World Cup 2022 team guides part 30: Portugal
This article is part of the Guardian’s World Cup 2022 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 32 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from two countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 20 November.
The plan
Recent performances and results have raised doubts about Portugal’s possibilities of going far in this World Cup. In particular, the defeats by Serbia (which sent Fernando Santos’s team to the World Cup qualifying playoff) and Spain (which meant they missed out on the Nations League finals).
The two losses exemplify the team’s current inconsistency as they fluctuate between playing some splendidly attractive football and retreating in fear of conceding and defending badly. The team capable of thrashing Switzerland and the Czech Republic have also struggled in two games against Ireland.
Quick Guide
Portugal group fixtures
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Despite the upheaval, Santos’s optimism heading into the tournament seems as high as ever. In 2016 he announced that the team would not come home until after the final, and they won the Euros. This time he has only said: “The best is yet to come [from this team] and it will come this year. I can’t be more concrete than that.”
This Portugal squad have enough quality and quantity when it comes to world-class players to think about an unprecedented World Cup title, but they arrive in Qatar with huge question marks around two unavoidable figures. Pepe, who will be 40 next year, has struggled physically, and Cristiano Ronaldo has had to deal with the fact that he is not a certain starter at Manchester United, a situation that has come to a head following his extraordinary interview.
Despite the uncertainties, Santos is likely to stick to his 4-3-3 that often turns into a 4-4-2 as Bernardo Silva moves from the right side of attack and into the middle. Rafael Leão, who has been one of the best players in Serie A this season, is likely to be the main benefactor from Diogo Jota’s injury and will start on the left side of attack.
The coach
Winning Euro 2016 granted Fernando Santos a place in Portuguese football history but recent results have eroded some of the credit he gained. Adding the 2019 Nations League title did not hurt, of course, but elimination in the last 16 from the 2018 World Cup and, especially, Euro 2020 as well as the struggles to reach Qatar has increased criticism of the 68-year-old. Santos appears unruffled though and when asked about his future after the Nations League loss to Spain he said: “This defeat doesn’t concern me at all. We conceded a goal at the end, that’s it. I have a contract until 2024 and that’s it.” However that contract has also caused some damage to his reputation as he belatedly had to pay €4.5m in tax to the authorities after it was discovered that he was being paid through a company, rather than as an individual.
Star player
“My path with the national team is not over yet,” Cristiano Ronaldo said when receiving an award from the Portuguese FA in September. “I still feel motivated and my ambitions are as high as ever. I want to continue being part of the team for the World Cup and the 2024 European Championship.” However, there were already doubts about his situation at Manchester United then and it has not got any better in the weeks leading up to the World Cup, with the early walkout against Spurs the nadir. Ronaldo apologised on social media, saying “sometimes the heat of the moment gets the better of you” but Portugal’s record goalscorer cannot possibly be in the best shape going into the tournament, even before that interview.
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates a hat-trick against Spain at the 2018 World Cup but there are huge concerns around his form now. Photograph: Francisco Seco/AP
Unsung hero
A winner of both Euro 2016 and the Nations League in 2019, William Carvalho has now been an essential part of the Portuguese success story under Santos for longer than many people think. He has made more than 70 international appearances but Carvalho still struggles to get the recognition he deserves with the national team. True, there are more flamboyant players who hog the headlines but it feels as if “Sir William” is going through one the most consistent periods of his career, playing at a high level for Real Betis.
Probable lineup
Qatar stance
Santos and the players had avoided talking about the controversy around the choice of Qatar to host the World Cup and the issues surrounding human rights and conditions for the construction workers at the stadiums, until Bruno Fernandes voiced his concerns on 13 November. “We know the surroundings of the World Cup,” he said, “about the people who have died on the construction of the stadiums. We are not happy about that at all. We want football to be for everyone, everyone has to be included and involved in a World Cup because a World Cup is the world. It’s for everyone, it doesn’t matter who.”
National anthem
Patriotic from the start, A Portuguesa was written in 1890 (lyrics by Henrique Lopes de Mendonça and music by Alfredo Keil), and appealed to national pride in the face of the “English ultimatum”, which forced Portugal to withdraw from the African territories between Angola and Mozambique. It begins by talking about “heroes of the sea”, “noble people” and a “brave nation”, and ends with a combative message: “For the country, fight. Against the cannons, march, march!” It only became the national anthem in 1911, a year after Portugal had become a republic.
All-time cult hero
Paulo Futre is a Portuguese legend who played at the 1986 World Cup aged just 20 but had the misfortune to represent his country at the time when they often missed out on major tournaments. He still managed to enchant the country with a mesmerising left foot and played for all of the big three in Portugal, also becoming a hero at Atlético Madrid. Continued to create headlines after his retirement: in 2011, as a candidate to become Sporting president, he said he would sign a Chinese player and organise charter flights from the country for 400 to 500 people to watch games each week. Recently got Lionel Messi’s autograph. “In my life I only asked for an autograph from one player: Diego Maradona,” he said. “And as there have been only two lefties better than me, I also wanted Messi’s now.”
Nuno Travassos writes for Maisfutebol. Follow him here on Twitter.