|
 Hello and welcome to the Portugal thread. But what is a Portugal and why should you care? Well, let's find out together.  From this map we can see that in essence Portugal is a low-effort bit of world-building after somebody pointed out that having all of Iberia be one big country would be "boring." So they chopped out a little rectangle in the south-west and named it Portugal after the port of Porto because of their profound national fondness for seamen. In the following centuries, sexy sexy seamen flooded the globe in the Age of Exploration, bringing wealth and status to this funny little quadrilateral of land on the edge of Europe. Perhaps most notably in 1500 the area which would later be known as Brazil (a famously sexy country to this day) was claimed for Portugal, but this period also saw colonies established in Africa, Asia, and several small islands. Since the 1970s nearly all of these overseas possessions have become independent, with the exception of the Atlantic islands of Madeira and the Azores. What does any of this have to do with footing the balls? Portugal is a relatively small nation, with a population of somewhere around ten million people. However, they are generally considered one of the stronger footballing nations in Europe and the world, thanks at least in part to their colonial history and ability to draw on players from their former empire. For example, Portugal's best ever finish in the World Cup was in 1966 when they placed third, with a team led by legendary striker Eusébio who was born in what is now Mozambique. A number of current squad players were also born outside Portugal, such as William Carvalho (Angola) and Pepe (Brazil) And remember those islands that are still part of Portugal? Well, on the 5th of February 1985, in the city of Funchal on the island of Madeira, this man was born:  *actual size Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, or "Ronald" as he is affectionately known in these parts, is inarguably one of the greatest footballers in history. His list of records and achievements is too long to go into here, but as a quick overview he has scored more international goals than any other player, won the Ballon d'Or award for the best player in the world five times, quite possibly scored more professional football goals overall than any other player (depending on how you count them), won the Champions League five times,and led Portugal to victory in the 2016 European Football Championship. Following our sexy sex theme, he also [REDACTED] Perhaps the one thing missing from Ronald's medal haul is a World Cup, and at the age of 37 this is quite possibly his last chance. It wouldn't be beyond the realms of credibility for him to turn up in MexiCanadAmerica 2026, but his powers are definitely on the wane and even his remarkable drive and dedication to the sport must end somewhere. Who else is in the squad? Average Lettuce posted:https://twitter.com/selecaoportugal/status/1590759295523905537 What are their chances? Ehhhh... middling at best, to be honest. Their group has four teams who would all be considered at least decent, with no obvious minnows.  v. Ghana 24/11 16:00 v. Uruguay 28/11 19:00 v. South Korea 02/12 15:00 Portugal and Uruguay are favourites to progress, but Ghana and South Korea will both be dangerous opponents. And topping the group is likely to be important, because the second-placed team from Group H will play the winners of Group G in the second round, and that is likely to be Brazil, the outright tournament favourites. So ideally Portugal would win the group and play the runners-up from that group instead, setting up a potential quarter-final against probably either Spain or Germany. Then a semi-final which could well be against the reigning world champions France, and then whoever they meet in the final is also likely to be a huge challenge. One intriguing possibility would be a showdown with Argentina, led by Ronald's long-term rival and fellow GOAT candidate Lionel Messi who is also nearing the end of his career still lacking a World Cup medal from his trophy cabinet. But realistically, this is not a vintage Portugal side, requiring a play-off to qualify for the tournament after losing their final group match to Serbia, and a quarter-final exit would not be a shock. But stranger things have happened in knockout tournament football. 
sebzilla fucked around with this message at 13:24 on Nov 11, 2022 |
#
¿
Nov 9, 2022 11:35
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 13, 2024 22:13 |
|
|
Gigi Galli posted:Not a single mention of league MVP and ever smiling phenomenon Rafa Leāo, shameful. That's because Serie A is garbage and nobody cares about it op
|
|
#
¿
Nov 9, 2022 15:33
|
|
|
Please take all Italian football discussion to the Italy World Cup Thread where it belongs. *listening to earpiece* Whoa, you're not gonna believe this. Apparently they lost to North Macedonia who in turn lost to Portugal? How embarrassing.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 10, 2022 17:09
|
|
|
Wonder if Ronald will manage to get himself kicked out of the Man Utd squad before the World Cup starts, leaving himself free to channel the special magic of unattached players at major tournaments (see Robson-Kanu, Hal)
|
|
#
¿
Nov 14, 2022 12:31
|
|
|
Gone-aldo https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1595108144862343168
|
|
#
¿
Nov 22, 2022 18:38
|
|
|
*whatever the Portuguese equivalent of "It's Coming Home is* https://twitter.com/BNHWalker/status/1599040756345356289?t=VRFdnEpz3CcJhz-4P-RkFw&s=19
|
|
#
¿
Dec 3, 2022 15:02
|
|
|
Thank gently caress I don't have to pretend to be supporting this poo poo old rapist any more. Enjoy the desert you oval office.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2022 20:25
|
|
|
Vegetable posted:Why were you pretending in the first place Fair question, it seemed the thing to do as the Official Portugal Thread Poster 2022
|
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2022 20:55
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 13, 2024 22:13 |
|
|
Goncalo Ramos done a wank on the internet https://twitter.com/LaStoorm/status/1602045202985779201 Decent technique on the lad, strong finish from outside the box etc.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2022 18:28
|
|