Football

Like the rest of the country, football is our favourite sport. We don't like any other sport like we love football. It's all about team spirit, the beauty of the game and the passion that goes through you when you're watching a match, when you shout for a goal and jump when someone scores. It’s feeling nervous when our team loses or sad when they’re badly ranked.
But with players like <B>Luís Figo </B>(Real de Madrid) voted the best in the world; <B>Pauleta</B>, the top scorer in the French league; <B>Rui Costa</B>, playing for the Milan; <B>Fernando Couto</B>, playing for Lazio, there are no reasons for being sad, on the contrary Portugal and the Portuguese have a lot to be proud of because all of these are experienced players who have played for many of Europe’s top clubs and won important titles.

In our opinion <U><B>Luís Figo is the best of them</B></U>, no doubt the most talented midfielder of all times. Anyone who sees Figo playing gets amazed by his abilities. He can run, kick, pass, and dribble. He plays with the ball and <I>"dances"</I> with the other players. Best of all, he leads by example, always shows up for every game, plays hard, and more often than not, is responsible for all his teams' success.
There is also someone very important that we mustn’t forget - Portugal’s major legend: <B>Eusébio or The Black Panther</B> as he was known. Eusébio was the top scorer at the 1966 World Cup (9 goals) held in England. Here his lightning fast acceleration and wonderful dribbling skills earned him acclaim. His trademark was a spectacular shot, which allied to his powerful running and dribbling skills, made him one of the most dangerous strikers of his era. He was the Portuguese League's top scorer in 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970 and 1973. He was the European top scorer in both 1968 (42 goals) and 1973 (40 goals). After scoring 38 goals in 46 games for Portugal, he ended his career in 1974, at the age of 32, when he injured his knee. In Eusebio's spectacular career he played 715 games and scored 727 goals
Now with the Euro 2004 approaching we just hope Luiz Scolari may lead our national team to victory or just keep Portugal’s fine footballing reputation intact.