There are a lot of countries that will land in Qatar 2022 hoping to get back home with the title on their hands. Brazil, France, Argentina, England and Germany are some of them. One thing they have in common is counting on stellar players in their squads. But when it comes to talent Portugal shouldn’t be excluded from the contenders’ discussion in the upcoming FIFA World Cup.

Any lineup that has Cristiano Ronaldo in it presents a threat. The good thing for him is that he isn’t alone in the quest of winning their first-ever FIFA World Cup. Playmakers like Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva will try to help Ronaldo get their nation the crown. Hopefully for them things won’t get as complicated as they were in the qualifiers.

Portugal ended up getting through not without suspense. The draw gave them some competitive opponents, but they were able to avoid top candidates in the first round. They will be in group H along with Uruguay, Ghana and South Korea in a journey that is set to start on November 24. Check out how they qualified to the FIFA World Cup.

Portugal’s road to Qatar 2022

The 55 countries than took part of the UEFA qualifiers for Qatar 2022 were divided into 10 groups. In the case of Portugal, they shared this round with four other teams that were Serbia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. Only the leader was going to make it to the FIFA World Cup directly, while the second had to be part of the playoffs.

That looked like an easy path for them based on all the talent they have. And that was the case for the first eight matchdays, although everything went south in an unexpected fashion in their last two games. Firstly, a 0-0 tie visiting Ireland brought in uncertainty, but at least they got to their last match with multiple outcomes that would have favored them. They only needed to avoid a loss at home vs Serbia to clinch their spot in Qatar.

Portugal started ahead with a goal in the second minute, though they lost to the Serbians in the last minute of regulation. That sent them to the playoffs, more precisely to the draw where Italy appeared as well. In the end, things worked out just fine. They beat Turkey 3-1 and then the Portuguese got 2-0 triumph over the surprising North Macedonia. It wasn’t easy, but they made it to the FIFA World Cup.

Using this World Cup Predictor, you can see every potential outcome of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.