Portugal go toe-to-toe with Uruguay on Monday night of their second World Cup group sport.
Fernando Santos has some of the gifted squads in Qatar at his disposal. 11 of the 26 that made the journey to the Center East have been purchased for a payment in extra of £30m at one level of their profession. Nonetheless, how Santos makes use of these profitable property has been referred to as into query previously.
Here is the XI Santos could choose from the wealthy – in each sense of the phrase – pool of high quality.
GK: Diogo Costa – After seeing Costa come inside a whisker of freely giving a calamitous equaliser in opposition to Ghana, the official nationwide crew account tweeted: “Essentially the most stated phrase in Portugal now: ‘Simply'”
RB: Joao Cancelo – Within the absence of Ricardo Quaresma, Cancelo can present the trivela experience. “Even again in Benfica’s academy, I’d practice so much with this system in order that I’d really feel snug passing the ball with the surface of the foot,” the Manchester Metropolis fullback mirrored.
CB: Danilo Pereira – Theoretically a midfielder, Danilo’s final 9 caps for Portugal have come as a centre-back – a place which he more and more performs for PSG as properly.
CB: Ruben Dias – Echoing the sentiment of Invoice Shankly, Dias not too long ago declared: “Soccer for me is every part. It’s life.”
LB: Raphael Guerreiro – The French-born fullback barely knew a handful of Portuguese phrases when he made his worldwide debut eight years in the past.
CM: Bernardo Silva – Bestowed the unhelpful nickname of “Messi from Seixal” throughout his days in Benfica’s academy. Luckily, it did not weigh him down (or actually catch on).
CM: Ruben Neves – The Wolves captain is liable for 50% of his membership’s Premier League objectives this season however has by no means scored for his nation’s senior crew.
CM: William Carvalho – Throughout a membership profession which has taken him to Sporting CP, Cercle Brugge and Actual Betis, Carvalho has solely ever identified a house equipment of inexperienced stripes. Nonetheless, with 77 caps to his identify, he’s used to purple on the worldwide degree.
RW: Bruno Fernandes – At 16 he was nonetheless a centre-back. Now an attacking midfielder, Fernandes was shoehorned into the crew on the wing in opposition to Ghana.
ST: Cristiano Ronaldo – The clubless 37-year-old adopted within the footsteps of Brazil’s Marta and Canada’s Christine Sinclair to attain at a fifth totally different World Cup.
LW: Joao Felix – Grew to become the fourth-most costly participant in historical past when Atletico Madrid paid an eye-watering €126m after simply 33 senior appearances.
