PORTUGAL

Cristiano Ronaldo represented Portugal under 17’s at the European Championships in 2002. He also briefly played for the under 18’s and under 21’s before gaining his first full international cap in 2003. Portugal was awarded the European Championships in 2004 and this became the perfect platform for Ronaldo to showcase his talents. Although he still wasn’t a regular in Scolari’s first team, he came off the bench to score Portugal’s only goal in a 2-1 defeat to Greece in the opening game. Fans began to pressure the manager to start him and they were duly rewarded with some spectacular displays of skill which earned him a place in the team of the tournament.
Unfortunately for Portugal and Ronaldo they lost to Greece 1-0 in the final, a repeat of the opening match. Cristiano commented on how hard it was to lose that game with the weight of expectation of the entire nation on his shoulders. It was an experience that leaves a mark on you life and the tears at the end of the match told everyone how devastated he was.

Portugal went to the World Cup in Germany in 2006 full of hope and aspirations after there Euro 2004 exploits. Ronaldo scored his first goal of the tournament in a 2-0 win against Iran. After winning there group with three wins out of three the press were talking up Portugal’s chances of success. In the last 16 Portugal was drawn against Holland and the match turned into the dirtiest in world cup history which saw a total 16 yellow cards and 4 players sent off. Portugal progressed and was given a quarter final draw against England.

The match ended a draw with Rooney being sent off for stamping and Portugal progressed after winning a penalty shoot out 3-1. This was Portugal’s first world cup semi final for 40 years but that was the end of the road as they lost to France in the semi final 1-0. Thousands of England fans had bought tickets for the semi finals expecting England to be there and a hostile reception was waiting for the Portuguese after Ronaldo winked at the bench when Rooney was sent off.