Thursday, September 03, 2009

Portugal on the edge

Portugal's participation in the World Cup in South Africa is highly expected by a lot of people. Of course, the Portuguese fans themselves, who know that they have some of the best players in the world, notably Cristiano Ronaldo, but also players like Miguel, Deco, and the new Brazilian-born striker Liedson. At the same time, South Africa will almost be like playing at home for the Portuguese, since many thousand people of Portuguese descent live in South Africa, all who will have great expectations for the participation of Portugal.
The Portuguese have nevertheless started the qualification not too well: they lost at home to Denmark, tied Sweden twice, and tied Albania at home, and are only on fourth place in their qualifying group 1, behind Denmark, Hungary and Sweden.
With four matches left, Portugual is under pressure to win all of the remaining matches (although favourable results in other matches may still help them), and the next big test comes this Saturday against Denmark in Copenhagen. The Danes, after having defeated both Portugal and Sweden in away matches, have all things going for them, and can go on the pitch confidently knowing that even with a loss, they are on their way to South Africa. On the other hand, the pressure is all on Portugal, who now have to show that they are indeed one of the best teams in the world, or just a bunch of overpaid footballers.
It will surely be a drama!

1 comment:

El Erik said...

Good game, a real drama! Denmark fought well but was also very lucky to hold on to the 1-1 against the inefficient Portuguese, who as usual don't have the stamina when things go against them.
Portugal is very doubtful to South Africa, while Denmark is firmly on the way.
After defeating Hungary 1-2 in Budapest, Sweden is aiming at the second spot and a play-off match.