing 1-0 against South Korea, in a game where João Vieira Pinto punched referee Angel Sanchez after being sent off early in the game. Weeks later, it was revealed that before the final match the players argued with federation representatives about prizes. Before the competition, midfielder Daniel Kenedy was removed from the squad after failing to pass a doping test and replaced with Hugo Viana, who did not play in the competition. This decision, along with leaving qualifying phase goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira on the bench in favour of Vítor Baía, led to much questioning about then-coach António Oliveira's choices.

Few national teams have had to live up to greater expectations than the Portugal team from roughly 1994 to 2004. The Portugal under-20 national team won two successive FIFA World Youth Championships in 1989 and 1991 with a virtual galaxy of stars, among them midfielders Luís Figo and Rui Costa and forward João Vieira Pinto; these stars were dubbed the golden generation. However, they were never able to transfer their success at youth level to ultimate victory at senior level. The remaining members of the "golden generation", along with other players that appeared at the highest level after the 2002 World Cup (such as Maniche, the brazilian-born Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, Miguel and Paulo Ferreira) and younger talent such as Cristiano Ronaldo, finally led Portugal to its first-ever senior-level final at Template:Ec2. Portugal lost 1-0 to Greece in the final. Their only win in any international competition at senior level remains the 1995 SkyDome Cup in Canada.

The team has proven itself equally capable of mediocre performances against inferior teams. On October 9, 2004, Portugal suffered a humiliating 2-2 draw against Liechtenstein in a Template:Wc qualifier. The Liechtenstein team, playing at home, had never earned a point in its previous 20 World Cup qualifiers, and Portugal blew a 2-0 halftime lead. The Portuguese media savaged the team after the draw; one Lisbon paper called the team "Europe's Laughingstock." The team took out its frustrations four days later with a 7-1 demolition of Russia, the largest defeat ever for the Russian side since the demise of the Soviet Union.

On October 8, 2005, Portugal secured its place in the Template:Wc with a closer-than-expected 2-1 home win in Aveiro against the same Liechtenstein team. This time, Portugal fell behind 1-0 at halftime, but came back to avoid an even greater embarrassment.

1 World Cup record
2 European Championship record
3 Famous past players
4 Current squad
5 External links
6 Footnotes

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World Cup record

1930 - Did not enter
1934 to 1962 - Did not qualify
1966 - Third place
1970 to 1982 - Did not qualify
1986 - Round 1
1990 to 1998 - Did not qualify
2002 - Round 1
2006 - Qualified

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European Championship record

1960 to 1980 - Did not qualify
1984 - Semifinals
1988 - Did not qualify
1992 - Did not qualify
1996 - Quarterfinals
2000 - Semifinals
2004 - Runners-up

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Famous past players

Early stars

1966 World Cup Glory

1970`s Generation

Euro 1984 and World Cup 86

Golden Generation

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Current squad

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External links

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Footnotes

Selecção das Quinas refers to the five shields ("Team of the Escutcheons") or the five dots inside them ("Team of the Bezants") in the Portuguese flag, used until the 70s as the shirt badge.

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Categories: European national football teams | Football in Portugal

Portugal national football team

From Free net encyclopedia

Contents

World Cup record

European Championship record

Famous past players

Current squad

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Wingers

Forwards

External links

Footnotes

Views

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