Following all his controversies at Manchester United and his current dip in-from, 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo has remained one of the best to ever play this sport.
Portugal’s record goalscorer has had a bad season but will be keen to prove a point at the World Cup to silence his critics, especially on such a big occasion in the Mundial.
Veteran Pepe, AC Milan wonderkid Rafael Leão and a host of other stars including midfielders Vitinha, joao Cancelo and Bruno Fernandes will be on hand to help the team’s efforts towards winning a first-ever World Cup.
The Seleção have a better pedigree than the Black Stars of Ghana, with their best result in the event coming in 1966, when they finished third. Despite their best efforts, Portugal have been unable to duplicate that result. The best they could get was fourth place in Germany in 2006. Portugal have since then failed to even secure a quarter-final place.
Portugal got to their sixth consecutive World Cup by beating Turkey and North Macedonia 3-1 and 2-0 in the European playoffs after finishing second in the preliminary round.
Portugal have won three and lost two of their last five matches. Notably, the 2016 European champions have managed a clean sheet in each of their victories.
Ghana, on the other hand is just gathering momentum after a long run of inconsistent results, the Black Stars have won only two of their last five games going to the Mundial.
Ghana made their debut in 2006, reaching the round of 16 with six points before falling to a 3-0 thrashing by Brazil. The West Africans advanced to the quarter-finals in the next edition, only to lose on penalty shoot-outs to Uruguay when Asamoah Gyan failed to convert the final kick in extra time from the spot.
Ghana, however, failed to impress as they were ousted from the group stage in Brazil in 2014 after losses to the United States and Portugal.
Ghana had to fight their way back after missing out on the last edition in Russia. After topping a group ahead of South Africa beat bitter rivals Nigeria in the final qualifying round on away goals.
This current Ghanaian squad seems to have some well-established players who would be debuting as well as looking to punch above their weights for the African side in the Mundial.
In-form Athletico Bilbao striker Inaki Willaims, Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey and host of others would be looking to leave a mark in this tournament.
The two sides will be meeting for just the second time in history having clashed eight years ago during their final group game where the four times African champions were defeated 2-1 by Paulo Bento’s men at the Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha in Brazil, courtesy of a John Boye own goal and a Cristiano Ronaldo finish after goalkeeper Fatau Dauda’s mistake.
A match expected to be a thrilling encounter would be hosted at Doha’s Stadium 974, with both teams looking to get off to a good start in Qatar.