European Championship 2008 - Portugal

PortugalPortugal football is on the up as they have many top quality players and in some respects are at a stage in their development which is reminiscent of Holland in the 1980s and they have finished 4th at the last World Cup. Portugal have qualified four times for the FIFA World Cup in 1966, 1986, 2002 and 2006.

Their first qualification for euro championships was in 1984 as this was the first time that Portugal entered the European championships. In 2000 they got to the semis going out to World Cup holders France. This tournament was held in Portugal. In 2004 Portugal were the hosts and they went all the way through to the final where they were beaten by Greece 1-0.

Reading down the list of Stars you can see they could make a real impression once again in 2008 with the likes of Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo and players on the up like Ricardo Quaresma, Miguel Veloso and Nani.

Portugal have a top coach in Luiz Felipe Scolari who did a great job as manager of Brazil and is regarded as one of the best in the business and for this reason and a great team set up they are as short as 7/1 with William Hill but you can get bigger if you search around.


Player To Watch - Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo  (Portugal)The 2007 Player of the Year and is a key player for Portugal and club Man Utd. He has matured into a top player with great ball skills and pace and he will be one of the stars of the Euro 2008 championships.

No. Player Date of Birth Caps Goals Position
Euro 2008 Squad
1 Ricardo 11/02/1976 (32) 75 0 Goalkeeper
12 Quim 13/11/1975 (32) 26 0 Goalkeeper
22 Rui Patricio 15/02/1988 (20) 0 0 Goalkeeper
2 Paulo Ferreira 18/01/1979 (29) 47 0 Defender
3 Bruno Alves 27/11/1981 (26) 11 1 Defender
4 Jose Bosingwa 24/08/1982 (25) 8 0 Defender
5 Fernando Meira 05/06/1978 (30) 49 2 Defender
13 Miguel 04/01/1980 (28) 47 1 Defender
14 Jorge Riberio 09/11/1981 (26) 8 0 Defender
15 Pepe 26/02/1983 (25) 3 0 Defender
16 Ricardo Carvalho 18/03/1978 (30) 43 4 Defender
6 Raul Meireles 17/03/1983 (25) 9 0 Midfielder
8 Petit 25/09/1976 (31) 54 4 Midfielder
10 Joao Moutinho 08/09/1986 (21) 13 1 Midfielder
18 Miguel Veloso 11/03/1986 (22) 6 0 Midfielder
20 Deco 27/08/1977 (30) 53 3 Midfielder
7 Cristiano Ronaldo 05/02/1985 (23) 55 20 Forward
11 Simao 31/10/1979 (28) 61 15 Forward
17 Ricardo Quaresma 26/09/1983 (24) 21 2 Forward
19 Nani 17/11/1986 (21) 13 2 Forward
9 Hugo Almeida 23/03/1984 (24) 9 2 Forward
21 Nuno Gomes 05/03/1976 (32) 69 28 Forward
23 Helder Postiga 02/08/1985 (22) 32 10 Forward

DATE
HOME TEAM
SCORE
AWAY TEAM
EURO 2008 QUALIFICATION GROUP A RESULTS
21 November 2007
Portugal
Finland
17 November 2007
Portugal
Armenia
17 October 2007
Kazakhstan
Portugal
13 October 2007
Azerbaijan
Portugal
12 September 2007
Portugal
Serbia
08 September 2007
Portugal
Poland
22 August 2007
Armenia
Portugal
02 June 2007
Belgium
Portugal
28 March 2007
Serbia
Portugal
24 March 2007
Portugal
Belgium
15 November 2006
Portugal
Kazakhstan
11 October 2006
Poland
Portugal
07 October 2006
Portugal
Azerbaijan
06 September 2006
Finland
Portugal

TEAM PLD W D L GF GA GD PTS
EURO 2008 QUALIFICATION GROUP A TABLE
1 Poland 14 8 4 2 24 12 12 28
2 Portugal 14 7 6 1 24 10 14 27
3 Finland 14 6 6 2 13 7 6 24
4 Serbia 13 5 6 2 21 11 10 21
5 Belgium 14 5 3 6 14 16 -2 18
6 Kazakhstan 13 2 4 7 11 20 -9 10
7 Armenia 12 2 3 7 4 13 -9 9
8 Azerbaijan 12 1 2 9 6 28 -22 5

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Euro 2008 Odds
TeamOdds
Spain 4
Portugal 9/2
Germany 5
Holland 11/2
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Croatia 9
France 12
Italy 11
Czech Republ 25
Sweden 33
Russia 50
Romania 40
Turkey 66
Greece 150
Austria 350
Poland 100
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