Portugal | Confederations Cup 2017

Portugal will take part in the FIFA Confederations Cup for the first time in the history of the competition. The Fernando Santos’ men won their place in Russia, because they became the European Champions in 2016. This is a good chance for Portugal to win another major international tournament, as there won’t be lots of strong teams in the competition! For sure, Cristiano Ronaldo will give his best to lift another trophy, as he is still hungry for international successes.

The History

As we already mentioned, Portugal will play at The Confederations Cup for the first time. The 2017’s tournament in Russia will be the 10th. The first edition of the cup was held in Saudi Arabia in 1992 and was won by Argentina after a 3-1 victory in the final against the host nation.

The cup has been won by teams from Europe on only 3 occasions (Denmark 1995, France 2001 and 2003). The most successful nation is Brazil – 4 trophies (1997, 2005, 2009 and 2013) and one lost final (1999 to Mexico).

With the absence of Brazil, the biggest favourites for winning the competition are exactly Portugal, alongside with Germany and Chile. However, I think that the Portuguese players won’t have any troubles to find a place in the semi-finals. In my opinion, they are going to reach the final, but I am not sure whether they are to win it.

The Fixtures

18.06.2017 – Portugal vs. Mexico – Kazan Arena

21.06.2017 – Russia vs. Portugal – Otkryriye Arena (Moscow)

24.06.2017 – New Zealand vs. Portugal – Stadion Krestovskyi (St. Petersburg)

The Squad:

Goalkeepers: 1. Rui Patricio (Sporting), 12. Beto (Sporting), 22. Jose Sa (Porto);

Defenders: 2. Bruno Alves (Rangers), 3. Pepe (Real Madrid), 4. Luis Neto (Zenit), 5. Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund), 6. Jose Fonte (West Ham United), 10. Nelson Semedo (Benfica), 19. Eliseu (Benfica), 21. Cedric Soares (Southampton);

Midfielders: 8. Joao Moutinho (Monaco), 13. Danilo (Porto), 14. William Carvalho (Sporting), 15. Andre Gomes (Barcelona), 16. Pizzi (Benfica), 23. Adrien Silva (Sporting);

Forwards: 7. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), 9. Andre Silva (Porto), 11. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), 17. Nani (Valencia), 18. Gelson Martins (Sporting), 20. Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas).

The Coach – Fernando Santos

Santos proved that he is among the best coaches in football after lifting the Euro 2016 cup! He has been a football manager since 1988, so he has a lot of experience in the industry. The coach has quite impressive stats with Portugal, since he took the team in 2014. The Portuguese have recorded 22 victories and 4 draws from 34 matches (64,71 winning percentage).

Fernando Santos was appointed after the disastrous Portugal’s defeat to Albania at the start of the qualifiers for The Euro 2016. After his arrival, the manager recorded 7 consecutive victories in the qualifying group I and saw his team heading towards the finals.

Then, the manager made his players keep a brilliant tactics discipline, which was the crucial part of the biggest Portugal’s international success – the Euro 2016 title. It’s interesting that 7 of the 8 defeats for Portugal with Santos as a manager have been in friendlies! The only official defeat was against Switzerland in a qualifier for The World Cup in 2018. However, when the match is competitive, Portugal look quite scaring for the opponents!

Cristiano is crazy, he is an amazing player! He has only one focus – to win the match. And he works a lot to achieve this. He is the best player in the world, but most importantly – he is my friend. He is a genius – to be a genius you must have a talent, but you should also work a lot. Fernando Santos