Portugal
FIFA #6
The team that was built around Ronaldo and is now learning to exist without him. Still loaded with talent, still completely incapable of having a boring game.
π In the US
Staged out of the Boston area, which is deeply appropriate β New England has one of the largest Portuguese-American communities in the United States, concentrated in Fall River and New Bedford. The supporters singing in Portuguese here are not just fans; many of them have grandparents from the Azores.
Style
Technical and clinical on the wings, with the creativity to unlock defenses and the quality to finish when they do.
Rivals
Spain. Sharing the Iberian Peninsula has produced centuries of complicated neighborly tension, and their encounters on the pitch have never been simple β least of all a 2018 group stage meeting that neither side has fully processed.
Home Base
A coastal nation of 10 million that has produced footballers entirely out of proportion to its size β EusΓ©bio, Figo, Ronaldo, and an endless conveyor belt from Madeira to Lisbon. Football here runs on passion and espresso, and the two are nearly interchangeable.
Human Rights
Freedom House
Political rights and civil liberties score (higher = more free)
Reporters Without Borders
Press Freedom Index ranking (lower = more free, out of 180 countries)
UN Human Development Index
Human Development Index score (higher = more developed, 0β1 scale)
Transparency International
Perceived public sector corruption β higher is cleaner
ILGA World
Legal status of same-sex relationships