The Twelve of England twelve, with a more nationalist tone, apparently inspired by his research into Camões and Garrett, but also possibly motivated by the 1890 British Ultimatum, which had provoked a strong anti-British feeling in republican-nationalist circles in Portugal at that time. The legend took a new life when the Portugal national football team made their debut at the 1966 FIFA World Cup hosted in England. Led by eventual top-scorer Eusébio, they reached third place in the tournament. The Portuguese newspaper press gave the fabled team the nickname "Os Magriços", in reference to the "Twelve of England". Although the legend was familiar to
England at the FIFA World Cup FIFA World Cup, the 1958 FIFA World Cup and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Their best ever performance is winning the Cup in the 1966 tournament held in England, whilst they also finished in fourth place in 1990, in Italy, and in 2018 in Russia. Other than that, the team have reached the quarter-finals on nine occasions, the latest of which were at the 2002 (South Korea/Japan) and the 2006 (Germany). England are the only team not representing a sovereign state to win the World Cup, which they did in 1966 when they hosted the finals. They defeated West Germany