Portugal will have a tough World Cup group stages according to its manager Paulo Bento, who has also refused to accept that Germany will be the favourites to qualify for the knockout stages from this group. Portugal will be up alongside Germany, the USA, and Ghana in the group stages. This has already been dubbed as the group of death due to the strength of the opposition. Portugal will go to the competition with Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo spearheading their attack, but that does not mean that they can qualify for the knockout stages easily.

Germany come into the tournament as the favourites to win the title after having come close in recent major tournaments. Bento, though, thinks that all the national teams that have qualified for the World Cup are very similar in terms of strength. However, he thinks that Portugal are better in one regard – the presence of Ronaldo. The 28-year-old was recently crowned as the best player in the world ahead of Lionel Messi. He has scored more than 60 goals in 2013 alone, while his form has shown no signs of slowing down in 2014 as well.

Portugal have not done well in the qualification stages for the last major tournaments. Bento accepts that he is confident of success at the World Cup 2014.

“It is a difficult group, I have to say. The level of the top national teams is similar. It is very equal and it will be tough, but we have one point in our favour; we have the best player in the world (Ronaldo). Cristiano works well at everything. He is a fantastic professional and now he is an ambitious player. He always wants to be a better player. It is incredible, but he is still improving as a player and everybody expects a lot from the best player in the world,” said Bento.