It took a play-off for Paulo Bento's side to reach Brazil, and now the nearly men must shine
EXPECTATIONS
Any team featuring Cristiano Ronaldo must be taken seriously.
Obviously, much will depend on the Real Madrid forward who scored all four goals in Portugal’s World Cup play-off victory over Sweden.
However, there are concerns over his fitness due to a thigh problem which limited his impact in the final weeks of the club season.
The team should feel at home in Portuguese-speaking Brazil and optimism is high that they can surpass their best performance at the finals, which was third in England in 1966.
COACH
Paulo Bento’s passion to make Portugal succeed can never be questioned. As a player, he was banned by Uefa for five months after protesting a penalty decision awarded to France in the Euro 2000 semi-final.
And former Chelsea duo Ricardo Carvalho and Jose Bosingwa clashed with the coach when he brought their international careers to an end.
The 44-year-old took charge in 2010 and such is his value to the team he was handed a two-year extension to his contract in April.
STARS
Ronaldo aside, there are a number of familiar names — most notably, experienced central defensive pair Bruno Alves and Pepe and midfielders Joao Moutinho and Raul Meireles.
Rising star William Carvalho, a long-term transfer target of Manchester United, is a young talent to watch out for.
TACTICS
Bento plays a 4-3-3 system, where plan A is to simply give the ball to Ronaldo as much as possible.
He will start on the left flank but with a licence to roam, putting the onus on his team-mates to adapt.
They are most dangerous on the counter attack but will be concerned about the lack of a clinical striker to take some of the pressure off Ronaldo.
