Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea, three teams with a fall to torment Portugal

Physical, technical and tactical, a hat-trick of emotions for Portugal in seven and a half months.

Its a lottery a lottery, and is it always the same thing? Will be? Look no, look no. A very recent example: for the 2006 World Cup, the voices of discord are scattered all over the place.

Japan coach Zico doesn't understand Spain's seeded status by FIFA, Iran censors the live broadcast of the event due to the presence of the sculptural German presenter/model Heidi Klum, the Argentines are furious with Pelé , who takes the balls from the group of death from albiceleste (Netherlands, Ivory Coast plus Serbia), and an Italian television channel accused Matthäus of having harmed the "azzurra", when he chooses a ball, drops it and exchanges it for another . Suspect.

It's the old hot and cold ball theory. In this case, the cold ones mean ease and the hot difficulties. And all this recalls the controversy surrounding the draw for the 82 World Cup, the first to be broadcast live on television to the entire world. When Poland warns FIFA to avoid a duel with the USSR, otherwise the Warsaw Pact would go up. When Cameroon threatens to withdraw from the World Cup if New Zealand, which had just played a friendly against South Africa, does not publicly condemn apartheid .

And the balls hadn't been drawn yet. To that end, FIFA named four orphans – "to show that football is for all ages." Casting errors were others. The balls from Scotland and Hungary came out too soon, the ball from Chile jammed with the one from Peru and the flags of the respective countries were visible, not to mention the technical problem that postponed the Spanish anthem for five minutes. Even today, the four orphans gather on the 16th of January to celebrate their 15 minutes of fame. Today, everything has changed. No more cold balls. Just hot. And, of course, all care is little.

This is about the draw for the 2022 World Cup with Portugal in the group of Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea. And now? Historically, three teams with a fall to torment Portugal. Ghana means goodbye to Portugal in the 2014 World Cup, Uruguay means goodbye in 2018 and South Korea means goodbye in 2002. Three exit doors, it will take work.

And in the other draws? In 1966, the trio Brazil, Bulgaria and Hungary left for Portugal. The crowd fills its chest and says of its justice: hey , this is going to be difficult. We have Eusébio but they have Pelé and Garrincha, Asparukhov and Penev, Bene and Farkas. All things considered: Eusébio was the top scorer of the World Cup, with nine goals, four of them against North Korea, and Portugal eliminated Brazil for the first (and only) time in the group stage.

In 1986, England, Poland and Morocco. G'and bad luck. Those English are still going to set us up, we commented. Thank you Diamantino for the knot, thank you Carlos Manuel for the goal with the cinnamon: we beat the steaks 1:0, we had soup in the next two games and we ended up on the way without honor or glory, and with the Saltillo case in the middle.

In 2006, Angola, Iran and Mexico. Better is impossible, right? Correct and affirmative. Just wins, and playing with the substitutes in the third and final game, vs Mexico. Holland and England follow until Zidane's penalty in the ½ final.

In 2010, Brazil, Ivory Coast and North Korea. In Cape Town, it was the end of the work to get the Portuguese ball out. Of the 32 teams, it is the 31st – then only Switzerland. And what a big 31 this group is. There's that selection of "everybody tries but only Brazil is penta", there's one that makes us vent "what a drogba" and there's still another one that, come on, even makes us feel relaxed, but with our eyes wide open that this is not for fun. Draw, rout, draw. Zero goals conceded. At the crossroads, piiiimba , take Spain there. A goal is conceded (in offside) and goodbye, until next time.

In 2014, Germany, USA and Ghana. Only physical selections. Portugal is bad. The boot is faulty, 4:0. From then on, it's a torment. Varela's goal was saved in added time vs USA to be able to dream on the last day. The victory vs Ghana is thin, not enough to move forward.

In 2018, Spain, Morocco and Iran. In the debut, 3:3 with a hat-trick from Ronaldo. The captain reinforces the status of the best Portuguese of the moment with the 1:0 vs Morocco. Only Iran de Queiroz is missing. AND? It ends 1:1, with Ronaldo missing a penalty and Taremi missing a goal in Patrício's face at the last second. The intersection points to Uruguay and an encore by Cavani invites us to return home without joy.

Now 2022. Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea. Whether easy or hard, half a misstep is more than enough to get air. Truth be told, Ghana is physical, Uruguay is talent and Korea is tactics (Paulo Bento forever ). The degree of difficulty is demanding. Even worse was the cross in the 1/8 final with the group of Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia and Cameroon.