Cristiano Ronaldo headlines a squad stacked with talent, but that’s rarely been the issue for Portugal. Putting it all together on the World Cup stage remains the challenge.
The Portuguese enter Qatar with an extremely talented team, but most will label this as Cristiano Ronaldo’s last run at the World Cup trophy. The 37-year-old has won everything there is to win in the sport except this competition, and the team has surrounded him with arguably its most talented group since its fourth-place finish at the 2006 World Cup. But since then, Portugal has mostly underachieved at the World Cup as it has failed to make it past the round of 16.