The beginning of this training week could hardly have had a better start for Werder striker Hugo Almeida. The 23 year old received the nomination from Portuguese national team coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, to take his place in the final Portugal squad for the European Championship competition, which will be hosted by Austria and Switzerland in June: “It is fantastic that I will be there and a real honour for me to represent Portugal at EURO 2008.
The big surprise absentee from the Portuguese squad was that of FC Porto’s former Champions League winner Maniche: “That’s true, it is a really big surprise,” admitted Almeida, who continued: “The national team trainer puts together the team that he believes can best represent Portugal.”