Analysis of the first round of fixtures of the World Cup contenders

Portugal - Group B

Seleccao Das Quinas starting 11 against Spain.

The Portuguese are more of dark horses than contenders but ruling out the defending European Champions from the contender's list is not a wise idea. Just like the vast majority of the last decade, Cristiano Ronaldo carried the team during their opening game against Spain. A brilliant hat-trick to kick-start his campaign on a high. The free kick was the icing on the cake no doubt. Guedes showed signs of promise as he was always ready to run at the Spanish defense on the counter. Silva is most likely to start the next game against Morocco so Ronaldo will have more support in attack.

The defense which looked solid throughout the knockout stages of the European Championships and their qualifying campaign looked a bit out of sorts in their opening game. Certainly, they have room for improvement in that area and expect them to stifle the opposition in their next game against Morocco.

Performance Rating - 6/10