Outright Odds: 22/one
Group D Winners: 5/6
After a disastrous 2002 Planet Cup, during which they completed base of their team adhering to defeats by each The us and South Korea, Portugal will be looking to lastly live up for their prospective around the Worldwide stage.
Qualification was a breeze. They remained unbeaten in their team and concluded 7 factors obvious at the top. Portugal meant business enterprise On this group, Placing 11 previous Luxembourg throughout two legs and hammering next-favourites Russia 7-1 at your house.
The charismatic Luiz Felipe Scolari, or Huge Phil to his buddies, has constructed a brand new crew to interchange the ageing or retired underachievers for instance Rui Costa, Joao Pinto and Some others Whilst Luis Figo, now entering veteran standing and out of retirement, will likely be current in Germany. Irrespective of guiding Portugal to the final of Euro 2004 and emphatic Planet Cup qualification, the general public remain not certain He's The person for the task.
The teams core relies all around 4 gamers who won the Champions League with FC Porto in 2004. Defenders Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira and midfielder Maniche now all at Chelsea and Costinha, now at Dinamo Moscow offer a solid base with the attack-minded stars to mess around.
Attacking gamers like Cristiano Ronaldo, Simao Sabrosa and naturalised Brazilian Deco compliment the facet correctly and build many chances for striker Pauleta. The Paris St. Germain hitman overtook Eusebios file of 41 Intercontinental targets with a formidable haul of 11 in qualifying, making him the eu zones best goalscorer.
Manchester United winger Ronaldo could illuminate the finals with his skills and coveted move-overs. He weighed in with seven qualifying ambitions from midfield, raising his Fantasy Football inventory considerably.
Portugal have all the makings of a Environment Cup successful facet: a good defence, Extraordinary good quality and goalscoring possible from midfield and Europes deadliest striker in qualifying.
Their key downfall appears to be the goalkeeping place. Sporting Lisbons Ricardo and Quim from Benfica are both of those vying for your jersey Even though the supporters choice is apparently out-of-favour Vitor Baia. A veteran from the 2002 Environment Cup facet, 36-12 months-outdated Baia was omitted from Scolaris remaining 23 카지노사이트 inside the Euro 2004 squad.
Proposed Wager:
The underachieving squad from the earlier have Nearly all been changed by a brand-new crop of young expertise. Aged stagers Luis Figo and Pauleta will look for a last swansong, While using the latter a sound Each individual-way guess for top goalscorer position.
Portugal to get Group D @ 5/6
E/W Pauleta as top goalscorer @ 40/1