The Blues punctuate their group stage of Euro 2020 with a shock against Portugal this Wednesday (9 p.m.). A country with strong links with France, on and off the field. Discovery.
Why the nickname “Seleção das Quinas”?
The Portuguese word “quina” could be translated as “lot of five”. To understand this nickname, you have to look at the flag of Portugal. We see five blue shields, which has sometimes given rise to an amalgamation, translating “Seleção das Quinas” by “the shield team”. In fact, the “quinas” are the white dots inside the blue shields on the flag. These dots were originally silver besants, a currency mainly used during the time of the Byzantine Empire, over 1,000 years ago. They first appeared on the Portuguese flag in the 12th century. There are therefore six “quinas” on the flag of Portugal: one “quina” made up of five shields and five “quinas” made up of besants. Why this symbolic number? It would correspond to the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth and the five plagues of Christ.
Why the red and green on the flag?
Each flag has its own history, and that of the Portuguese standard is quite recent. It was not until 1910 that this small country in Western Europe adopted its predominantly red and green flag. From 1830 to 1910, there was already the coat of arms, but it covered blue and white. Why this change in 1910? Because the monarchy gave way to the First Republic of Portugal. Blue was associated with religion and white with royalty, so there was a need for a visual revolution. Red wanted to be a symbol of the people and included a trade union tradition, while green represented hope and positivism. Two colors put forward among the Republicans long before 1910 in Portugal. On football fields, the Seleção has sometimes brought up to date a white jersey and blue shorts for a “vintage” side.
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France, its bête noire … except in 2016
In the last 13 confrontations between France and Portugal, the Blues have emerged 11 times victorious for a draw. This includes the Euro 1984 semi-final (3-2), Euro 2000 semi-final (2-1) and the 2006 World Cup semi-final (1-0). It was not until 2016 that the red and green nation broke the curse, in the final of the Euro at the Stade de France (0-1). Six months later, TF1 asked Didier Deschamps how long he had recovered from this loss at home. “It takes time,” he whispered. I’m not going to hide it from you, even now, when I think about it … it’s still cruel. “
A Seleção with a French accent
In Fernando Santos’ list of 26, there are 4 Ligue 1 players: Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, Parisian midfielder Danilo and Lille José Fonte and Renato Sanches. Lopes (30) even has French nationality, he who was born in Givors in the Rhône. The same goes for the left side Raphaël Guerreiro, native of Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis) who passed through Caen and Lorient. We could add to the “francophones” João Moutinho and Bernardo Silva, former teammates at AS Monaco, or even Gonçalo Guedes who played 13 small matches with PSG in 2017. This football link between France and Portugal has nothing to do with it. surprising when you think of Portuguese immigration. According to a 2011 census, more than 1.2 million people in France come from this immigration, counting 1st and 2nd generations. This is the third highest total behind French residents from Morocco (1.3 M) and Algeria (1.9 M).
Cristiano Ronaldo, the man of the Euro and the records
The European Championship is a bit like Cristiano Ronaldo’s competition. He is the one who played the most matches there (23, ahead of the German Bastian Schweinsteiger, 18) and is the top scorer (12) ahead of Michel Platini (9). He also became the first player to participate in five editions of the Euro after 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016, where he lifted the trophy in France. Finally, he has in his sights the last great record of his career, at 36 years old. He lacks three goals to equal the Iranian Ali Daei, top scorer in the history of national teams (109). In terms of the number of capes, he is tied with the legendary Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon (176), international retiree. And he could approach the European record holder, the Spaniard Sergio Ramos (180), big absent from the Euro because considered too fair physically. In short, Ronaldo has not finished making history through his stats.
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