World Cup 2002 revisited: Pauleta hits memorable hat-trick against Poland amidst a disastrous failure for Portugal | OneFootball

It was supposed to have been the tournament that consecrated the Golden Generation of Portuguese football into worldwide royalty. It ended up being the worst nightmare anyone could have ever dreamed of. From start to finish, everything went sideways in Portugal’s 2002 World Cup campaign.

Poor preparation, strange tactical and technical decisions, players injured or out of shape, lack of leadership, and too many egos on board saw Portugal go from underdog contenders to the biggest disappointment of the event in just a few days.

In the middle, between all the chaos that surrounded the Seleção, there was a brief moment under the sun where Portugal showed their best version, proving that they could have gone far with different staff in charge. Poland had been Portugal’s hangman in 1986 but this time the Eastern Europeans were destroyed by one of the best individual performances of a Portuguese international on the big stage.

Only in 2018 would another Portuguese player score a hat-trick during a World Cup match, and Pedro Pauleta’s enthusiastic celebrations under the torrential rain remain the only positive aspect from what would become the worst ever performance from the national side in a World Cup event.

Ignominious end reflects a disastrous campaign

It ended with a punch and a knife in the heart. João Vieira Pinto’s surprising reaction to being sent off against South Korea was the perfect reflection of what the Portuguese campaign had been all about. Nerves. He had lost his, but those in charge had long since been left wanting in that department as well. Pinto was not just sent off, though, as he punched the Argentine referee in frustration, causing FIFA and the Portuguese Federation to suspend him for a year, thus ending his international career.

It was also the end of the line for several international players who didn’t survive that ill-fated experience in the East, such as Sérgio Conceição, responsible, minutes later, for Park-Ji Sung’s only goal of the night. A goal the Koreans didn’t need but that ended up sending Portugal home, where many started to believe they shouldn’t have been allowed to depart from in the first place, such were the shenanigans around the expedition.

António Oliveira back in charge

That was how it ended. How it started was a whole different story. António Oliveira was back in charge after the 1996 positive experience in the Euros, and he arrived with two Portuguese league titles under his belt, as he had guided FC Porto to their first Tri and Tetra in their history, powered by Mário Jardel’s goals. In 1998 he decided to take a break but when Humberto Coelho stepped down after the brilliant Euro 2000 campaign he was called back in, mostly thanks to the huge influence his brother, Joaquim Oliveira, owner of powerful Portuguese media outlets Olivedesportos, SportTV and O Jogo, who had bankrolled the Portuguese Federation from bankruptcy more than once by then. The media mogul pressed FPF president Gilberto Madail to appoint Oliveira over Manuel José and Toni, the other popular contenders for the job.

Oliveira encountered the same group of players he had taken to England, but they were all worldwide stars now. Figo had thrived in Barcelona and had since moved to Real Madrid to become the most loved and hated player around the globe. Rui Costa had been king of Florence for years and was about to move to AC Milan while Fernando Couto and Sérgio Conceição were stars of their own in the ever-demanding Serie A. Vitor Baía, Jorge Costa, and Nuno Capucho were still cornerstones for FC Porto, and João Vieira Pinto had left Benfica for Sporting, where he played alongside many other veteran internationals like Paulo Bento, Luis Vidigal, Sá Pinto, Rui Jorge and Dimas.

Portugal’s starting XI against Poland at the 2002 World Cup

All-star squad puts Portugal among the favourites

Alongside Zinedine Zidane’s all-conquering France, a Brazil side fired by Luis Felipe Scolari, the brilliant Argentina led by Marcelo Bielsa and Italy, with Francesco Totti and Alessandro del Piero at the heights of their career, Portugal were touted as one of the heavy favourites. Smashing the Netherlands during the qualifying campaign only helped to increase their profile. Portugal topped their group, followed by the Republic of Ireland, leaving the Dutch out of the event, and after being alongside the hosts South Korea, Poland and the United States, few doubted Portugal was a shoe-in for a place in the knockout stages.

Oliveira’s men had played well during the qualifying stages, but the national manager had become increasingly paranoid over the months that followed, despairing at the lack of organisation within the Portuguese Football Federation, which seemed more concerned with everything that surrounded hosting Euro 2004. Oliveira’s plan was not only to thrive at the World Cup but to build a side capable of winning the event on home soil two years later, but things would turn dramatically worse when his undisputed rule started to raise some alarms within his own staff. The indecision about which players to call up, announced at the latest hour, only for the list to be redacted days later when Daniel Kennedy, who had enjoyed a brilliant campaign with Marítimo, was ruled out for a positive doping test. Hugo Viana, the young Sporting prodigy, was called up instead.

Often accused of not showing up in major tournaments, Pauleta had the match of his life in Jeonju

Macao training camp raises eyebrows

Oliveira had decided the side had to stay in Macao for the preparations, even if the weather in the former Portuguese colony had nothing to do with what they would find in Korea and Japan. Many believe there were other, more worrying motives surrounding the choice, as players and staff members were allowed to drift into the local casinos or restaurants without any sort of discipline. Oliveira, who had injured his leg, had to hobble around on crutches and in a plaster clast and became progressively more tense, particularly regarding some criticism of first-team choices.

Ricardo Pereira had shown week in and week out that he was the best goalkeeper in Portugal, but Oliveira decided to stick with Vitor Baía, who had spent the best part of the previous two seasons injured. Playing in long pants, a brilliant display in a friendly against China seemed to convince him he was right, but weeks later, Baía would be left wanting on more than one occasion against the United States in the inaugural match. Calling up two right-backs to then play Beto, a centre-back, in the position, also raised red flags, as was Luís Figo’s fitness. Figo had been injured after a clash with Deco in a Champions League match and had never been the same since. Still, Oliveira was unmoved by claims that the Portuguese captain and his biggest star had to start from the bench.

