Futebol em Portugal

Part II of a three-part Monday mini-series (45)

Correction: Thanks to Izzy and Jenny for pointing out that Ronaldo is the first man to score a goal in five World Cups. Two women - Marta, the Brazilian one-name wonder, and Canada's Christine Sinclair - each scored in the 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019 World Cups. Scott takes full responsibility for, and regrets, the error.

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If you haven’t yet read part one of this mini-series, it’s probably a good idea to do that first. Much of what is written below assumes a knowledge of what came before.

Let’s dive back in.

Portugal Punches Above its Weight

Portugal is a small country, both in land area (it’s roughly the size of the state of Indiana) and population (10,300,000 people, roughly the population of North Caroline). Despite producing a steady stream of very talented and well-trained football players, there simply aren’t enough of them here to fill as strong a top-to-bottom league of ten or so teams as other, larger countries may have.

Quick, name three soccer teams. Any three. (Yes, we said soccer. If we’d said football, many of you likely would have reflexively have come out with your favorite NFL franchise.)

If you are able to name three soccer teams, odds are good that at least one of them plays in the British Premier League. Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United all make this list of the world’s most popular football teams. Or perhaps you remembered our first entry in this mini-series where we mentioned Real Madrid, Juventus, and St. Louis City FC, which are located in Spain, Italy, and the US respectively.

The point is, Portuguese teams are rarely top-of-mind for average football fans, much less casual followers of the sport¹.

So while Portugal’s Primeira Liga would put the US’s MLS to shame (in part because it is older and more well-established), Portugal’s best players often leave the country to compete in leagues with more talent (and deeper pockets).

Being a fan of Portuguese football feels a bit like when were living in Connecticut and frequently attended Double-A baseball games. The rules were the same as the highest levels of the sport, the competition was strong, it was fun to watch, and the best players didn’t stick around all that long. It was a little odd: we found ourselves rooting for our favorites to get promoted to where we could only watch them on TV. Yay! That guy we like? We’ll never see him play live again! Gooooo guy!

When it comes time to compete for the country, though, these great Portuguese football players return home to represent the red and green as a unit. Many have played together before - perhaps on an academy team run by Benfica or Sporting (two of Portugal’s strongest teams), or a national U18 squad, or in a previous World Cup. This group of Portuguese nationals is strong enough to rank #9 in the world.

We mentioned in our last post on this topic, though, that their road to qualifying for the 2022 World Cup was longer than it should have been. The team underperformed, losing to 21st ranked Serbia in a home game, resulting in a 12-month wait to win their way into the World Cup. When a team underperforms, it’s human nature to ask questions - and to point fingers.

Fingers in Portugal have been pointing for over a year. They point at …

The Coach

… Fernando Santos, a lightly disheveled, slightly dour-looking grandfatherly type who has helmed the Portuguese national team since 2014.

Fernando Santos, coach of the Portuguese national football team. Photo from wikipedia.

His critics say he’s too conservative, too quick to play a defense-first game. They say he’s unwilling or unable to recognize that this team may have more talent than it ever has and to let those players run free and create opportunities.

They point as an example of this to a UEFA Nations League tournament game between Spain and Portugal that Scott watched on TV in September. The game was in our favorite Portuguese city, Braga, and Portugal had the edge going in: they needed only a win or a tie to advance. Spain could only move forward in the tournament with a win. Portugal controlled the ball for most of the match but seemed unwilling to mount serious attacks, as if they were content to play for a 0-0 draw. The risky strategy fell apart when Spain capitalized on an opportunity with two minutes left in regulation to score the only goal of the game, ejecting Portugal from the tournament. It was frustrating to watch.

That contest did little to quiet Santos’ critics.

Those critics also say he’s too willing to funnel the offense through …

Ronaldo

… the 37-year-old superstar who has been the captain of the national team since 2003, 11 years before Santos arrived. As of June, 2022, Ronaldo had a record 191 starts for team Portugal (the team plays in many tournaments and competitions, not just the World Cup). It seems only natural he would be the focal point of the offense. The question is whether or not he’s up to it right now.

Ronaldo had a very difficult summer of 2022 for a litany of reasons that are beyond the scope of this blog but include:

• the death of his infant son in April,

• a very public, very messy falling out with Manchester United, the team that pays his salary that featured:

  • clashes with a new head coach leading to

    • the loss of his starting position

    • his refusal to come into a game as a substitute and

    • his leaving the field before the end of a game, which earned him a one-game suspension

  • an altercation with a young fan that, after an investigation, earned him a two-game suspension

  • his requesting an interview with British broadcaster Piers Morgan. During what is usually referred to as an “explosive” conversation, Ronaldo disparaged the franchise, the owners, and the coach.

Not surprisingly, Man U and Ronaldo parted company on the eve of the World Cup leaving Ronaldo a free agent … and leaving Ronaldo’s coach and teammates answering a never-ending string of questions about the star. Few things have the potential to create a distraction more than a constant stream of people asking if something is a distraction.

Global opinion on all of these shenanigans seems a bit divided. The British press appear to be over Ronaldo if this image used by the Manchester Evening News in an article about the interview is any indication.

Image lifted from the Manchester Evening News.

Many others, including Ronaldo’s teammates, appear to be siding with the player. He is, after all, top-of-mind for many in Portugal. In July, we took a cab ride home from a lengthy shopping trip and our driver, totally unprompted, pointed out an apartment building he claimed Ronaldo lives in when he comes to Lisbon.

For those of us who are new to the sport and the hype surrounding it, much of this is sort of amusing.

It certainly doesn’t appear to be affecting the way the team is playing so far.

Time again for a break. We’ll conclude this football extravaganza next Monday with a look at our experiences around the World Cup.

That’s all for now.

Love from Lisbon,

Scott & Amy

P.S. Click here for the conclusion of this series.

1. Tom Walsh, you’re the exception that proves the rule.