LISBON, May 25 - 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.

SURVIVOR FIGO

Portugal's other big name is Inter Milan's Luis Figo. The 33-year-old winger and Paris St Germain striker Pedro Pauleta are the only survivors of the so-called "golden generation" who won world youth titles in 1989 and 1991.

Figo has lost some of the explosive pace that made him FIFA's World Player of the Year in 2001, but his charisma and personality make him a leader on the pitch.

Portugal boast experience in midfield and also in a defence marshalled by Ricardo Carvalho and Fernando Meira.

With playmaker Deco, Simao Sabrosa and free kick specialist Armando Petit in central midfield and Ronaldo and Luis Figo on the wings, Pauleta will hope to boost his record total of 43 goals for Portugal.

"I don't like to play with two strikers side by side since it opens up the midfield and makes life easy for the opponents," says Scolari.

Portugal will be without Deportivo Coruna centre-back Jorge Andrade, who suffered a knee injury against Barcelona and has been replaced by VfB Stuttgart's Fernando Meira.

However, they are widely expected to dominate Group D, with matches against Mexico, Iran and Angola, although Scolari is cautious, pointing to World Cup history for justification.

"Portugal have only been in three World Cups and only in 1966 did they get past the first round," he said.

"They have always had good teams but that wasn't enough," added Scolari. "You've got to be very careful and one warning is what happened in South Korea in 2002 where Portugal were also in an easy group but ended up being eliminated."