Portugal must be realistic at WC: Ronaldo
Skipper says Euro champs may not be the favourites but in football anything is possible
LISBON: Cristiano Ronaldo said Portugal must be realistic as they are not among the World Cup favourites, though the Real Madrid superstar insisted nothing is impossible.
Euro 2016 champions Portugal will face Spain (June 15), Morocco (June 19) and Iran (June 25) in Group B at the World Cup in Russia.
Portugal defied the odds to be crowned European champions two years ago and captain Ronaldo — who is set to return to the starting XI for Thursday’s friendly against Algeria having enjoyed some rest following last month’s Champions League triumph — said Fernando Santos’ men will give their all at the showpiece tournament.
Led by Ronaldo as Portugal were sent off to the World Cup at a Lisbon reception held by president Marcelo Rebelo De Sousa on Wednesday, the five-time Ballon d’or winner said: “What I can guarantee is a great ambition of all of us players and technical team. We know we are not the favourites, we have to be realistic, but in football nothing is impossible.
“I think we must think match by match. The first match, the group stage will be extremely difficult but I think that with these players we need to think big and I am confident that we will give our best.”
“What I can say is that we will do the same (of Euro 2016) fight to the end always keeping hope that in football everything is possible,” Ronaldo — Portugal’s most capped player and leading scorer — continued.
“Step by step see what will happen, what the competition will bring us and for us is a privilege to represent Portugal’s colours [and] represent this nation.
“We will give our best and wait to see what we will get from it. Thank you very much to have us here for us is a privilege.”
IS THREAT HANGS OVER WORLD CUP
PARIS: While moribund in Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State (IS) group poses a real threat to World Cup that must be taken seriously, security experts warn. Alarm bells have been ringing since disturbing photo-montages began to appear on social media late last year, the work of the IS propaganda arm known as the Wafa Media Foundation.
“You will not enjoy security until we live it in Muslim countries,” the posts said.
Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Troy Souza, authors of a report published last month by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) on the dangers IS poses to the June 14 to July 15 World Cup, said the propaganda campaign unfurled by IS was “unprecedented”.
“In just the past few years, there have been numerous successful terror attacks or thwarted plots in Russia by terrorists linked to or inspired by the Islamic state,” they wrote.
“This suggests the group may have the capacity to launch attacks in Russia during the World Cup.”
These attacks, said the US experts, can be either carried out by lone wolves or by local jihadists.