Portugal will head to the World Cup hoping to prove people wrong once again as they did two years ago at the Euros in France but they will do so without Fabio Coentrao after he asked not to be selected.
As a boy I day dreamed of walking out with my England team to win the World Cup. Sometimes that was as manager, sometimes as captain and sometimes as the scorer of the winning goal- occasionally all three were somehow mixed.
Of course as time was to prove I would never be good enough to play for England, or my school’s fourth team, so going on holiday to Brazil for the tournament or writing about it in the office is as close to the World Cup as I’ll get in my life.
Professional footballers actually have a chance of going to the World Cup of course and you’d have thought that every single one of them would be fighting tooth and nail to make it.
However Portugal’s Fabio Coentrao has actually asked the country’s FA not to pick him for the tournament in Russia. Posting on Facebook the Sporting left back said:
“Last week, after a lot of consideration, I told the National Team that after a very tiring season, I feel I am not in the condition to represent the Seleção at the World Cup.
“I will never turn my back on my country, and hope to be able to represent our national team more often in the future. Until then I am and I will always be one to cheer on from the outside, see you soon”.
