Portugal

I cant help but feel like Portugal should have done better over the last 10 years. When Porto won the Champions league they had a base of fine Portuguese players who were all class and they lacked a centre forward. Then Ronaldo came along and moved from wide to up front and now they are fine in that area (but still only because of him) but the supporting cast they had is no longer there. The championship winning Porto team is no more and now Portugal is mainly used by South Americans to develop before moving elsewhere in Europe. Benfica have been in a few Europa League finals in the last few years but only 2  of the Benfica squad made the cut to the World Cup and they are back ups not star players. 

Portugal are set up to counter attack and they will look more impressive against bigger teams that will want to play than the smaller teams that will look to defend and play on set pieces i actually think Portugal will get quite far because of this. The group is a tough one and that works in Portugals hands. I was actually in Portugal last week. They believe they will win the World Cup. Mainly because of Ronaldo but also they love Joao Moutinho and they think William Carvalho is going to be a star for them. I have to agree. I looked up some stats yesterday. Moutinho assisted to more goals in qualifying than any other player. Ronaldo is Ronaldo and Carvalho is being rumoured to Manchester United and many other major European teams.

This is Ronaldo’s time to Shine. At 29 this is the World cup when he is his Prime. He is the current world Player of the year and has just won the champions league and is on FIRE!!!! I actually think that Messi is the best footballer in the world but i completely agree that Ronaldo won it this year. My worry for CR is that he doesn’t have the players around him that he has at Madrid. Nani is ok but he is not Di Maria. They are not blessed with the talent that Madrid has to offer so how much will that effect Ronaldo. Don’t get me wrong, If Portugal set up just to counter then they may well win the World cup but if they have to break a team down they will struggle. With Ronaldo they are a contender. If you play him out of the game they are not much better than Greece.

Portugal may well win this group but i think Germany will win the group. It all comes down to who does better in the game between them. I expect them to get out of the group but if they in that will need to be at their best at all times in the tournament. Its going to be a tough road but 8 good games and they may well win it. they wont win it for the record.

Star man: um well they are a bit of a one man team so im going with RONALDO

One to Watch: Carvalho

Predction: 2^nd round/ Quarter finals