Luiz Felipe Scolari yesterday included 12 of the squad that took Portugal to the final of last summer's European Championships in his 18-man panel for next Wednesday's game against Ireland at Lansdowne Road.
Barcelona star Deco, Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo and Chelsea pair Paolo Ferreira and Tiago have all been called up again by the Brazilian coach as has PSG's Pauleta who has scored six times in his five internationals after failing to find the net even once during the European finals.
Missing from the squad are some of the country's greatest stars of recent years with Figo, Rui Costa and Fernando Couto all having retired in the wake of Euro 2004. Also absent because of injury are Porto's attacking midfielder Maniche and Chelsea central defender Ricardo Carvalho.
Scolari's side have made a generally impressive start to their campaign for a place at the next World Cup finals. They won their opening games against Latvia and Estonia, both of which were away, before slipping up in Liechtenstein where they could manage only a 2-2 draw. They bounced back in some style, however, beating Russia 7-1 at home before rounding off their year with a 5-0 defeat of Luxembourg in a friendly. In all they scored 20 goals in the five games they played after the 1-0 European Championship final defeat by Greece.
They are due to arrive in Dublin on Tuesday morning and the squad is scheduled to have a training session at Lansdowne Road at six o'clock that evening. The Irish squad will start to gather at their north Co Dublin base on Sunday afternoon with those who report in in time due to attend the FAI's International Awards at the Citywest Hotel.
PORTUGUESE SQUAD (v Rep of Ireland, Lansdowne Road, Wednesday, February 9th): Goalkeepers: Ricardo Pereira (Sporting), Quim Silva (Braga). Defenders: Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea, England), Jorge Andrade (Deportivo la Coruna), Marco Caneira (Valencia), Fernando Meira (VfB Stuttgart), Rogerio Matias (Vitoria Guimaraes). Midfielders: Costinha (Porto), Armando Petit (Benfica), Manuel Fernandes (Benfica), Hugo Viana (Sporting), Deco (Barcelona), Tiago Mendes (Chelsea). Forwards: Simao Sabrosa (Benfica), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester Utd), Pauleta (PSG), Nuno Gomes (Benfica), Luis Boa Morte (Fulham).
