World Cup 2006 Groups: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H

Group D Team Profiles: Mexico | Iran | Angola | Portugal

Portugal

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Portugal team kit

So many of the ingredients are in place for the talented Portuguese that you wonder whether 2006 might be a golden chance to improve on their best finish of third place some forty years before. Led by 2002 World Cup winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, Portugal can lay claim to two of world football's most skilled individuals in Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo as well as the returning, albeit waning Luis Figo.

Furthermore, they have a consistently underrated striker to lead the line in Pauleta, the PSG forward who topped UEFA scoring charts in qualifying and who boasts an international strike rate of 35 goals in 66 games. By contrast English hotshot Michael Owen has 35 in 75 matches.

Can the Euro 2004 losing finalists go one better next year? Definitely. Portugal have the capacity to grind down teams with sustained periods of controlled possession and offer an attacking threat right across that powerful midfield. Having players of the calibre of Benfica captain Simao and Lyon's Tiago on the periphery of the first team also tells a story but they must avoid overly relying on Pauleta - notorious for failing to deliver in major tournaments - for goals.

Portugal Matches

Match # Date & Time Group Teams Result Venue
8 Sun 11th Jun 21:00 D  ANG  POR 0 - 1 Cologne
24 Sat 17th Jun 15:00 D  POR  IRN 2 - 0 Frankfurt
39 Wed 21st Jun 16:00 D  POR  MEX 2 - 1 Gelsenkirchen
52 Sun 25th Jun 21:00 R2  POR  NED 1 - 0 Nuremberg
59 Sat 1st Jul 17:00 QF  ENG  POR 0 - 0 aet
1 - 3 pen		 Gelsenkirchen
62 Wed 5th Jul 21:00 SF  POR  FRA 0 - 1 Munich
63 Sat 8th Jul 21:00 PO  GER  POR 3 - 1 Stuttgart

Match times shown are local times for Germany (CEST/GMT+0200). Click on match date/time to view match statistics.

Past World Cup performance

Key Players

World Cup 2006 Qualification

Squad

Total World Cup 2006
# Posn Name DOB Club Caps Goals Pld Goals OG YC RC
1 GK Ricardo Alexandre 11-02-1976 Sporting POR 57 0 7 0 0 1 0
2 DF Ferreira Paulo 18-01-1979 Chelsea ENG 33 0 3 0 0 1 0
3 DF Caneira Marco 09-02-1979 Sporting POR 15 0 1 0 0 0 0
4 DF Costa Ricardo 16-05-1981 Porto POR 4 0 1 0 0 1 0
5 DF Meira Fernando 05-06-1978 VfB Stuttgart GER 38 2 7 0 0 0 0
6 MF Costinha Francisco 01-12-1974 Dynamo Moscow RUS 50 2 5 0 0 3 1
7 FW Figo Luis 04-11-1972 Inter ITA 128 32 7 0 0 1 0
8 MF Petit Armando 25-09-1976 Benfica POR 43 4 6 0 1 2 0
9 FW Pauleta Pedro 28-04-1973 Paris St-Germain FRA 89 48 6 1 0 1 0
10 MF Viana Hugo 15-01-1983 Valencia ESP 24 1 2 0 0 0 0
11 FW Simao Sabrosa 31-10-1979 Benfica POR 51 10 7 1 0 0 0
12 GK Quim Silva 13-11-1975 Benfica POR 24 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 DF Miguel Luis 04-01-1980 Valencia ESP 35 1 6 0 0 1 0
14 DF Nuno Valente Jorge 12-09-1974 Everton ENG 30 1 6 0 0 2 0
15 FW Boa Morte Luuis 04-08-1977 Fulham ENG 25 1 1 0 0 1 0
16 DF Carvalho Ricardo 18-05-1978 Chelsea ENG 31 1 6 0 0 2 0
17 FW Ronaldo Cristiano 05-02-1985 Manchester Utd. ENG 39 12 6 1 0 1 0
18 MF Maniche Nuno 11-11-1977 Chelsea ENG 39 6 7 2 0 2 0
19 MF Tiago Cardoso 02-05-1981 Lyon FRA 28 0 5 0 0 0 0
20 MF Deco Anderson 27-08-1977 Barcelona ESP 39 3 4 1 0 2 1
21 FW Nuno Gomes Miguel 05-07-1976 Benfica POR 55 24 2 1 0 1 0
22 GK Santos Paulo 08-04-1983 Estrela Amadora POR 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
23 FW Postiga Helder 02-08-1982 Saint-Etienne FRA 27 9 3 0 0 0 0