Even with the World Player of the Year Ronaldo in its ranks and a fair bunch of talented players to rally around him, Portugal seems to have been handed a raw deal.
The Portuguese are placed in a decidedly tough group featuring the clinical Germans, the talented and motivated Ghanians and the Americans, who despite their affinity to ‘football’ always seem to pose difficult questions to the more pedigreed teams in soccer.
If at all the Iberians harbour any hopes of progressing, a lot will depend on whether Ronaldo can recreate the magic of Eusebio, without the heartache of ’66 of course.
His role in 2014 might well be likened to Diego Maradona’s in 1986, when the Argentine dynamo produced moments of magic.
And this is what Maradona has to say about him — “In the form he is in, given the chance, he will score. Cristiano wants to bring his team to the final and show why he should be considered the best player in the world.”
That he possesses the talent to do that is beyond doubt. The Seleccao are in fact indebted to the Real Madrid winger for their place in the quadrennial event, thanks to his famous hat-trick against the Zlatan Ibrahimovic-led Sweden in the play-offs.
But the rest of the team needs to pull its weight too. Players like Joao Moutinho, Miguel Veloso and Raul Meireless in the midfield will have to stand up and be counted.
A settled defence in Pepe, Bruno Alves and Fabio Coentrao should provide adequate cover for Rui Patricio under the bars.
What is of worry for the Portuguese is if not Ronaldo, then who will do the scoring?
While Helder Postiga is its out and out striker, his goal scoring is still not enough to compensate for a bad day at the office for Ronaldo. And on the opposite flank, Nani, though talented, has endured a frustrating time at Manchester United which means that he arrives in Brazil with no worthwhile match-time under him.
Everything then falls on to coach Paulo Bento and how he marshals his resources.
“It’s not a matter of being positive or negative. At the EUROs, we debuted against Germany and lost 1-0, but we played well. We will fight with our weapons, and are certain that we can reach our goals,” was Bento’s observation on his team’s group stage.
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