Omens/ Signs from the heavens: 1. Portugal will be appearing in its 7th World Cup Tournament. Portugal won its first European Tournament in Euro 2016, which was its 7th appearance. 2. Portugal won Euro 2016 in France. WC 2018 is in Russia. Both countries flags have the same colours: Red, white, and blue. 3. When Portugal won Euro 2016, Eder played in Lille for France. now Eder plays in Russia for Lokomotiv. 4. CR7 won his first champions league title in 2008 with Manchester United at the Luzniki Stadium in Moscow. 10 years later, the final of the World Cup will be in that same stadium. Actual Soccer-related stuff 1. Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro. 2. Portugal has depth, Ronaldo, a reliable striker now (Andre Silva), Pepe, and good midfielders and keeper. also they are european champions. 3. Most top international teams have some weakness, and Portugal really does not IMO have any glaring weakness, other than aging central defence. they also have a superstar captain to lead them and score important goals. 4. Portugal's only good world cup performances in history came in WC's hosted in Europe, as 2018 will be. 5. Portugal played Confeds in Russia 2017, so I think they will know what to expect in terms of accommodations and pitches. I just generally feel like its Portugal's time now. We won the Euro, Ronaldo will win another Ballon Dor. Look at the list of ballon dor winners and Portugal is near the top. The odd thing is Portugal never been to a WC final. I think 2018 will be our turn, just like Spain won in 2010, and Netherlands has been to 3 finals. Spain won Euro, then we won Euro. They won WC in 2010 maybe now its our turn, our histories closely follow each other in many areas and football isn't much different (i..e Real Madrid dominance in the 50s was followed by Benfica in the early 60s). I predict Portugal will be in the final and win. Likely opponents: Brazil, Germany, Spain, but part of my gut feels like maybe Argentina. A showdown between Ronaldo and Messi would be epic. feel free to add if anyone has anything else to add.
You forgot one thing: Infantino in our back pocket. Other than that i think you are spot on. We haven't been able to field this good of a team since 2006.
1. Ronaldo is having a great season 2. Bernardo Silva is MC`s best player 3. The top Center Backs are entering their prime. 4. Renato Sanches
In defense against your sarcastic post, Ronaldo is just saving himself for the World Cup. Just like how he saved himself for the Euro.
in all honesty, i think many of the reasons given dont really make sense to me. In truth, ronaldo seems really off.. off to worse start in la liga since his first year in 09 with madrid. could this be the decline? its evident he has been in decline for a couple seasons now, his speed is gone and he needs that extra chance per game to score the goal. either way, its hard to disregard him.. especially when wearing the red and green. andre silva isnt as consistent as i would like, tho he does create problems in the box for CB's.. whether he scores or not he creates anxious defenders and with the talent around him.. someone will surely take advantage. william ultimately is the key to the success of this team.. he is quite possibly one of the best portugal CM midfielders i have ever witnessed and pray for his health/form come next summer. add in the likes of bernardo, gelson, bruma, bruno fernandes, joao mario.. oh.. and renato sanches.. and this team can do some serious damage next summer.
I find it funny how everyone raves about William when a year ago he was shit and ppl were riding danilos bbc I always said William was a top player, in fact I discovered William when I saw him play in a 2012 friendly against penarol in Toronto .
People were shitting on Ronaldo this time last season to, then look what happened. he turned up in the big games. he is currently top goal scorer in champions league. when the business end of the season comes, I wouldn't be surprised to see CR7 dominate the latter rounds of the CL and Real Madrid win the tournament again. As for the league, it looks like they will lose it as they are too far behind. some of Portugal's players not playing every game for their clubs could turn out to be a good thing, they will be less fatigued for the world cup.
Yes, i was at that game too. I have also gotten into very heated arguements with other Portuguese here in Toronto defending William and his selection over Danilo. Understandably so, the Danilo defenders are often Portistas, i however am neither and am absolutely crazy for William and his ability.
You should see how happy the TSN analysts were when CR7 had a bad game against Tottenham. Especially the Polish guy, he was ecstatic.
People always harp on Willaim because of his speed at times. He is a beast and so is Danilo. I could care less who plays. No denying that we got that position covered with these two guys. Didn't you also discover Djalo and Paim?
I think DeVos was the only unbiased analyst they had but he's gone now because the Canadian National Team hired him so we're stuck with all the goons again for the world cup. Fun fun.
Jim Brennan defended Portugal in Forrests face after the Andorra game. Even DeVos was a hater but Forrest and Dobson were disgusting together.
Here's why Portugal will win the world cup: In the 2002 World Cup, South Korea beat Italy in the last 16, Spain in the quarters and lost to Germany in the semis. Italy won the next World Cup in 2006, Spain in 2010 and Germany in 2014. Who did South Korea play in their last group stage game in 2002? The champions of 2018 Russia.
Brazil won its first world Cup in 1958, the last time Italy didn't qualify 1978 Argentina won at home 1998 France won at home Portugal 2018 in Russia ?
Netherlands, Italia & Chile miss out. Everyone loves to rank them above us but now we're definitely top 4 favorites.