Football Blog - Blog about Football!

 

 




Portugal in the 2010 World Cup

Portugal have displayed some impressive football in recent years, having made the finals at UEFA Euro 2004 and semi-finals at Germany 2006. However, they have yet to land a major prize. They have never managed to progress beyond the semi-finals of a FIFA World Cup, but perhaps this year will be the one to change that record, as seen on free bets uk site Freebets.com the odds are looking good. Their Mozambican-born coach Carlos Queiroz has previous experience as the coach of host nation South Africa, a previous role which could prove extremely useful to the Portuguese side. Not only that, but Queiroz has players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe and Deco to call on, and with the reputations of these players already at a high, expectations of the team are sure to reflect this.
Portugal quickly went from being the favourites of their group in the first round to standing on the brink of being eliminated when they won only one of their first five matches. However, they underwent an amazing transformation during the second half qualification, when they scored eight goals without reply in their last four group qualifiers, earning them a play-off spot. In spite of the absence of Ronaldo, their captain and a key player, for their two-legged tie against Bosnia-Herzegovina, they managed to win both home and away to ensure a firm 2 - 0 aggregate victory.
When Portugal first appeared at the FIFA World Cup in England 1966, they set the bar incredibly high for themselves when they achieved a third place finish and a golden boot award for Eusebio. That first appearance remains their best performance at a World Cup to date. Portugal failed to progress past the first stage in both 1986 and 2002, and so Germany 2006 marked a return to FIFA World Cup form for the Portuguese. They remained undefeated for the group phase and went on to overcome the Netherlands and England on their way to the semi-finals, only to lose 1 - 0 against France. They then went down to the hosts in the play-off for third place. South Africa 2010 will mark Portugal’s fifth FIFA World Cup appearance. They are in Group G of the group phase along with Brazil, North Korea and Cote d’Ivoire.

Are you looking for a great place to buy cheap NFL tickets? Well find all kinds of Patriot tickets, Cowboy tickets or Colts tickets here at this sports tickets website.
 
 

© 2006 - FootballNewsBlog.com All Rights Reserved  
This blog is not affiliated with NFL  or any of their teams, partners, entities, subsidiaries, etc.