5 top teams looking for redemption after World Cup debacle

#4 Portugal

A Ronaldo-less Portugal will be seeking a fresh start

Simply put, apart from Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma’s clever goal against Morocco, Portugal’s World Cup campaign was forgettable in the extreme. Coach Fernando Santos had been bold and made changes to the Euro-winning team.

However, the inability of the other players to step up meant pressure was placed on the broad shoulders of Ronaldo a.k.a Captain Fantastic. The Juventus man duly delivered with four goals but this wasn’t enough and out they went against Uruguay in the 2nd round.

At his request, Ronaldo has been left out of the team to face Croatia (Friendly) and Scotland (UEFA Nations League). Instead, manager Santos has started looking towards the future for his rebuild project.

After playing for what seems an eternity, centre-backs Bruno Alves and Rui Fonte have been left out with young upstarts Ruben Dias (Benfica) expected to win his second cap. Old-but-hardly used pair Pedro Mendes (Montpellier) and Luis Neto (Zenit St. Petersburg) are also in the squad.

A equipa de Quinas ao peito, vai ter estes nomes nas costas. 👊 Estamos prontos! 🇵🇹 #TudoPorPortugal🎟 Bilheteira Online (a partir de 10€): https://t.co/D2LZA30njs🏪 Continente (50% de desconto em cartão): https://t.co/UYFN8ZN6PD pic.twitter.com/NSFPTTlCXk

— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) August 31, 2018

19-year-old Gedson Fernandes (Benfica) may get his first cap as well. 10 members of the Russia 2018 squad (including Ronaldo) have also been left out. It remains to be seen what the team’s makeup without its captain will look like.