Portugal looking towards quarter-finals

LISBON, May 25 (Reuters) Portugal are hoping a mixture of youth and experience will help them to reach coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's goal of a World Cup quarter-final place at least.

After a brief flirtation with the English Football Association and discussions about becoming the coach of England, Scolari is now totally focused on the job of delivering Portugal's best World Cup performance since they reached the semi-finals in England in 1966.

Portugal reached the finals after being unbeaten in their qualifying campaign and have made few changes to the team that lost to Greece in the Euro 2004 final on home soil.

''We're among a group of teams that can dream about the final, but we know that historically there are others that have better chances than we do,'' said Scolari.

''What we want is to finish in the top eight. That's the minimum we're looking for,'' added the Brazilian.

Scolari became Portugal coach after leading his own country to a fifth World Cup title in 2002 in South Korea and Japan.

His team qualified for Germany by winning Group Three with nine wins and three draws from their 12 games and they outscored their opponents by an impressive 35-5.

Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo is billed as Portugal's pivotal player for the tournament as his fast, skilful dribbling game is packed with flair.

Two goals in the a recent friendly against Saudi Arabia saw the 21-year-old Madeiran reach 10 international goals faster than any other Portuguese player, beating 1960s great Eusebio.

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