The is controlled by the
Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and is currently one of the strongest teams in Europe, finishing 4th at the
Last World Cup . Portugal have qualified four times for the
FIFA World Cup ;
1966 ,
1986 ,
2002 and
2006 . The first appearance saw them reach the semi final, losing 2-1 at
Wembley to the eventual world champions
England . Portugal finished in third place and
Eusébio was considered the best player of the tournament. The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup were
1986 and
2002 , with Portugal going out in the first round both times after surprise defeats to
Morocco ,
United States and
South Korea . In the 1986 tournament, players
Went On Strike over prize-money and refused to train between their first and the second games.
In 2003, the Portuguese Football Federation decided to hire
Luiz Felipe Scolari , the Brazilian who had led the
Brazil National Football Team to win the
2002 FIFA World Cup . Scolari led Portugal to the final of
Euro 2004 (The European Championships), where they lost to
Greece , and to their second World Cup semi final in 2006, where they lost to
France . The Portuguese were unable to equal Eusebio's 1966 third place finish as they lost to hosts
Germany 3-1 on
July 8 in
Stuttgart , finishing in fourth place in the 2006 World Cup.
The team started out with three wins in the group stage where they were in Group C when they beat
Hungary ,
Bulgaria and two-time defending champions
Brazil . Secondly they beat surprise quarter-finalist
Korea DPR 5-3, with
Eusébio getting four markers to overturn a 0-3 deficit. Later, they reached the semifinals where they were beaten by hosts
England 2-1. Portugal then defeated
USSR 2-1 in the third place match for their best World Cup finish to date.
Eusébio was the top scorer of the World Cup with nine goals.
Eusébio played in the 1970 and 1974 World Cup qualifiers but Portugal failed to make the tournament Finals.
In qualification round, Portugal had to beat
West Germany in
Stuttgart in the last qualifying game to be able to go through to the final round. Portugal won 0-1 and become the first team to beat West Germany at their home ground in an official match. Portugal was a fan favourite to make a good campaign because of their 1984 Euro Cup. The team exited early in the group stages after a win and two losses. They started with a 1-0 win to
England . Later they were beaten by
Poland with a score of 1-0 and
Morocco with a score of 3-1.
The team almost qualified for the tournament that was to be hosted by champions.
Portugal entered the tournament as favourites to win Group D. However, they were upset 3-2 by the
United States , at one point being three goals down in the match. They then rebounded with a 4-0 thrashing of
Poland , with Pauleta getting a hat trick.
Needing a draw to advance, they lost the final group game to hosts
South Korea . Argentinian referee
Angel Sanchez sent off
João Vieira Pinto for a tackle on
Park Ji-Sung . Beto was ejected for his second yellow card of the match, reducing Portugal to nine men, and Park scored the winner to allow the Koreans to advance.
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The Portuguese squad qualified for the
2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany under the leadership of manager
Luis Felipe Scolari and came in first place in Group D with victories over
Angola (1-0, goal from
Pauleta ),
Iran (2-0, goals from
Deco and
Cristiano Ronaldo ) and
Mexico (2-1, goals from
Maniche and
Simão ). Only Mexico's
Francisco Fonseca was able to score against Portugal.
Portugal defeated the
Netherlands 1-0 in the Round of 16 on
June 25 in
Nuremberg in one of the ugliest games in World Cup history. The only goal came courtesy of a
Maniche strike in an acrimonious match marked by 16 yellow cards, with 4 players being sent off for a second bookable offense.
On Saturday,
July 1 at
Gelsenkirchen in the quarter-finals Portugal drew with
England but won penalty kicks (3-1) to reach their first World Cup semi-final since the days of
Eusébio , 40 years earlier.
Portugal lost to
France (1-0) in the semi-finals on Wednesday,
July 5 at
Munich . Two players had been forced to sit out due to accumulated bookings from the round of 16 and quarterfinals. It did not help that the team faced a hostile crowd of English and French fans; as
Cristiano Ronaldo was accused of unsportsmanlike behavior. As in the semi-finals of Euro 2000, Portugal was again narrowly defeated by
France , with the decisive goal being a penalty scored by
Zinedine Zidane after
Thierry Henry was awarded a dubious penalty from a foul committed by
Ricardo Carvalho . Portugal could have been awarded a penalty after
Cristiano Ronaldo was pushed down in the box. However, a penalty was not awarded by the referee, and was itself a disputed incident where Ronaldo was accused of diving.
