Portugal comes to this tournament with the 2016 European Cup championship. No doubt this will be the verification of Cristiano Ronaldo and his friends for their first World Cup title in 2018.
Portugal has never once lifted the World Cup trophy. Selecao das Quinas's best achievement was the third finish at the 1966 World Cup.
The efforts of Eusebio and his colleagues who were hailed by the status of a dark horse, to win the first trophy were halted host England who ended the tournament as champions with a score of 2-1.
Here's an interesting fact Portugal ahead of the game against Spain in Sochi:
Portugal will attempt to become the fourth team to win the European Cup and World Cup in a row. The three teams that have made the record are West Germany (European Cup 1972 and World Cup 1974), France (1998 World Cup and European Cup 2000), and Spain (Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010).
- Cristiano Ronaldo is involved in 18 goals scored Portugal throughout the qualifying round, scoring 15 goals and three assists. However, Ronaldo has 340 minutes not scored against Spain.
- Portugal have only lost one of nine matches in the World Cup group stage. The defeat occurred when the 0-4 defeat of Germany in the 2014 World Cup.
- Fernando Santos has always managed to lead his team to qualify for the knockout phase in his three tournaments as coach. He managed to deliver Greece to the quarterfinals of Euro 2012 and 16 major World Cup 2014, and deliver Portugal champions in the 2016 European Cup.
- Only one of Portugal's 43 goals scored in the World Cup comes from a long-distance kick