Lingering doubts about the fitness of world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo have left Portugal in disarray ahead of its World Cup Group ‘E’ clash with the United States.
Already reeling from a crushing 4-0 defeat to Germany in its opener, Portugal faces almost certain elimination if it loses to US.
But its preparation for the game could not be going much worse.
Although the Portugal camp insists the Real Madrid forward is fit, Ronaldo has been seen sporting an ice pack on his knee at training sessions and leaving early as his team-mates continued to train, while he was far from his scintillating best against the Germans.
Much media speculation has focussed on whether or not he will play against the US, or indeed if he does, whether or not he will be fully fit.
But fellow forward Helder Postiga was adamant that too much is being read into an ice pack.
“I personally think that the Cristiano Ronaldo talk is a bit too much so I imagine how he must be feeling about that,” Postiga said.
“But regarding his physical condition, he’s been training at his maximum and if it’s not listed in the clinical information of the Portuguese (football) federation it’s because he’s fit to play.”
It is hardly the ideal preparation to face a buoyant USA, which began its campaign with a last-gasp 2-1 win over Ghana, avenging defeats to the Black Stars at the last two World Cups.
Yet Portugal coach Paulo Bento believes that his side is simply better than its opponent.
“The best version of Portugal can beat the United States. We respect the USA as a very good team,” he said.
“They have grown up over the last years so we have to respect them but we believe in ourselves, we believe in our work, in our quality, so we have to be responsible, we have to be in the best condition to win this match and we believe it.”