For third place, they faced
Germany in the third place match on
July 8 in
Stuttgart . In this match, like the previous two in which Portugal had a couple of players suspended, the ''Selecção'' had lost Miguel to an injury suffered in the semi-final and
Ricardo Carvalho to suspension, for accumulated yellow cards against Holland and France. Goalkeeper
Ricardo had only conceded one goal in regular play so far (scored by Mexico's
Francisco Fonseca , which would later curiously move to Portugal's own
SL Benfica ). Surprisingly, Figo did not start the match despite having captained the squad in the rest of the tournament. Not unlike the Lusitanians, three of Germany's starters, including captain
Michael Ballack , would not be available due to injury. The first half was scoreless but Portugal had several good chances from
Pauleta and
Deco , forcing
Oliver Kahn to make several saves. In the second half, Portugal was thoroughly routed 3-1 as Germany went up three goals to nil from
Bastian Schweinsteiger 's two goals and an own goal, also off his shot, by Portugal's
Petit . Figo replaced
Pauleta in the 77th minute, regaining his captaincy during the substitution. Although Germany scored another goal shortly after Figo's entrance, he set up
Nuno Gomes 's goal in the 88th minute to help Portugal claw back a marker, which was Portugal's second goal of the knockout round and the first since Maniche's against Holland.
Despite this defeat, the Portuguese public hailed their national team as heroes when they returned home. The team won the Most Entertaining Team award for their play during the 2006
World Cup . The award is always organized through public participation in a poll.
Portugal's "Golden Generation" retired after the 2006 World Cup. The departure of Luís Figo has left Portugal's squad with a new look in midfield that was once taken over by himself and the likes of
Rui Costa and
Sérgio Conceição . The squad attempting to qualify for Euro 2008 will produce a young generation of players from the U-21 squad. Ricardo Quaresma, Joao Moutinho, Nani and Manuel Fernandes, and most importantly, Cristiano Ronaldo are some of the names that could possibly bring future success to Portugal.
Draws include knockout matches decided on
Penalty Kicks .
This was the first time that Portugal ever entered the European Championship. In the qualifying round, the team almost didn't qualify, but a 1-0 victory over
USSR in the last game made it possible. Portugal ended in group B, alongside Spain, West Germany and Romania. In the first two games, they tied 0-0 and 1-1 against
West Germany and
Spain , respectively. A 1-0 win over
Romania gave them the second place in the group, which was enough to went through to the elimination round.
They would play against hosts, France, in one of the most excited matches in Euro Cup history.
France scored first, but Portugal tied it almost an hour later. The game ended and the two teams would play in extra time. Portugal made 2-1 in the first half and both teams could have scored more goals. In the second half France scored with six minutes to go and in the last one. Portugal had been eliminated in the semi-finals.
In the final tournament, Portugal tied 1-1 with European Champions
Denmark , won 1-0 to
Turkey and
Croatia by 3-0, finishing first in their group. In the quarter-finals they lost 1-0 to losing finalists,
Czech Republic .
This tournament was the inaugural success of the so-called "
Golden Generation ", captained by
Luís Figo . They defeated England, Romania, and Germany to finish atop their group and then defeated Turkey in the quarter-finals.
In the semi-final meeting with World Cup holders France, Portugal scored first. However, France equalized and Portugal was eliminated in extra time by a
Golden Goal when
Zinedine Zidane converted a penalty. Austrian referee
Gunter Benko controversially awarded the spot kick for a handball after
Abel Xavier blocked a shot from
Sylvain Wiltord . (Benko initially gave France a corner but changed his mind after consulting with a Slovak linesman Igor Sramka). Abel Xavier,
Nuno Gomes and
Paulo Bento were given lengthy suspensions for shoving the referee.
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This tournament was held in
Portugal . Portugal, as the host nation, went all the way through to the final where they were eventually beaten by
Greece 1-0 by a goal from Greek striker,
Angelos Charisteas . Previously, on the opening match, Greece beat Portugal 2-1. This is the first time in the history of the competition that the final featured the same two teams as the opening match.
See Also: UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group A
Here are the complete group standing as of
September 8 ,
2007 :
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"http://wwwportugoalnet" class="copylinks" target="_blank">Portugoalnet The definitive Portuguese football site (in English )
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