Portugal National Football Team

And now the inquests begin, while the cheerful and affable hosts of Euro 2004 go sailing on into the last four, convinced that this is going to be their year? I?ll come back to a dissection of an insipid England performance shortly, but firstly this section is about the Portuguese and pride of place must go to them, so here goes. In the run up to the Portugal v England quarter final clash, we had all the normal tub thumping faux optimism which always surrounds England?s assaults on major competitions ? on a man for man basis THEY said, England were superior throughout the side, and that we ...  Read the complete review

Portugal start their attempt to win the European Championship on home territory tomorrow, but, having flattered to deceive for so long do they have what it takes to be the best in Europe? This is surely the last chance for the 'golden generation' who won the World Youth Cup in the early 90's to prove their worth by winning a major international trophy. Indeed many of that team have been replaced since the World Cup, but those that remain, namely Luis Figo, Rui Costa and Fernando Couto will have a big influence on whether they can be successful. The home crowd could help them go all the way, but could also add intolerable pressure on to the players. ...  Read the complete review

Europe was welcomed to Nuno Gomes last summer when he scored his first ever goal for Portugal against England. As much as I was annoyed to see him score, I have to admit it was a very good goal. The tournament from then on was on the upside for him. I think he scored 4 goals by the end of the tournament. In one of the games (Quarter Final???) he scored both of the two goals for Portugal. He then went on to score a fantastic goal in the semi-final, but even then Portugal lost. He was the third highest goalscorer in the tournament (behind Kluivert and Milosevic.) It was a fantastic achievement for a player that was a second choice striker for Portugal before this ...  Read the complete review

I, can't help but think that the last few minutes of Portugal's euro 2000 will marr the country's repuatation for a while to come. Video replay showed that Xavier did handle the ball, but even if he didn't the players behaviour was appauling, they man handled the ref. pushed the linesman, and started a brawl. Their behaviour was disgusting. Talk about being unable to accept a descion, sometimes they go for you sometimes they don't. That's football. They do have an excellent team, which I beleive will grow and can get better in the next few years. ...  Read the complete review

Having watched Euro 2000 but not really getting overly excited due to Irelands non-participation I was keen to see the performances of both Holland and Portugal. As the competition went on I began to have a certain sinking feeling at the prospects of Ireland reaching the world cup finals in 2002 due to the fact that both these counties will be in our group! Portugal like Holland were unlucky not to reach the final and were let down by a harsh but fair decision for the penalty. The main force in their side would not be Figo as most people think of because of his play for barca leading up to the finals and indeed now that he has moved on to real. For the ...  Read the complete review