History of Portugal Football Club

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Description
Name: Portugal national football team
Nickname(s): Selecção das Quinas
Association: Federação Portuguesa de Futebol
Confederation: UEFA (Europe)
Head coach: Carlos Qeiróz
Captain: Simão


Overview  |  The Early Years  |  1984 - 2004  |  The Early Years  |   [+]Add
 

Overview
 

 		 
Portugal Line Up 2007
 
 
 
Created on: 5/15/2008
 
By: ob1
 
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The Portugal team has participated in the FIFA World Cup and the European Championship. The 1966 FIFA World Cup saw some good performances by Eusebio. He was the top scorer and scored 9 goals during the World Cup. Although Eusebio played during the 1970 and 1974 World Cup qualifiers, the team failed to reach the tournament finals. During the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Portugal became the first team to beat West Germany at their home ground in an official match. Though the team showed great potential of winning, Portugal experienced an early exit from the World Cup after a win and two losses. The team also played a good series of matches during the 1998 World Cup and the 2002 World Cup. The squad also qualified for the 2006 World Cup under the management of Luis Felipe Scolari. While playing in Group D, Portugal defeated Angola, Iran and Mexico. The team advanced in the tournament by defeating Netherland and England which helped them to reach their first World Cup semi-finals. However, Portugal lost in the semi-finals against France held on July 5. 

 
 
Portugal Vs England
 
Created on: 5/15/2008
 
By: ob1
 
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The Early Years
Portugal’s football fame began in the late 19th century, when Portuguese students brought the sport to the country from England. Guilherme Pinto Basto is considered to be the person responsible for introducing the sport in Portugal. Guilherme Pinto Basto has the credit of organizing an exhibition of football in October 1888 in addition to the first football match in January 1889. The first match was played against England, and Portugal recorded a 2-1 win. The victory popularized the sport in the country and also attracted high society who encouraged the Luso-British rivalry. Football’s popularity led to the creation of several clubs such as Real Ginasio Clube Portugues, Estrela Futebol Clube, Clube Lisbonense, Carcavelos, Braco de Prata, Futebol Academico, Campo de Ourique, Sport Clube Vianense and Oporto Cricket. The first international match was played in 1902 by the Clube Internacional de Futebol team.


 

1984 - 2004
Portugal entered the European Championship for the first time in 1984. The team almost failed to qualify in the qualifying round but managed to progess thanks to a victory over USSR in the last game. They played good matches against Spain, Romania and West Germany but the most exciting one was against France. After a tough match, Portugal was eliminated in the semi-finals. During the 2000 European Championship, the Portuguese national team was captained by Luis Figo. The team progressed after defeating Romania, Germany and England. The semi-final match was played against France. Though Portugal scored first, France equalized and later scored a golden goal that eliminated Portugal from the championship.
 
Portugal hosted the 2004 European Championship. They played their first game against Greece but were defeated 2-1. During the later stages, they defeated Russia 2-0 and Spain 1-0. The match against England went on to become the most memorable one with Ricardo scoring the winning penalty for Portugal. The team defeated Holland in the semi-finals but was eventually defeated by Greece in the final. A notable feature about the 2004 European Championship was that the final featured the same two teams as the opening match.  

 
 
Euro 2004
 
Created on: 5/15/2008
 
By: ob1
 
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