Portugal Team Preview – Overview
Portugal are in danger of going down as the underachieving nearly men in the European Championship. Their golden generation of stars including Luis Figo, Nuno Gomes, Rui Costa and Simao couldn’t win the tournament and it would be a travesty if their greatest ever star Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t cap a fine career with an international tournament success.
Portugal have played in this tournament six times and have made the semi-finals on three occasions. Having qualified for every competition since 1996 they are no strangers to the tournament and they will be hoping the luck that deserted them especially in 2004 and 2012 will be with them here. If it is don’t rule out a talented side.
Statistics
Best Performance – Semi-finalists (1984, 2000 & 2012)
Previous Appearances – 6 (1984, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 & 2012)
Qualified – Group I Winner
Qualifying Record
P-8 W-7 D-0 L-1 GF-11 GA-5 PTS-22
Fixtures
Portugal vs Iceland – Tuesday 14th June, kickoff 20:00 at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne
Portugal vs Austria – Saturday 18th June, kickoff 20:00 at Parc des Princes, Paris
Hungary vs Portugal – Wednesday 22nd June, kickoff 17:00 at Parc OL, Lyon
Squad
Manager: Fernando Santos
Goalkeepers: Rui Patrício (Sporting CP), Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Eduardo (Dínamo Zagreb).
Defenders: Vieirinha (Wolfsburg), Cédric (Southampton), Pepe (Real Madrid), Ricardo Carvalho (Monaco), Bruno Alves (Fenerbahçe), José Fonte (Southampton), Eliseu (Benfica), Raphael Guerreiro (Lorient).
Midfielders: William Carvalho (Sporting CP), Danilo Pereira (Porto), João Moutinho (Monaco), Renato Sanches (Benfica), Adrien Silva (Sporting CP), André Gomes (Valencia), João Mário (Sporting CP).
Forwards: Rafa Silva (Braga), Ricardo Quaresma (Beşiktaş), Nani (Fenerbahçe), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Éder (Lille).
Betting
There aren’t any bets on the Portuguese markets that I like. Cristiano Ronaldo is my main bet to be the top scorer in the tournament so I’m fully expecting him to be the top scorer for Portugal but his price is nothing to write home about or lure us in.
As I’ve said elsewhere there is no guarantee that Portugal win the group which makes betting on their tournament progress more difficult so I think the best move with regards to Portugal in these markets is to leave them alone.
Tips
No Bet
