Portugal is getting ready for the next world cup qualifiers, which start this coming September, however, Portugal has a big empty hole to fill with the departure of their coach, Scolari. FPF president, Gilberto Madail is said to be on the verge of announcing potential candidates for the Portuguese National Team.

Several reports by Portuguese media have named potential candidates, however, nothing has been confirmed by the FPF, and therefore, nothing is concrete.

One of our readers, Neil, wrote a thought inspiring comment recently and we feel that it would be appropriate to address some of his and your concerns in a post. You can find Neil’s comment here.

For The Record, we want Cristiano Ronaldo to stay in Manchester. With that said, we need to focus on Cristiano Ronaldo’s intentions and his motivation for wanting to leave for Madrid.

But First, does Cristiano Ronaldo owe Manchester his complete allegiance?

The question can be better answered by, “How does Manchester, or any other club, treat its players once they are past their prime?”

Manchester has always been willing to part ways with players they feel are expendable. Beckham, Keane, Nistelrooy and others were all disposed of without hesitation when they no longer fit into the team’s plans. Although this is speculative, we think that Cristiano undoubtedly realizes that if he stays and gives Manchester the best years of his career, in the end he is just as expendable as the others before him.

Second,  is Cristiano Ronaldo backstabbing Man Utd fans by joining Real? Does he not honor the contracts that he signs?

We think that regardless of the circumstances, we will always feel betrayed. Never before has a player with his profile, and at the height of a blossoming career, ever demanded to leave Manchester United. It’s usually the other way around, Manchester dumps former stars. These circumstances will always make for bitter feelings. We think that even if it were just a one year contract, people would still feel betrayed. In any relationship, the truth hurts when it means that someone ends up being rejected.

Third, why didn’t he leave when he had a chance?

We speculate that he probably would have, had Real shown a genuine interest in him. Let’s not forget that playing for Madrid, whether we like it or not, has always been his dream. It’s obvious by statements that he’s made that he feels this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Who are we to tell him not to chase his dreams?

Lastly, nothing would give us greater joy than for Cristiano to play at least one more year at Manchester, though at this point it seems unlikely. Whatever his decision, we will continue to support him.

Former French International, Zinedine Zidane reported to Media on Sunday regarding Real Madrid’s interest in Cristiano Ronaldo. Saying that the Spanish Champions are ready to pay a record breaking fee to bring the young star to Spain.

“Real would not be frightened of paying a large sum of money because in the past every time they have wanted a player they have managed to bring him to Madrid,” Zidane told a news conference.

“Obviously, it will be up to the player. If he wants to go, one day or another he will be at Real Madrid.”

The record for the highest paid transfer fee is held by Real Madrid when they paid 78 million euros to Juventus in 2001 for Zidane, who touched on the subject by saying he hopes Real Madrid pay more for Ronaldo than they did for him, that it would be a weight lifted off his shoulders.

Ronaldo for Ballon d’Or

“I think he’s had a superb season, he won the (English) championship and the Champions League,” said Zidane, who retired after the 2006 World Cup final, at an Adidas event.

“I think he stopped at the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 because facing him was a great Germany team who caused (Portugal) a lot of problems.

“It doesn’t take anything away from the success that he’s had all year, I think he’s not far away from winning the Ballon d’Or and it would be deserved.”

Portugal confronted Germany in the first quarter final of this year’s Euro competition on Thursday June 19.

Germany started the game well with a couple of quick goals, but the third and winning goal from the German side created much controversy. Goal scorer, Michael Ballack, had clearly pushed Portuguese defender Paulo Ferreira out of the way to gain an advantage, and score the winner. The controversial goal created frustration for the Portuguese, including Manager Scolari, who had signaled to the referee of the offense to no avail.

Portugal controlled the second half of the game, both in possession and scoring chances but weren’t able to tie the game. Portugal played the beautiful game that the world has come to know, but weren’t able to capitalize against the methodical Germans, who were content on capitalizing on the counter attack, like Turkey in game 1. It is a disappointment to all Portugal fans, but the Portuguese can hold their heads up knowing that their team had never given up, and had come so close to scoring the tie on numerous occasions. It will be sad to see the best team in Euro 2008 not be there at the final.

