Fernando Santos suffered a defeat in his first match in charge of the Portuguese National Team, but that fixture happened to be a friendly away to France. In his first official match in the hot seat for the Lusitanos, a late header from Cristiano Ronaldo earned the visitors three important points against Denmark.
On Friday, Portugal will once again be in the spotlight, this time on their home turf against Armenia.
Winless from their first two fixtures in Group I, Armenia will have a tough mountain to climb. But, a draw in their last match against Serbia should give them some confidence, as well as knowing that Ronaldo and his teammates were defeated at home against Albania in their first match of the group.
After this vital qualification match, Portugal will take part in a friendly match against Argentina, but Fernando Santos wants his players to be fully focused on Friday's decisive fixture.
"It's a decisive match," Santos told Portuguese reporters on Tuesday.
"The victory against Denmark will only really mean something if we can follow it up with a victory against Armenia. We need to be aware of the high important of this match. It will certainly not be easy."
Due to some injuries and personal choices, the Portuguese manager has called on some new faces, with one of them being former Chelsea right-back Jose Bosingwa.
"Everyone welcomed me with open arms," Bosingwa said with a smile on his face on Tuesday.
"I was very happy to return, for them believing in me and my abilities to help the team. I need to thank everyone for the confidence they have in me. I will try to give it my all, as I've always tried to do."
A victory for the Portuguese could put them at the top of the group with six points, depending on how the other results play out in the group. But make no mistake about it, this is a match the Lusitanos need to win, failing to do so would leave them with three or four points from a possible nine, in a group that they were expected to win with some ease.
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