From England 66 to Germany 2006: why Portugal is on track to match its best World Cup appearance

Complete exhibition of Portugal that widely surpassed Switzerland by 6 to 1 and gets into the eight best in the World Cup. Without Cristiano Ronaldo as a starter and with the great revelation of Gonçalo Ramos who scored a hat-trick, Portugal dreams of the title and will face Morocco in the quarterfinals.

After a spectacular performance, the Portuguese team is on its way to surpassing its best World Cup performances. In the 1966 World Cup in England, Portugal finished third in the tournament. While in Germany 2006 it was ranked fourth. Since then, the team led by Cristiano Ronaldo has not been in the race for the title.

The balance of his last three World Cup appearances had not been the best. Four years ago, in Russia 2018, they said goodbye to the tournament in the round of 16, in the same instances in which they left in South Africa 2010. Their participation in Brazil 2014 is forgotten, as they were eliminated in the group stage by behind Germany and the United States.

The team led by Fernando Santos went through a change of generation and footballers. Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe are the oldest of this group. but it is the ‘7′ the only one of that group that obtained fourth place in the 2006 World Cup. This time in Qatar they want to break that streak and dream of their first world title.

In the quarterfinals they will meet Morocco for the third time in a World Cup event. The balance is balanced for both with a victory for each team. In 1986 Morocco defeated Portugal 3-1. in the first stage of the championship. His most recent confrontation was in Russia where a solitary goal from CR7 gave victory to the Europeans.