FIFA Rankings

[pineapple stu]

I think the fact that Portugal didn't play any competitive games in qualifying for Euro 2004 (qualified as hosts obviously) may have mitigated against them. Also, Holland's qualification form is usually impeccable - even when they were in the same group as us and Portugal, they only dropped eight points from 30. Think they dropped three points in Euro 2004 qualifying.

[tetsujin1979]

Portugal didn't play and qualifiers for Euro 2004, whereas the Dutch only lost twice in qualifying - to the Czechs in the group stages and Scotland in the first leg of the play off - so they've played way more competitive (ie higher ranked) games than the Portuguese

(from euro2004.com)
Netherlands Euro 2004 Qualifying record

07.09.2002 v Belarus 3-0
16.10.2002 v Austria 3-0
29.03.2003 v Czech Republic 1-1
02.04.2003 v Moldova 2-1
07.06.2003 v Belarus 2-0
06.09.2003 v Austria 3-1
10.09.2003 v Czech Republic 1-3
11.10.2003 v Moldova 5-0
Playoff for Final Tournament
15.11.2003 v Scotland 0-1
v Scotland 6-0