Portugal: Heirs to a “Golden Generation”

Forty years have passed since Portugal celebrated their only noteworthy success at the football World Cup. In 1966 in England, the team with superstar Eusébio da Silva Ferreira captured the hearts of the fans with refreshing attacking football. They finished with the bronze medal, defeated only by the eventual World Cup champions, England, in the semi-finals (2-1). But in spite of some chronic form, the reigning European runners-up confidently approach their fourth World Cup attempt in Germany. And not simply because their coach is Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian who led his home-country to their fifth World Cup title four years ago in Japan and Korea.

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The 57-year-old has been in charge of Portugal’s national team since the beginning of 2003 and tries to impose his football philosophy on the European “Selecção”. This, however, is completely different from the game Eusébio and Co played back in 1966, because a well organised defence enjoys priority. But his players seem to have grasped it. This enabled the EURO 2004 hosts an easy run in qualifying Group Three. Only three draws with Slovakia, Russia and the football-minnows Liechtenstein tarnished the otherwise unblemished record from twelve qualifying matches. They red-greens proved they could reproduce the attacking tradition of the 1966 team by scoring 35 goals – no other team in Europe scored more. Among them was the devastating 7-1 over Russia in Lisbon.

Pedro Miguel Carreiro Resendes, named “Pauleta”, was the highest European goalscorer in the qualifications with 11 goals, and has been the country’s leading international scorer with 42 since his two goals in the 3-0 victory over Latvia. The 32-year-old from Paris St. Germain thus overtook his great idol Eusébio (41). But the “Eagle of the Azores” does not particularly approve of any comparison with the 1966 World Cup’s top goalscorer (nine goals):“It was an important achievement for me to improve the record. But in spite of that: Eusébio will always be Eusébio. I cannot at all compare myself with him. He will always remain the best Portuguese player of all time”. Pauleta’s congenial attacking partner is Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored seven times in the qualifiers. Many experts think the 20-year-old, lightning-fast winger of Manchester United is heading for a successful career. As alternatives, Scolari has further high-class players, with Simão, 26, and Nuno Gomes, 29, both of Benfica Lisbon, and Hélder Postiga (23, FC Porto).

The showpiece is, however, the defence, as to be expected from such a fanatical disciplinarian as Scolari. It is certainly not by chance only that Chelsea FC, repository of many stars, contracted two gems of Scolari’s defence -- right defender Paulo Ferreira, 26, and Ricardo Carvalho, 27. Carvalho’s regular partner in inside defence is Jorge Andrade, 27, of Deportivo La Coruña. Fernando Meira of VfB Stuttgart, the only Bundesliga legionnaire in the extended squad, is considered the first alternative in that position. Goalkeeper Number 1 is Ricardo, 29, of Sporting Lisbon, a partner of Continental AG.

It remains a mystery why a nation that produced so many great football players, from Eusébio, the “black panther from Mozambique” to António Simoes, José Augusto, Paulo Futre, Joao Pinto, Fernando Couto, Paulo Sousa and Rui Costa, and collected so many junior titles (twice junior World Cup champions, twice U18, once U17 and four times U16 European champions) could qualify for World Cup finals only three times. In 1986 and 2002 they were disappointingly eliminated in the first round.

Everything should be better at the World Cup in Germany. “Our minimum aim is the quarter-finals. We desperately want to prove that we are among the best eight teams in the world”, Pauleta says. His coach’s aim is even higher: “Our goal is the World Cup final”, Scolari announces self-confidently. After a drop to 43 seven years ago, Portugal have constantly been among the top 10 in the FIFA World Rankings for a year and are currently in ninth position, together with England (as of October 2005).

The Portuguese national team will reside in Bonn during the 2006 World Cup. It is not far from Steigenberger Hotel Venusberg, where German record champions FC Bayern Munich prepared for the Bundesliga season in the summer of 2004 and 2005, to the training facilities offered by the sports science institute of Bonn University.