Humbled by USA

Portugal were duly thrashed by the United States, who went three up before allowing the Seleção to get back in the game, if only briefly. A defeat no one expected, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Portugal needed to win against the Poles in the second group stage fixture and wait for the South Korea clash with the Americans to determine if a draw was all they needed in the last round.

The match against Poland would be played at Jeonju on Portugal day, 10 June. A good omen, particularly for such a superstitious man as Oliveira. Following the advice of some members of his backroom staff, he decided to drop Rui Costa from the starting eleven to bring in Paulo Bento, offering more balance in midfield. Against the Americans, he had only deployed one holding midfielder in Petit, and his creative forwards never tracked back to help defensively, something they later said had more to do with the climate and their inability to adapt, after spending several days in Macao, than with their willingness to defend.

With Bento and Petit playing side by side, Figo, João Vieira Pinto and Sérgio Conceição were freer to move in the attacking line without needing to constantly run backwards. Beto was also subbed as Frechaut was finally called to play right-back, with Rui Jorge moving to the left, and Jorge Costa and Fernando Couto patrolling the box, in front of Vitor Baía. The Poles, who had been beaten by the hosts, knew it was either win or die for them, and Jerzy Engel took no punches, fielding his most offensive side possible with the Nigerian-born Emmanuel Olisadebe as their main striking threat.

Portugal click in a tropical storm

It was pouring, one of those tropical storms that many feared would become commonplace in the World Cup when the competition was first awarded to the two East Asian powers. With a stadium packed full, and many locals rooting for Portugal due to the worldwide popularity of many of their star figures, it was about to become a night for the ages.

Fourteen minutes into the match, Portugal had already opened the scoring. A brilliant move on the right from Conceição ended with the ball reaching João Vieira Pinto, who roamed freely between the lines. The Sporting attacking midfielder looked left and saw Pauleta unmarked and fed the ball to the Bordeaux forward, who needed just a couple of touches to take Michal Zewlakow out of the equation before blasting a shot that Jerzy Dudek should have stopped. It didn’t matter, though, as the ecstatic Azores-born striker ran to the touchline to celebrate his first goal in a major event. Much had been said that he wasn’t a forward fit for the greatest moments, capable of scoring only against small sides. Now, everyone was being proved wrong as the number nine was about to have the night of his life.

1, 2, 3 from the unstoppable Pauleta

Half-time came with Portugal still in front, but with the Poles getting nearer Baía’s box time and time again. Oliveira’s decision to sit deep and wait for the counter was starting to make supporters nervous, as any setback could be fatal, as the match against the Americans had just proved. Sensing the game needed some shake-up, the manager first took off Pinto, replaced by Rui Costa, and then put Beto in for Frechaut, in the hope of gaining superiority in the air, particularly on offensive set pieces. Two minutes later, against the run of play, Portugal scored again and Oliveira was proved right.

Beto ran from the wing and released a brilliant through ball to Figo, who beat his marker and swiftly crossed into the box where Pauleta, once again, finished efficiently before running directly to a section where a group of Azorean supporters held several regional flags to celebrate their prodigal son. If two was already brilliant, to net a third at a World Cup needed something special, and Pauleta was able to provide it. For what was probably his best goal with the national side, the striker received a through ball from Rui Costa, looked his marker in the eye, tricked him by moving inside and then outside, before blasting a shot that wasn’t going anywhere but the inside of the net. The popular Azorean celebration followed as the rain dropped on his face and swallowed the hearts of ten million Portuguese who watched at home in disbelief. Where had this version of the Seleção been just days prior?

Pauleta celebrates his second goal against Poland (Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

With the Poles down and out, Rui Costa scored the fourth and final goal after a one-two move with Nuno Capucho, who had just been subbed on for Conceição. The biggest winning margin in the history of the Seleção in an international event restarted the debate about the possibility of Portugal actually going all the way. Only a couple of days later, heavy favourites France and Argentina were unable to progress from their own groups, easing the path to reach the semis for whoever won Group D, and, after South Korea had drawn with the United States, the two nations were in first and second on four points, followed by Portugal with three to their name.

Hosts kill off Portugal

The players were told by Oliveira to press for the win at all costs, and even when news came that Poland were thrashing the Americans in the last group game played simultaneously, Oliveira forbade anyone from telling the players, afraid they would lose focus.

When some South Koreans approached the Portuguese, requesting their opponents to ease up, as a draw would see them both going through, players were told they were being conned, and tension rose. Then João Pinto was sent off, quickly followed by Beto. When both discovered, in the dressing room, that it had all been for nothing and Portugal would have qualified with a draw, it hurt even more. By then, the Koreans had grown tired of the Portuguese violence on the pitch and arrogance of it and pressed for a win they finally got in the dying minutes, thus ending any prospects for Portugal to qualify in second place.

Portuguese sports paper A Bola reported on the surprise among foreign journalists at Portugal’s dismal exit

Oliveira was sacked, several players were never called back again, and in a few months, the Portuguese Football Federation, panicking at the prospect of hosting Euro 2004 with a demoralised squad, decided to hire the man who had just won the World Cup for Brazil. A new era was about to unfold for Portuguese football under Luiz Felipe Scolari, one built from the ashes of the terrible Asian experience that only Pauleta is allowed to remember with a smile on his face.