World Cup 2014 Preview – Portugal

Up next in our World Cup Previews is Portugal. They sport arguably the best player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo, and he along with his teammates are looking for a World Cup trophy to help solidify him as the greatest player of all time.

Ronaldo is a phenomenal talent. Some athletes that he compares to are Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Jim Brown, Bo Jackson, and Roger Federer. He is the best of the best when it comes to the world of soccer. Speed, size, strength, agility, awareness, and flashy are the some of the many words that describe his play. Ronaldo's natural position is out wide at winger, but his skill set allows him to play anywhere on the field. He is a master at finding a team's weak point and exploiting it for 90 minutes. And if you're defending Portugal, don't foul within 30 yards of your goal: Ronaldo will just casually fire a rocket into the onion bag without thinking twice about it.

However, this squad is much more than just one player. Nani is the other natural winger for Portugal, and only one word is suitable when describing him: "fast." He plays fast, he passes fast, and he runs fast. With lightening quick feet, Nani is able to stretch out the defense and open up many opportunities for their strikers, which seems to be the only weak point of the team. Their defense is stout across the field, with the likes of Pepe and Joao Pererira. If Portugal find a true striker, there's not much stopping this team from destroying the competition.

My prediction: Let me preface this prediction by saying this: I love my country. There's always a "but" though*... Portugal are in the "Group of Death," which involves Germany, Ghana, and the United States. I would absolutely love to pick my country to advance over Portugal, *but (here it is) my journalistic integrity prevents me from doing so. Portugal finish second in this difficult group, but the Yanks give them everything they could possibly want.