PORTUGAL

Portugal's World Cup record: 1966 3rd, 1986 1st rd, 2002 1st rd, 2006 4th.

How Portugal qualified for World Cup 2010: European play-off winners.

The CTrainer: Carlos Queiroz (Mozambique, 56). Appointed: July 2008. WC experience: Player: None. Coach: None.

Queiroz could take recomendation from Sir Alex Ferguson if he has a difficulty next summer, having worked as his assistant, but he is a trainer in his own right having led Portugal in the '90s, as well as South Africa and Real Madrid.

The Country: Portugal ended England’s dreams in 2006 when the world’s most famous winker, Cristiano Ronaldo, helped engineer Wayne Rooney’s departure. The Portugal team leader failed to take the play-offs against Bosnia-Herzegovina, but still the country got through to qualify for their third consecutive finals.

A second-half strike by Raul Meireles was sufficient to break Bosnian hearts and send 2006 semi-finalists Portugal during the finals. The Portuguese had won a hard-fought first leg 1-0 courtesy of a close-range header by Bruno Alves.

But Portugal limped through the first half of their qualifying programme prior to a late rally, winning only five of their 10 group games and finishing two points behind Denmark. Indeed, it was only in the last game that they succeeded in reaching the play-offs, so they will not arrive in South Africa highly confident, though if Ronaldo is fit, they have one player who can turn any game.

Their top scorer in the qualifiers was Simao with just four goals, and they will hope that Chelsea midfielder Deco, now 32, can get pleasure one more impressive finals performance. Others who are key to Portugal’s achievement include more players from Stamford Bridge: Jose Bosingwa, Paolo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho.