World Cup 2010: Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo Wary Of Strong African Teams
Ronaldo is fearful of the underdogs from the host continent.
Cristiano Ronaldo believes Portugal have as good a chance as any country of lifting the World Cup trophy – but fears the African nations might disrupt their plans.
Portugal face Ivory Coast in their opening match of the tournament – a match Ronaldo says is "key" if they hope to make it out of a tough group which also features Brazil and North Korea.
And with Sven-Goran Eriksson having recently taken over as Elephants coach, the Real Madrid star concedes getting off to a winning start will be even tougher.
“I have never played against Ivory Coast … it will be an interesting game,” he told KickOff.com.
“They have strong players – African players are always strong, physically especially. We will have to prepare for a tough game, and with this new coach it will be more difficult – they will be more confident because he is a fantastic coach.”
Nonetheless, Ronaldo believes Portugal can pull off a surprise and go all the way at the World Cup.
“It is possible; we have to believe,” he says. “The qualification – we didn’t play fantastic, but sometimes this happens. For France [in the 2006 World Cup], this happened the same, and two years ago England stayed out of the Euro Championships, but I still believe and I trust in the team.
“I’m looking forward to it and just want to start the World Cup.”
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