The World Cup in Qatar is getting closer, with less than two weeks to go.
According to the latest ranking of winning odds, Portugal has only seven winning odds in the round of 32 than Brazil, Argentina, France, England, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, and is also one of the favourites to win this World Cup.
The reason why Portugal is favored by many fans, in addition to the popularity of Ronaldo, there are some fans who are not fans of Portugal, but out of the psychology of being happy to see new ideas, they hope that the new champion will be born in this World Cup, so as to support the Portuguese team.
Of course, the current Five Shields Legion itself also has considerable strength.
Portugal may seem to have always been a European powerhouse, but in fact this team does not have a deep World Cup background, having only participated in 7 World Cups before, which is not as many as South Korea in Asia.
In the 1966 World Cup in England, Portugal entered the World Cup stage for the first time under the leadership of Eusebio the Panther, and forged the pinnacle of the history of the World Cup in Portugal. Eusebio won the World Cup's top scorer and led Portugal to third place. This is Portugal's best World Cup result, and the Five Shields are at the pinnacle of their debut.
Twenty years later, at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, fans saw Portugal again. After another 16 years, the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup was Portugal's third World Cup trip. However, since the World Cup in Korea and Japan, Portugal has steadily entered the World Cup and has never missed every World Cup since.
In addition to finishing third at the 1966 World Cup in England, Portugal also reached the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, finishing first. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Portugal reached the round of 16.
Portugal won Euro 2016 in France, ending the title gap for the Five Shields. Three years later, Portugal won the UEFA Nations League. After another 3 years, will Portugal have another outbreak?
The 68-year-old coach Santos has been in charge of the Portuguese national team for more than eight years since 2014. He led Portugal to two European championships and continued the Portuguese team's tactical play under his football philosophy.
Santos prefers a 4-2-3-1 formation, and when facing a relatively weak opponent, he may also change the formation to 4-3-3 to increase the investment of offensive forces.
Porto's young goalkeeper Costa, 23, has secured the starting goalkeeper position, with a defensive centre-back in front of him, who usually make up the gates of Manchester City's Dias and Paris Saint-Germain's Pereira. Instead of being placed at left-back at Manchester City, Joao Cancelo was switched to the right, with Borussia Dortmund's Guerrero on the left.
The back position of the midfield barrier is generally played by Wolves' Neves and Real Betis' Carvalho. In front of them, from left to right, were Liverpool's Jota, Manchester City's B fee and B seat. After Jota's injury, there were calls to replace him with Atletico Madrid's Felix. Top star Cristiano Ronaldo acts as an arrow at the front.
Portugal like to play with possession and pressure, and their squad is capable of achieving that. However, Ronaldo is 37 years old, his running ability is far less than he was then, and with him on the field, Portugal's frontline pressure will be much less intense.
Portugal is currently one of the most adept teams in world football as a whole.
Left-right defenders Guerrero and Cancelo are strong in going up and down, breaking through resolutely, and both have considerable scoring and assisting ability, and they are highly involved in attack. When Guerrero and Cancelo press in, one of the defenders, Carvalho, will retreat to the back line to form a three-centre-back line with a dragging double centre-back. Another defender, Neves, is mainly responsible for controlling the offensive and defensive rhythm of midfield at this time. B Fei is in the center, which is the core of offensive scheduling, and Felix and B can use the width of the field on the left and right sides to tear the opposing defense.
Portugal's squad is balanced in attack and defense, making it competitive at the World Cup in Qatar. However, Ronaldo's good or bad play and strength of will will largely determine how far Portugal can go. Although Guerrero and Cancelo will form a dense midfield attack line with Felix and B on the left and right sides of the midfield, it is Cristiano Ronaldo who is most dependent on the front.
This World Cup is sure to be Ronaldo's last World Series performance, and he has scored 117 goals for the Portuguese national team, ranking first in the all-time scorer list of men's national teams around the world. Ronaldo has the most firing power in the Five Shields Legion.
It remains to be seen whether Ronaldo can lead Portugal to history in his fifth World Cup trip.