World Cup 2010: Portugal Are In The Toughest Group - Simao

he Portuguese winger has made it clear that it won't be easy for Portugal to survive the group stage...

By Stefan Coerts

Feb 8, 2010 2:52:00 PM

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Deco, Simao, Portugal

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• Simão

Portugal struggled to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and needed a play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina to book their ticket for South Africa. The Portuguese were then drawn in a tough group and winger Simao is aware of the class of Portugal's upcoming opponents.

"Carlos Queiroz was trying to find a core of players for the World Cup. He decided to put his faith in youngsters, and that made things very hard for us early on in the qualifying campaign," said Simao to FIFA.com.

"Our group is the toughest group at the competition. Brazil, Cote d’Ivoire and North Korea - it’s so difficult. If we want to progress, we’re going to have to reproduce our form from the last few qualifiers.

"It’s vital to win, or get at least a point, in our first game against the Africans. Our opponents are very strong, we know that, but we’ll have time to prepare for that encounter. It’s the most important game of our World Cup.

"Given the group we’ve been drawn in, our main aim is getting through to the last 16. Then we’ll see what happens, but if we can get through then anything’s possible."