Portugal put in a thoroughly professional performance of measured attacking and complete control in Lisbon on Saturday night to dispatch Hungary 3-0 in their quest to chase down Switzerland at the top of World Cup qualifying Group B.

Fernando Santos has now won 11 of 12 qualifying matches since taking over as Portugal coach in September 2014, not to mention the small matter of guiding the Selecao to their first trophy, winning Euro 2016 in France last summer. And there were plenty of indications in a one-sided encounter at the Estadio da Luz to suggest Portuguese fans could have more celebrating to do over the coming years -- possibly starting at the Russia World Cup in 2018.

Captain Cristiano Ronaldo stole the headlines as usual, scoring two more goals to give him an astonishing mark of 70 in 137 internationals. Barring serious injury, passing Ferenc Puskas' European record of 84 is inevitable.

Many critics have claimed the Real Madrid striker will restrict his movement and positioning as he edges toward veteran status, but there was no evidence of that in the Portuguese capital on Saturday.

The captain, 32, switched between both flanks and the middle, often dropping further back to combine with his teammates, as when brilliantly spinning away from two markers and playing a perfect pass to Raphael Guerreiro to lay on the opening goal for Andre Silva.

"As planned with the coach I played between the lines to pull their defenders out of position and give space to my teammates; this is what happened for the first goal," he said.

If Ronaldo's scoring mark borders on the ridiculous, his partnership with Andre Silva has also led to some incredible numbers. The duo have played four World Cup qualifying matches together, in which they have bagged 14 goals between them -- Ronaldo nine and Silva five. Silva's sumptuous cushioned backheel to set up Ronaldo's first exemplified how the two have clicked. No wonder Ronaldo was keen to praise his 21-year-old strike partner: "Since Andre has come into the side, he has been phenomenal," he said.

Silva is just one of a fabulously talented group of emerging stars, and there's a feeling the European Championship winners can now call on a new golden generation. When you leave one of Europe's most in-form players, Bernardo Silva, and the 2016 Golden Boy Renato Sanches on the bench, it tells you everything you need to know about Portugal's strength in depth.

The long list of up-and-coming stars -- Raphael Guerreiro and Joao Mario also ran rings around the hapless Hungarians -- has injected the elder statesmen in the team with fresh energy and zest for a final shot at World Cup glory. Centre-back Pepe was flawless while Ricardo Quaresma made a point of showing that Portugal is not just Ronaldo plus a bunch of generously skilled kids.

They still have work to do to get to Russia, of course. Switzerland are setting the pace in Group B with five wins in five matches, including a victory over the newly crowned European champions in the opening game of the campaign, and despite Saturday's mismatch, Hungary cannot be completely discounted.

"It will be a different game in Budapest," warned Ferencvaros forward Gergo Lovrencsics.

The way Portugal are playing, superbly marshalled by Santos, a top spot and automatic qualification for the World Cup will surely come down to the home game against Switzerland, the final qualifying match in October this year.

Asked whether Portugal could be even stronger in Russia than they were at Euro 2016, Southampton right-back Cedric said: "It was a brilliant Euro [for us], so it's a difficult question to answer, but to be honest, we have a lot of quality, we are going the right way, we have fantastic players, and if we continue like this, we will for sure be happy in the future." 

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by TOM KUNDERT

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