SpainSpain - National football team
The Portuguese national football team is governed by the Portuguese Football Federation, finishing 4th at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The first appearance in the 1966 FIFA World Cup saw them reach the semifinal, losing 2–1 at Wembley to the eventual world champions England. Portugal finished in third place and Eusébio was considered the best player of the tournament. The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup were 1986 and 2002, with Portugal going out in the first round both times. In the 1986 tournament, players went on strike over prize-money and refused to train between their first and second games.
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In 2003, the Portuguese Football Federation decided to hire Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian who had led the Brazil national football team to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Scolari led Portugal to the final of UEFA Euro 2004, where they lost to the Greek national team, and to their second World Cup semi-final in the 2006 World Cup. Scolari left after the Euro 2008 championships to manage Chelsea.Ex Man utd assistant coach Carlos Queiroz was appointed the new manager of Portugal in 2008, with whom Portugal qualified for the 2010 World Cup. Portugal participated in the qualifying stages with new manager Carlos Queiroz (who had already coached the team in older times), for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which is due to take place in South Africa. The team had a qualifying campaign that almost turned disastrous and just sneaked into second place by a single point over Sweden, a group where Denmark finished first, one point ahead from Portugal. Portugal was drawn to play against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the european zone play-offs. With two wins (1–0 in the first leg, in Lisbon; and 1–0, in Zenica), the team gained its right to participate in the World Cup. Having qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Selecção das Quinas had its most successful decade to date, having qualified for all the editions of the World Cup and Euro Cup (Euro 2000, World Cup 2002, Euro 2004, World Cup 2006, Euro 2008, and World Cup 2010), along with Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, the only other four teams to have done so.
In the Final Draw, on 4th December 2009, Portugal was drawn in one of the toughest groups, the so called Group of Death where the Selecção das Quinas will be facing 5-time champions Brazil, Africa's top contenders Côte d'Ivoire and 1966 opponents North Korea. The Group of Death will be one of the most exciting groups to see in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Portugal will first face Côte d'Ivoire on 15 June 2010 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, followed by North Korea on 21 June 2010 at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town and the last group match will be played against Brazil on 25 June 2010 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban..
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PortugalPortugal - National football team
The Spanish national football team represents Spain in international football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. The Spanish side is commonly referred to as La Furia Roja (The Red Fury).[6]
Spain is the current European champion, having won the UEFA European Championship in 2008. Spain also won the European Nations' Cup in 1964 and reached the UEFA Euro 1984 Final. Spain has qualified for the FIFA World Cup 12 times, reaching fourth place in the 1950 tournament.
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Portugal - National football team
In July 2008, Spain rose to the top of the FIFA World Ranking for the first time in its history, becoming the sixth nation, and the first who has never won the World Cup, to top this ranking. Between November 2006 and June 2009, Spain went undefeated for a record tying 35 consecutive matches —record shared with Brazil— including a record 15-game winning streak. Luis Aragonés left the manager's role after the Euro 2008 success, and was replaced by Vicente del Bosque.[11]
2008 saw David Villa score 12 goals in 15 games, breaking the Spanish record of 10 goals in one year held by Raúl since 1999.[12] On 11 February 2009, David Villa broke another Spanish record as his 36th-minute goal saw him become the first Spanish player to score in six consecutive games.[13]
Spain began its 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign with six successive wins, and went into the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup as one of the favourites. By the start of the tournament, Del Bosque's had ten consecutive wins, making him the first international manager to do so from his debut, breaking Joao Saldanha's record, held since 1969, of nine consecutive wins with Brazil.
Spain won all three of its matches at the group stage, the 5–0 win over New Zealand including a Fernando Torres hat-trick that is the earliest and fastest hat-trick in the tournament's history. With further wins over Iraq (1–0) and South Africa (2–0) they earned not only qualification for the semifinals, but also obtained the world record for 15 consecutive wins and tied the record of 35 consecutive unbeaten games (with Brazil).
On 24 June 2009, Spain's undefeated record ended when the United States beat Spain 2-0 in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-finals which sent Spain to the third place match. This was Spain's first defeat since 2006. Spain defeated hosts South Africa 3–2 after extra time in the 3rd-place playoff.[14]
On 9 September 2009, Spain secured its place at the 2010 World Cup finals after beating Estonia 3–0 in Mérida.[15] Spain went on to record a perfect World Cup qualifying record with 10 wins out of 10 in Group 5, finishing with a 5–2 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on 14 October 2009.[16] The Spaniards will enter the 2010 World Cup as second place in the world rankings..
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