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Cristiano Ronaldo knows how important it is for Portugal to win their upcoming showdown with Turkey. After all, losing means the death of their World Cup 2022 hopes. With that said, the Manchester United striker vowed that he will be on “total focus” to get Portugal its rightful place in the competition.
Portugal missed out on an automatic qualifying spot for the World Cup 2022 in Qatar after losing the top spot of Group A to Serbia. Ronaldo and co. faced the Serbians in the final day of the group stage qualifiers, and in a rather disappointing turn of events, conceded a last-minute goal.
Now, Ronaldo doesn't want a repeat of the same mistake they did, because this time, the stakes are higher. They play Turkey in Porto in Thursday for the Semifinals of the playoff round to determine who'll get one of the remaining three spots for the World Cup.
“Total focus on the 2022 World Cup,” Ronaldo wrote on Instagram in a defiant message.
“Proud, as always, to represent Portugal. We know that the path will not be easy, we have the utmost respect for the opponents we will face and who share the same goals as us. But together, we will fight to put Portugal in its rightful place. Let's do it!”
The winner of the Portugal-Turkey match will move to the finals to face the winner of the Italy-Macedonia showdown, so Cristiano Ronaldo absolutely understands the task at hand. Winning is their only option, and they have to be at their absolute best to ensure that they will be the last team standing.
Unfortunately, as Ronaldo himself said it, winning won't be easy. Not only is their a massive amount of pressure to perform for Portugal, but they'll also be missing the services of some key players such as Joao Cancelo and Renato Sanches. Moreover, Ruben Dias and Nelson Semedo are still recovering from injury, while veteran defender Pepe is out after testing positive for COVID-19.
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Some of those injured players, as well as Pepe, could make a dramatic return to the Portugal should they overcome Turkey in their upcoming World Cup 2022 playoffs showdown, but manager Fernando Santos and his men can't too think too advanced.
“It's simple: we need to win, nothing else matters,” Santos said in a news conference, per Sky Sports. “This is the most important challenge I had as Portugal manager. Not the most difficult, the most important. We must be in the World Cup for our people. The tickets were sold out in minutes more than a month ago. Our fans will be a major factor and we can't let them down.”
Portugal are ranked no. 8 in the FIFA Men's ranking, with Turkey rated at 39. So on paper, the Portuguese should be able to handle their opponents easily. However, as what the ranked 25 Serbia proved, standings are just numbers that won't decide the winners or losers of a game.
The last time the two teams met was in 2012 in an International Friendly, a game which Portugal lost 1-3. Their previous competitive meeting, however, came in 2008 in the UEFA Eruopean Championship where the Portuguese pulled off a 2-0 victory.
It is up for Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal to step up. They have everything to lose being one of the top dogs of the competition, and Turkey will surely look to put the pressure on them early on.
