The countdown has started. One month from now Portugal will play their most important match for nigh on four years. On 24 March the Seleção take on Turkey at Porto’s Estádio do Dragão in the World Cup qualification semi-final playoff.

Should they beat the Turks, Fernando Santos’s team will progress to the all-or-nothing final at the same venue on 29 March, in all likelihood against the 4-time World Cup winners and current European champions Italy.

By the time the match (or matches) come around, over four months will have passed since the shock 2-1 defeat against Serbia that relegated Portugal to the playoffs. Since then, players have come in and out of form, and Santos has had plenty of time to study the opposition and ponder his options. PortuGOAL attempts to second guess how the Seleção might set up in the do-or-die matches. 

While all signs originally pointed towards Portugal finding a clear qualifying path to the 2022 Qatar World Cup tournament, especially according to all the major sports betting platforms around, like the ones who are now solemnly focusing on bringing fans the best Super Bowl betting odds, Cristiano Ronaldo and his national squad teammates are now facing the daunting task of having to face Turkey in the first of two knockout playoff stages.

But as if that wasn’t enough, after Turkey lies the possibility of having to go face to face against European and world football powerhouse Italy in a potential final “win and you’re in” game.

The stakes have never been higher for a Portuguese squad looking to do whatever it takes to allow CR7 one last chance at chasing World Cup gold. Should the Seleção make it to the finals, it is surely the last time Ronaldo will grace football fans with his immense talents in the biggest national squad tournament in the world, the FIFA World Cup. But what should Portugal be focusing on before their March playoff dates? We bring you two points that Portugal should focus on to qualify for Qatar 2022. 

With two fixtures left in Portugal’s World Cup 2022 qualifying schedule, nobody expected the Cristiano Ronaldo show to miss the station. Yet, unfortunately for the seasoned striker, that's exactly what went down. After poor results against the Republic and Ireland and Serbia, where the team only picked up a single point, the Seleção dropped to second in Group A. 

Portugal must now go through an excruciating playoff campaign that is certain to test the resolve of fans, but with Portuguese players continuing to thrive around Europe’s biggest clubs the question is: are Fernando Santos’ men really too good to fail? 

Analysis of recent criticisms of the Portugal and Manchester United star

The more things change, the more they stay the same…so it goes with Cristiano Ronaldo. Every goal defies time, historical precedent, and much of the negative press about him. But it is as if two eternally bound, symbiotic edifices remain: Ronaldo’s conquests and the shadow of discontent permeating the football universe in its wake.

Seleção correspondent, Nathan Motz, has long respected the fascinating career of football’s Alexander-the-Great. In this exposé, he dissects the genre of Ronaldo criticism and its latest evolution. Just how well do the latest criticisms survive examination with respect to elementary standards of logical and statistical analysis?