What’s Next for Cristiano Ronaldo?

Cristiano Ronaldo is the name on the lips of all Portuguese fans, almost all of the time. Perhaps the greatest ever footballer, Ronaldo is certainly the greatest Portuguese player ever to grace the game. With the forward not getting any younger, rumors and speculation on his future are numerous and growing. And with this summer’s near-transfer saga, speculation is rife. Guest contributor Joshua Bunting gives us his take on Ronaldo’s future.

---

André Silva: Fail or Flourish?

This summer’s Confederations Cup confirmed what Portuguese football fans had hoped for some time: Portugal finally has a quality striker. In André Silva, Portugal has an intelligent, skillful player with maturity well beyond his young age. Skilled both in the air and with the ball at his feet, André Silva’s presence on the field clearly improves the Seleção’s play, and helps ease the goal-scoring burden from Cristiano Ronaldo.

After a successful debut 2016/2017 season at FC Porto, Silva made a big-money move to Italian giants AC Milan, a team in the midst of a massive squad overhaul. While it is exciting to see a young Portuguese prospect the subject of a monumental move to a major European team, the question always arises: Is it too soon? In this article, I will compare André Silva’s career trajectory to that of another young, promising Portuguese, Porto-bred striker in recent history: Hélder Postiga.

How Will Portugal Move Forward?

Photo: Getty Images Europe

With the Seleção’s surprise triumph this summer still fresh in the football world’s mind, Fernando Santos will soon begin preparations to move the team forward. To begin this transition, Portugal will play two games in early September. First, the team will face Gibraltar on September 1^st in the first ever meetings between the two nations. Five days later, Switzerland and Portugal will kick off both teams’ 2018 World Cup qualification campaigns. Santos will likely choose a much different squad than what was selected for the European Championship. Post-tournament friendlies are typically used as a means for experimentation and as such typically involve new players, but Santos will have to balance experimentation with results. While the result of the Gibraltar match is inconsequential, Santos will surely be looking to get a win against Switzerland, who are on paper Portugal’s most difficult opponents in their qualification group. Here’s a list of who I would argue deserves to be selected by Santos.

Opinion: 10 Players Who Could Break Out This Season

The editors of PortugalFutbol.net and FutebolFactory.com are proud to announce our annual list of 10 players to watch this season. After much deliberation, we whittled down the pool of talented domestic players to ten, but couldn’t help but add some honorable mentions. These are players who we believe have a realistic shot at making it to the senior Portuguese National Team by the end of the season. So, without further ado, here’s the 2016/2017 edition of “10 Players Who Can Break Out This Season.”

Should Pizzi be Considered for Euro 2016 Squad?

Photo: planetbenfica.co.uk

Today, in Benfica’s 2-1 come-from-behind win at Estoril, Pizzi scored what proved to be the winner for the Lisbon giants. This goal comes during a tumultuous season for Pizzi, in which poor form in the early stages of the season lost him his starting spot in the team to the young, promising Gonçalo Guedes. Lately, however, Pizzi has earned back his starting berth with a series of incisive displays for Benfica. His goal today leaves me wondering if he should be considered for inclusion on Portugal’s Euro 2016 squad this summer. 

U-21 Team Begins New Cycle

Francisco Ramos, pictured left, is one of a number of players to make the step up to the U-21s

With the U-21’s impressive performance at the U-21 Euro now in the past, the team’s focus now shifts to qualification for the next edition of the tournament. With this shift is also a shift in personnel. Head coach Rui Jorge named a squad of 23 today for the team’s upcoming qualification match against Albania, to be played on September 8th. 

Fernando Santos Calls on Miguel Veloso

Veloso (left), pictured in 2013

Fernando Santos announced today a squad of 24 to face France in a friendly on September 4th and Albania in a Euro 2016 qualifier on September 7th. Bernardo Silva and Joao Mario, who both starred for Portugal at this summer’s U-21 Euro, have rightfully earned places in the team, as well as Porto new-boys Andre Andre and Danilo Pereira, who have been named for the second successive squad. Dinamo Kiev’s Miguel Veloso, who has been out of the national team setup for some time, also earned a call as a result of some solid recent performances in Ukraine.

Portugal: A Team in Transition

On Friday, Fernando Santos will name the Portugal squad to face France on September 4^th (international friendly) and Albania on September 7^th (Euro 2016 Qualification). With both the U-21’s strong showing at the U-21 Euro and the U-20 team’s impressive run at the U-20 World Cup this summer, the Portuguese National Team are in transition. With young prospects such as Bernardo Silva, João Mário, and Ivan Cavaleiro now becoming integral parts of their club teams, will Fernando Santos begin to ween them into the national team setup? Will they become stalwarts of the Seleção, or will Santos favor older, more experienced players? These questions highlight the conundrum that Portuguese football is facing; one of how to go about this transition.

Five-Star Portugal Coast Past Germany

Portugal’s Ivan Cavaleiro celebrating his goal. Photo: Lusa

Portugal 5-0 Germany

2015 UEFA U-21 European Championship Semi-Final

A comprehensive performance from the Portuguese under-21 team pushed them past Germany in the semi-final of the 2015 U-21 European Championship to book a place in the tournament’s final. Goals from Bernardo Silva, Ricardo Pereira, Ivan Cavaleiro, João Mario, and Ricardo Horta gave Portugal an emphatic and entirely unpredicted 5-0 win over the Germans. The Portuguese will now face Sweden in the final, to be played on Tuesday. 

Portugal Coast Through Group Stage; Germany Awaits

The Portuguese Under-21 team has accomplished what has not been accomplished by the team in over a decade: make it out of the group stage at a U-21 European Championship. Portugal has done just that, and with relative ease. Despite being up against England, Italy, and Sweden (the team who defeated France to reach the tournament), Portugal’s convincing performances have seen them through as winners of Group B. Let’s take a look back at how the group stage unfolded for Portugal, and what can be expected in tomorrow’s semi-final clash with Germany.