Portugal star Bernardo Silva believes his side are heading in the right direction after booking their place at the World Cup.
The Selecao claimed a 2-0 win over Switzerland on Tuesday, with an own goal from Johan Djourou and a second half strike from Andre Silva seeing them take the points.
Having trailed for much of qualifying, the result saw them leapfrog the Swiss in the Group B hierarchy and it will be Fernando Santos’ men who head straight to Russia, leaving their opponents to scrap it out in the play-offs.
Despite the obvious presence of Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese were regularly written off on their way to winning Euro 2016 and will be hoping to cause a similar upset next summer.
Having missed out on a place at the Euros, Silva will be aiming to establish himself in the side over the next few months after playing his part in this year’s Confederations Cup.
Portugal are 21.00 to win the World Cup, with their previous best performance in the tournament coming via a third place finish at the 1966 tournament in England.
The 23-year-old admits his side rode their luck at times in qualifying but says the confident mood in the camp suggests they could be in for another successful summer.
“We knew we had to win and fortunately with the support of all the Portuguese we got the victory and the qualification for the World Cup,” Silva told the Portuguese Football Federation’s website.
“Fernando Santos gives a lot of confidence to the players. We are now looking forward to a good campaign in the World Cup.”
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