That’s really inflating their tournament runs. They had only ever qualified for 3 World Cups before Ronaldo joined the team. They had made the semis twice in the history of the Euros but again had only qualified for 3 European Championships in their history before 2004. They are nowhere near the powerhouses that either Argentina or Brazil were and I don’t think it’s wrong to say they were not influential at all in World Cup football except for one tournament run. They were stronger in the Euros, yes, but they were not very present. It’s more down to the recent expansions and an explosion in Portuguese talent that has allowed Portugal to actually be regular tournament competitors.
![[ESPNFC] Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Neymar Jr’s International Stats.](https://alien.top/pictrs/image/bf00c9e0-8bde-4828-8b67-c9b1eb3f2bb4.webp){kind=link}
That’s really inflating their tournament runs. They had only ever qualified for 3 World Cups before Ronaldo joined the team. They had made the semis twice in the history of the Euros but again had only qualified for 3 European Championships in their history before 2004. They are nowhere near the powerhouses that either Argentina or Brazil were and I don’t think it’s wrong to say they were not influential at all in World Cup football except for one tournament run. They were stronger in the Euros, yes, but they were not very present. It’s more down to the recent expansions and an explosion in Portuguese talent that has allowed Portugal to actually be regular tournament competitors.