Fernando Santos has stepped down as Portugal head coach following their disappointing 2022 Fifa World Cup exit
Portugal were denied a berth in the semifinals after they suffered a 1-0 quarterfinal loss to Morocco in Doha
Fifa World Cup, Morocco vs Portugal Quarterfinal Highlights: It was yet another surprising day in history as Morocco became the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.
To Bruno Fernandes, World Cup teammate Cristiano Ronaldo is the most famous athlete in sports. Joao Felix has described Ronaldo as "irreplaceable." Gonalo Ramos, Portugal's new 21-year-old star, has never known his national team without Ronaldo involved in it. A future without the country's greatest ever player could be a daunting prospect to the up-and-coming generation of Portugal internationals. They aren't showing it at the World Cup. In fact, they showed they might even be liberated by stepping out of Ronaldo's long shadow given the way Portugal demolished Switzerland 6-1 in the round of 16 on Tuesday. Turns out there is life after the five-time world player of the year, even if that is hard for some to imagine. Portugal coach Fernando Santos wanted a team playing with a lot of fluidity against Switzerland and that invariably meant leaving the 37-year-old Ronaldo the player with more goals (118) than anyone in men's international soccer on the bench. It was a big call and
Fifa World Cup, POR vs SUI Round of 16 Highlights: It was a night to remember for Portugal's Goncalo Ramos as he scored a hattrick, helping his team thrash Switzerland 6-1 and reach the last 8.
Fifa World Cup 2022 Highlights: South Korea would be the biggest story of the night as they repeated the feat of their neighbours Japan after they beat Portugal 2-1, coming from 0-1 down. Uruguay out
Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 Live Updates: Yet another Asian side shone as South Korea forced a draw out of fancied Uruguay. Portugal beat Ghana 3-2 while Brazil didn't have to sweat hard for 2-0 win
Fifa World Cup Highlights: Southgate's England pulled in almost a perfect job as they scored six goals against Iran to win their opening match of Group B at Khalifa Stadium. Iran also pulled two back
Horta was making just his second appearance for Portugal nearly eight years after his international debut back in 2014
Portugal will play its upcoming World Cup qualifiers with Cristiano Ronaldo, who will have another chance to break the all-time men's international scoring record
Out of the four semi-finalists, only Denmark has been a surprise. The team had to replace its star player Eriksen who fainted because of cardiac arrest during the team's opening match of Euro 2020