Pedro Neto has moved from watching the FIFA World Cup in Braga to playing in Portugal’s opening two World Cup fixtures this summer, a shift that turns a childhood wish into something much harder to dismiss. He has already contributed an assist against DR Congo and then started in the 5-0 victory over Uzbekistan, with Cristiano Ronaldo alongside him in both games.
That matters now because Portugal still have one more group match to shape the rest of their tournament, and Neto’s place in the side is part of that picture. Portugal face already-qualified Colombia in the early hours of Sunday morning UK time, with a win enough to send them through as Group K winners.
Neto said the path back to the World Cup began years ago, when he watched the 2010 tournament with a friend in Braga and felt the competition stop being something distant. “It motivated a lot,” he said, adding that after watching it he began to feel that he wanted to be there one day. He named Cristiano Ronaldo first among the players he admired, then Lionel Messi, Neymar and Eden Hazard, the sort of names that set the standard for a young winger trying to picture his own future.
The contrast inside Portugal is striking. Ronaldo, now 41 years old, is still making his mark with two goals against Uzbekistan, while Neto is only just turning his childhood ambition into tournament minutes. That pairing is the point: the player he once watched has become the player he is now trying to support, not just in memory but on the pitch.
Neto did not hide the size of the dream. “Of course, you dream and say I’m capable of it,” he said, before adding that he hopes to do that this summer and help the team. The next step is straightforward enough to state and hard enough to earn: keep his place, keep influencing games, and help Portugal beat Colombia to finish top of Group K.
For Neto, the story is no longer about whether the World Cup can be imagined from Braga. It is about whether the tournament he once watched with a friend can now be extended with him still on the field.
