Ronaldo United is a clear success and this welcomed for a country that had very poor beginnings on the European and World football stages. Their progress has been confidently upwards over the past two decades or so.
Antonio Salazar, PM of Portugal from 1932 until his death in 1968 might be held responsible for this slow start. Prior to the dictatorship Portugal had lost 1-2 in the country's one and only international match against Spain in 1921 and it took them till 1928 to achieve a draw against their neighbours. Salazar saw football as a "potential domestic social sedative" rather than "an inspirational beacon of national strength", so no investment was made into the sport until after World War 2.
In 1925 the Portuguese team got their first win, beating Italy 2-1, but they remaining isolated on the periphery of mainstream Europe. The team performed poorly during the 1930s and 1940s.
In 1934 Spain beat them 9-0, an embarrassment which sparked the drive into professionalism and commercialization. Despite this, the Portuguese population remained rural and poor with Lisbon and Oporto the only hubs of success. Making progress was slow.
The government did invest money in a new stadium on the edge of Lisbon and invited England to the opening ceremony-England won 10-0. Salazar looked on with few smiles.
Qualifying for the World Cup seemed impossible as the "Selecao" fell at the first fence time and time again. In 1966 Eusebio (team below) and his team eventually came out of the shadows to reach 3rd place having lost to England in the semi-final and after that, more often than not, the country failed to even qualify for the finals. In 2006 they came 4th and that is about it.
As far as the European Championship (started in 1960) was concerned it was not until 1984 that they qualified for the finals, reaching the semi-finals. Next success was not until getting to the 1/4 finals in 1996, semis again in 2000, Runners Up in 2004, 1/4 in 2008, semis in 2012 and now the final.
Better than England?
The country's colonies have much to be thanked for, as players from Mozambique and Angola have strenghtened the nation's football, but on the other hand many young Portuguese men were detached to Africa to fight colonial wars, taking talent away from the home leagues.
The arrival, in 1959, to the national team of Hungarian coach Bela Guttmann from Porto, started a trend that led to the nation's improvement in talent and players like Eusebio, Costa Pereira, Santana, Colona and Matateu became nationalised. Eusebio of course, being one of the greats and his sportsmanship will be remembered by many in the 1968 European Cup Final when Manchester United's goalkeeper, Alex Stepney, made a save to prevent him from scoring and Eusebio applauded and cheerfully praised him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiAL2MrX2Xk
Benfica and Sporting Lisbon came to challenge the Spaniards and the Italians in European club football as they began to absorb tactics from foreign coaches, as well add physicality and natural skill into their game, Had more Portuguese players been allowed abroad to play with foreign teams the nation's development would have been faster. Eusebio was not allowed to travel abroad by Salazar. Juventus and Milan came in for him when he was 19 years old but it was not allowed to leave! Salazar said so! After 1968 matters changed.
How many of the Portuguese team play abroad? Seven of their 23 are at home! Two play in England, at Southampton.
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