EURO 2012 Blog

Play-off Winners
Coach: Paulo Bento
One to Watch: Fabio Coentrao

As we approach the summer of 2012 all of our minds, well most of them at least, will turn away from the domestic football competitions within our own countries, towards the International arena for the eagerly awaited European Championship Finals, to be held in Poland and the Ukraine. Within a fortnight from now, the world will know the names of the last four teams/countries, which will join the 12 nations already guaranteed a place at Euro 2012. Over the next three weeks, we shall be profiling each of the 16 finalists who will bid to become the champions of Europe until 2016.

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, 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; 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 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. 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, 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.

Portugal’s fury at the award of the penalty to France resulted in chaos which saw Xavier, Nuno Gomes and current coach Paulo Bento receive lengthy suspensions. 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. There they would again face Greece, and again they would lose, this time 1-0; a huge upset and a massive disappointment for Portugal. 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, but 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 Real Madrid in Spain.

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 the draw they receive and whether they can produce their best football on the big stage. With Paulo Bento they have a coach that all the players respect, which is vitally important at international level, and results would certainly suggest that they are a team on the rise again, however there are some excellent teams in Europe at the moment and I don’t think the Portuguese are quite at that level.

Tags: 1928 olympics, domestic football, euro 2004, euro 2012, first taste, football competitions, fortnight, fortunes, golden boot, home soil, international arena, international stage, national football team, neighbours, north korea, quarter finals, soviet union, team profiles, top scorer, world cup finals

This entry was posted on Friday, December 9th, 2011 at 07:57 and is filed under Group B, Team Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.