Team spirit the key to Portugal's success

Figo proved why he's the biggest star. Deco and Ronaldo also played very well, writes Sourav Ganguly.

It was a memorable day, but hectic.

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After attending the Padmashree award ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi, I had to rush to Mumbai, then Chennai on Wednesday.

Tired as I was, I could not stop myself from being in front of the TV in my hotel room in Chennai at the stroke of midnight. I have loved football since childhood and never pass up a chance to catch a good match on TV.

The prospect of a Portugal-Holland clash was mouthwatering. Portugal were definitely favourites, but Netherlands could not be ruled out after their performance against Sweden. But Portugal came out on top because of a glittering performance on all counts.

Again Luis Figo, their biggest star, played marvellously. Figo proved once again why he is the biggest star in the team. Deco and Ronaldo also played very well and they had strong support from their defenders. It was teamwork in the truest sense.

Since they were defeated in the first match in the tournament in front of their home crowd, the Portuguese footballers had tremendous pressure on them. I know what it feels like to lose a match before our own supporters in the very first match of an important tournament. Coming back from that low is not at all easy. It needs tremendous team spirit.

I can understand how tough it was for captain Figo and coach Scolari, I've also had to face such lows in my career, both as a player and as captain.

Both the goals for Portugal were excellent. But unfortunately, the own goal by Andrade put the team at risk. I liked the attitude of their goalkeeper Ricardo just after that goal. He rushed to Andrade to cheer him up. This was an apt demonstration of that team spirit.

I read in some newspaper reports that Figo and Deco had somewhat of a problem. Deco was called up from Brazil by Scolari to play for Portugal and was granted citizenship particularly because of this reason. Figo did not like this and reportedly, was having problems with the coach in any case. But nobody can believe this after watchig their teamwork in the match.

That's called true spirit, something I really liked. We can learn a lot from this. We have to.

Now what about the final? At the time of writing this article, I have no clue who will be up against Portugal on Sunday in Lisbon. My bet is on Czech Republic. They have played very well throughout this tournament and are still unbeaten. To be honest they are my favourite team too. But upsets have been a regular feature in this tournament.

That's why predictions are quite impossible.

But I would love to see a Sunday thriller between Portugal and the Czech Republic.