Portugal is in a party mood and the cause for celebration is not the football team. This time, Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and company are playing second fiddle to the national rugby squad, who are about to make their Rugby World Cup debut.
Just reaching the World Cup final stages has been a major achievement, according to Dubai Exiles' Ricardo Pascoal, who holds the unique position of being the only Portuguese rugby player in the Gulf.
Pascoal is friends with some of the Portuguese national team and says the gallant amateurs have won over the hearts of his countrymen by battling to be in France when the World Cup kicks off tomorrow.
"We are the only amateur team to have qualified for the World Cup. Only one or two of the players are professionals, the rest are all amateurs and many of them have university degrees," said Pascoal, 31.
"So we are probably the best amateur team in the world, in fact, that's the phrase the coach [Tomaz Morais] normally uses," he added with a smile.
"I've known him personally since I was 13. He was my first coach. Two out of the 30 who are going to the World Cup played for the same club as me," said Pascoal referring to Paulo Murinello and Federico Sousa. "We all played at Cascais which is a small town about 20km from Lisbon."
Pascoal could well have been among the 30 on the brink of creating history in France had he not chosen a different route 10 years ago.
"I was pretty good, of course I had more fitness work to do to get bigger. But at 21, I was very close to making the senior squad as I was an international on the under-16 team.
"A shoulder injury kept me out for a year. But anyway I had already made up my mind to leave for the UK to study a course in automotive engineering, which they didn't have back home. So since I had already decided, even if I wanted to get back I couldn't," said Pascoal, now a project manager with Siemens.
Little may be expected of the Portuguese at the six-week spectacle but Pascoal insisted his countrymen are already heroes.
"[Qualification] is a big achievement as the team has managed it with so few resources and not much support.
"Some of the players had to quit their jobs. Captain Vasco Uva resigned from his job in order to be with the squad. However, being among the fitter players, he has a sponsorship with Nike who provided him with compensation, but it's an example of the sacrifices some of the players have had to make," he said.
Realistically, Pascoal says a successful World Cup would be Portugal winning one match.
"Our target is to beat Romania because we are up against all professional teams," he says.
And for anyone looking for an unsung hero, Pascoal recommends keeping an eye on his country's Antonio Aguilar and Diogo Mateus.
