PortugalPortugal - 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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Portugal - National football team
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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BrazilBrazil - National football team
The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation. They are the most successful national football team in the history of the World Cup, with five championships (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002). A common quip about football is: "The English invented it, the Brazilians perfected it."[5] Currently ranked first by FIFA, Brazil is consistently among the strongest football nations by Elo Ratings and is the only team to have played in every World Cup. Brazil participated in the Copa América 2007 which was hosted by Venezuela.
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They were placed in Group B with Mexico, Ecuador, and Chile. Brazil surprisingly lost to Mexico 2–0 in their opening match, then bounced back with a comfortable 3–0 victory over Chile with three goals from Robinho, and won 1–0 against Ecuador, Robinho scoring on a penalty kick. They advanced to the quarter-finals, where they defeated Chile again 6–1. The semi-final was against Uruguay, after a 2–2 draw, Brazil won 5–4 on penalties. Their opponent in the final was Argentina, which were the favorites to win, having won all their matches on the way to the final. However Brazil scored early in the 4th minute when Júlio Baptista scored, and then in the 45th minute, defender Roberto Ayala scored on an own goal. Later in the second half, in the 69th minute, substitute Dani Alves scored Brazil's third goal, as the scoreline became 3–0. After the tournament, Robinho was awarded the Golden Boot in addition to being named the best player in the tournament.The Brazilian team won the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. Although they started with a shaky victory over Egypt with a 4–3 win with a last minute penalty as Egypt is also credited as the only African team to score three goals against Brazil, they comfortably beat the USA, as well as Italy, both with a 3–0 scoreline. After beating South Africa in the semi-final with a late free kick, they went on to a rematch against USA in the final which they won 3–2, after coming in 2–0 down at half-time, to seal their third Confederations Cup title.[29] Kaká was named as the player of the tournament and Luís Fabiano won the top goalscorer award with five goals in five matches. After a 3–1 victory over Argentina in Rosario, on September 5, 2009, Brazil qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup..
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