Former Brazil head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has smoothly guided Portugal to their fourth World Cup Finals. Their performance in qualifying was stunning, going unbeaten in all 12 matches, making them credible contenders in the 2006 World Cup Finals.

Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side won nine of their 12 qualification matches, finishing seven points clear of their closest rivals Slovakia, and scoring more goals than any other team in Europe.

Portugal may have had the easiest qualifying campaign out of any European nation as they seemingly cruised through a group with Slovakia and Russia - whom they thrashed 7-1 - to book a berth in Germany, with the team hoping to redeem themselves from their group stage exit in Korea/Japan 2002.

In 2002, Portugal lost their opening game to the USA before beating Poland, but hosts South Korea dumped them out of the tournament in a match that saw the Portuguese finish with just nine players, easily their worst-ever showing at a World Cup.

The return of Inter Milan’s Luis Figo, who came back from international retirement 12 months after withdrawing from international football in July 2004, could prove to be a blessing to Luiz Felipe Scolari's men who seemed lost for leadership in his absence, although Paris Saint-Germain striker Pedro Pauleta did the job in front of goal, scoring 11 goals in qualifying, the best ratio of any player in Europe.

Pauleta, who has also topped the legendary Eusébio's all-time goals record for Portugal, was the man who seemingly single-handedly put Portugal into the Finals, although his team-mate’s had a massive part to play, with the Potuguese defence as solid as it has ever been, allowing just five goals in 12 games, with a massive total of 35 goals scored.

Manchester United’s young star, Cristiano Ronaldo has been consistenlty brilliant in qualification with his wing play and will bring something new to the Portuguese attack.

Scolari’s team have quality in a defence led by the excellent Ricardo Carvalho, who, alongside Chelsea team-mate Paulo Ferreira have both been ever-present for the English Premiership champions Chelsea this season.

They should be joined in the middle of the park by fellow Premiership defender, Everton’s on-form Nuno Valente, along with Fernando Meira from VfB Stuttgart, with Miguel Monteiro and Marco Caneira from Valencia, and Jorge Ribeiro, who plays for Dynamo Moscow for coach Scolari to choose from, in a tight, experienced back row.

Barcelona’s midfield play-maker Deco, like Cristiano Ronaldo, is another player with plenty of talent, while in-line for joining them in midfield there’s the choice of the undoubted talents of players like Luis Boa Morte from Fulham, who’s pace can undo any back-line, and from Dynamo Moscow the trio of Costinha, Nuno Maniche and Frechaut, Petit and Simao from Portuguese champions Benfica and Tiago from French champions Lyon.

Portugal will be without Deportivo’s Jorge Andrade, who has been ruled out of the tournament after having to undergo surgery after badly injuring his left knee in a match against Barcelona in early March. He may be replaced in the squad by on-loan Newcastle midfielder Hugo Viana, who, since his loan move to Valencia has been on top-form.

The 23-year-old Portuguese midfielder was hugely impressive in his country's 3-0 friendly win against fellow World Cup finalists Saudi Arabia in their World Cup warm-up match in March.

The Portuguese also have a very experienced, and dangerous attack. Pauleta will be joined by Helder Postiga from FC Porto and Benfica’s Nuno Gomes up-front, who are all dangerous strikers.

The only position that has instability is the goalkeeper’s. Former first-choice keeper Vítor Baía appears to be out of favour in the Portugal team, leaving Benfica’s Quim Silva and Ricardo Pereira from Sporting Lisbon, to fight for the number one shirt.

Portugal, who have been drawn in Group D alongside Angola, Mexico and Iran should progress past the group stage and could potentially get quite far in the tournament.

A lot of the players are still seething after failing to beat Greece in the 2004 European Championship final when they hosted the finals, giving veterans such as Figo possibly their last shot at a major trophy.

It does seem unlikely, however, that Portugal can go on to lift the trophy, but they will no doubt be a tough opponent for any team to face in Germany this summer.

---

Portugal Match Fixtures in the World Cup 2006

11-June-2006	Angola v Portugal	21:00 BST
17-June-2006	Portugal v Iran	15:00 BST
21-June-2006	Portugal v Mexico	16:00 BST

---

Historic Facts

First International appearance: Spain 3 - 1 Portugal (Madrid, Spain; 18 November 1921)

Largest win: Portugal 8 - 0 Liechtenstein (Lisbon, Portugal; 18 November 1994)
Largest win: Portugal 8 - 0 Liechtenstein (Coimbra, Portugal; 9 June 1999)
Largest win: Portugal 8 - 0 Kuwait (Leiria, Portugal; 19 November 2003)

Worst defeat: Portugal 0 - 10 England (Lisbon, Portugal; 25 May 1947)

World Cup Finals Appearances: 1966, 1986, 2002

---

Iran Match Results - Asia World Cup Qualifiers, Group B

Date	Match	Result
12-Oct-2005	Portugal - Latvia	3:0 (2:0)
07-Sep-2005	Russia - Portugal	0:0
03-Sep-2005	Portugal - Luxembourg	6:0 (3:0)
08-Jun-2005	Estonia - Portugal	0:1 (0:1)
04-Jun-2005	Portugal - Slovakia	2:0 (2:0)
30-Mar-2005	Slovakia - Portugal	1:1 (1:0)
17-Nov-2004	Luxembourg - Portugal	0:5 (0:2)
13-Oct-2004	Portugal - Russia	7:1 (3:0)
09-Oct-2004	Liechtenstein - Portugal	2:2 (0:2)
08-Sep-2004	Portugal - Estonia	4:0 (0:0)
04-Sep-2004	Latvia - Portugal	0:2 (0:0)

---