Cristiano Ronaldo Might Miss the Match Against England

England could not only benefit from Deco and Costinha's suspensions for the World Cup quarterfinals. They may also miss an encounter with Manchester United midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese star suffered an incredibly cruel fault in the first minutes of his team's game against Holland and is not certain to recover until the England test. More, the footballer went out in tears after being substituted later in the first half.

Scolari just wanted to make sure that his player will not put himself at risk more than he already has and decided to keep him on the bench. Still, things worked out perfectly for his team, since Portugal managed to keep the score 1-0, although they played most of the second half with one man less than their opponents.

Whether the young sensation will be able to start in the line-up for the England clash, only the doctors will know. The player is feeling pretty confident, though, stating that: "It is a special match because I play in England. I've been there for three years and I hope we can win. I've got a blue mark after the hit on my thigh. Let's see how it develops. The doctors will see on Monday".

Without Ronaldo, Portugal's creating midfield will suffer a great blow, since neither Figo nor Rochenbach are able to play in the middle. More, it is known that Portugal only plays well if Deco plays well. And, since the Barcelona midfielder will sit on the bench, we're going to see a total different team against England.

Felipe Scolari stated that he will not be afraid of England, especially since he managed to beat Eriksson in the last 2 quarters of international tournaments: "Now I have to put a team together to face England, but with a few problems. But that's part of my job. I've got 23 players, two cannot play, but Cristiano has got five or six days and he will probably recover. We want our exploits to go beyond what the country did in 1966".

England will face Portugal in the World Cup quarters on July 1st, at 17.00 CET.