In other news:

Portuguese winger, Cristiano Ronaldo admitted after the game that he had been playing with a foot injury for the last three months and will need surgery to correct the problem in his foot.

Portugal enter this quarter-final match versus Germany on a better note than the World Cup’s quarter-final match of 2006. They have a fully rested starting line-up and no suspensions looming over the team as was the case in 2006. Germany on the other hand is struggling with fatigue and injury after moving out of the group stage with a narrow victory versus Austria. Torsten Frings is a doubtful starter for the German side after x-rays revealed a broken rib which was suffered in the Austria game on Monday. According to reports by uefa.com, Frings sustained the injury during the second half of the game. He traveled with Germany’s team doctor to Lugano for further testing after he complained of being in pain. German coach, Joachim Löw has stated that a decision on the game status of Frings would be left to the last minute, saying:Torsten is a very important player for our team and, considering that, our medical team will naturally be doing everything within their power to get him fit again for Thursday’s match. He will be treated very intensively until then. A definite decision on whether or not he will be able to play will be made at short notice.”

In the latest news conference given by the Portuguese National Team, Cristiano Ronaldo was asked what he thought about the reports coming out of the German camp stating that Portugal was the favorite heading in to the quarter-final match. Ronaldo’s reply was that he didn’t believe there is a favorite. Stating that the team who plays better and capitalizes on their scoring opportunities will win. Ronaldo went on to say that Germany could be their biggest obstacle in reaching the finals.

When asked about his future, he again stated that he would not speak about it until the Euro tournament was over. He did touch on the subject of Scolari moving to Chelsea by saying that he believes it was a good move for him. That Chelsea are a good club and that he will most certainly make a big difference in the club.

FIFA has dismissed the Red Devil’s official complaint regarding Real Madrid’s tactics involving Portuguese star winger, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Manchester United submitted the official complaint to FIFA, but details were not supplied to the public.

FIFA, which is the world’s soccer governing body released a statement on Monday June 16 regarding United’s complaint.

“From the documentation received, no breach of contract appears to have occurred yet, therefore, in accordance with the applicable practice, no kind of formal procedure has been opened by FIFA regarding this matter.”

FIFA went on to say that they have asked the Spanish Football Federation to remind Real Madrid of the potential legal ramifications of a breach of contract.

Real Madrid have denied any wrong doing on this matter.

The transfer saga of Cristiano Ronaldo, began after he had mentioned to Brazilian media that he wanted to play for Real Madrid, but only if RM were willing to reward him financially. Since then, the rumor mill hasn’t stopped.

SIC Television has recently filmed a series of television specials featuring present Portuguese football (soccer) greats.

These specials are an up and close look at the individual behind the soccer jersey.

In this video, Porto FC star, Ricardo Quaresma gives us a look behind the scenes, by taking us into his home in Porto, Portugal. He talks about his family, his likes and dislikes and his opinion on tabloid media.

Cristiano Ronaldo7.com has once again taken the time to translate these videos into English.

We hope you enjoy ‘Os Incriveis’ (The Incredibles) Featuring Ricardo Quaresma:

The Portuguese National Team will play their third and final game of the group stage today against Switzerland. Switzerland, who have already been eliminated from the tournament, will surely try to go out on a positive note and give their best performance. Portugal, on the other hand, have already qualified and will need to stay focused. Speculation has Portugal playing their B-Team in order to rest their best players.

Portugal’s star winger, Cristiano Ronaldo, will most certainly not make the starting line-up as new Chelsea manager Scolari looks to give game time to players who have yet to play.

Portugal’s next opponent has yet to be decided, but it hasn’t stopped the off pitch politics and mind games from commencing. Earlier this week, Croatia went public in saying that they were happy to avoid Portugal in the quarter-final round. Just two days later, when the possibility of Croatia playing Portugal grew, they again went public in saying that they would feel sorry for Cristiano Ronaldo, because it would most certainly mean an early exit for Portugal.

Quarter-final opponents, in most part have yet to be decided. What we do know is that only a few teams are fancied to be standing on the field for the final game. Portugal is one of those teams.