On the second day of the FIFA World Cup in Russia, the European champion Portugal will kick-off against strong neighbors Spain. Everyone’s eye is keen to set up over Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, who will probably try the last attempt to win the World Cup trophy in his shining career. Although the Spanish team is not considered weak, in front of Ronaldo they could be seem weakened. Portugal is considered to be the strongest contender for the FIFA title. They have won European Cup by defeating France two years ago. Ronaldo is now 33 years old but he is physically strong and is the current Ballon d’Or winner. He can play as long as he wants, but it is difficult to imagine his return to his fifth World Cup in 2022.
When Portugal had beaten Spain in a major tournament earlier, then Ronaldo played a vital role in that match. Portugal won by 1-0 in Euro Cup 2004’s Group stage match. He was then only 19 years old and was involved in the most goals scored by his nation. Ronaldo has scored 81 goals so far. In the Euro Cup finals 2016 he had played only 25 minutes of the game and he had to move out to the ground due to injury. So far Ronaldo has managed to score only three goals in the FIFA World Cup and this time he will definitely be committed to improving his record in Russia. Portugal has to face comparatively weak teams of Iran and Morocco after this.
Portugal and Spain’s players understand each other’s game well and in such a situation it is likely to be exciting. It would be interesting to see if Spain’s team can recover from their coach dismissing issue. It will also be time for his new coach Fernando Herrero, who will have to play a bigger role in this world cup. Portugal would like to book the top position in Group B by winning the matches against their neighbors Iran and Morocco.
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