World Cup CHECK | Portugal – Everything stands or falls with Ronaldo

The dependence on Ronaldo is obvious. In Portugal there is no longer any temptation to deny it. The Real Madrid superstar has so far scored 149 goals in 81 international matches. It remains to be seen whether the 33-year-old alone will be able to conceal all the problems. A difficult test against their neighbors Spain awaits in the group phase.

Team boss Fernando Santos is known for prioritizing efficiency over playfulness. His style of play is considered to be wait-and-see. The Portuguese have only lost one competitive game in regular time since he took office in September 2014. “You can only win the European Championships and the World Cup if you play well. The concept of what is beautiful and what is not is something different,” explained the pragmatist.

A plus point for the 62-year-old is his great level of trust with Ronaldo. The team boss had already looked after the exceptional talent from Madeira at the beginning of his professional career at Sporting Lisbon. Santos has significantly restructured his World Cup squad compared to the one that won the European Championship. Ten European champions are no longer there in Russia. With Goncalo Guedes (21 years old/Valencia) and Andre Silva (22 years old/AC Milan) there are also new hopes on the offensive end. In qualifying, it was once again Ronaldo who had to lead his country to the World Cup after an opening defeat against Switzerland (0-2). In the following nine victories, Portugal's captain scored 15 goals. The tournament in Russia will be his fourth World Cup - at 33, it could be his last. A World Cup title is pretty much the only thing the five-time world footballer is still missing from his CV.

Since Ronaldo entered the international stage in 2003, Portugal has reached two European Championship finals and the World Cup and European Championship semi-finals once each. At the last World Cup in 2014, they were eliminated in the group phase. Ronaldo did not travel to Brazil fully fit and shed tears after many wasted opportunities. With the knowledge that we had already won our first major title two years ago, everything should be different for the European champions in Russia.

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World Cup CHECK | Portugal – Everything stands or falls with Ronaldo

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