- Jose Fonte and UEFA Euro 2016 winners Portugal host Hungary in Lisbon on Sunday
- Centre-back aiming for qualification for his first FIFA World Cup finals
- Fonte also wants to enjoy a successful future with West Ham United
European champions Portugal continue their quest to reach the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals when they host Hungary in Lisbon on Saturday.
Jose Fonte and the UEFA Euro 2016 winners go into the weekend sitting second in Group B behind Edimilson Fernandes’ Switzerland, with four of ten qualifying matches played.
The Swiss hold a three-point edge over the Portuguese after beating them 2-0 in September, but Fonte and company could go top of the group if they beat Hungary and Switzerland lose at home to Latvia.
The West Ham United centre-back has started and finished all four of Portugal’s qualifiers so far, including back-to-back 6-0 wins over Faroe Islands and Andorra and a 4-1 home victory over Latvia in November.
With Cristiano Ronaldo scoring freely – he has seven goals in four qualifiers – Fonte and company will be confident of continuing an outstanding run of form that has seen them lose just once in their last 13 internationals.
The defender has excelled himself, establishing himself as a regular since making his debut at the age of 30 in October 2014. However, the 33-year-old insists his focus also remains on helping his Club turn around their own run of five winless Premier League matches.
Obviously I want to win with Portugal and we’ll give our best but I want to win with West Ham and start to put things right and start to get good results
Jose Fonte
“I look forward to it, obviously,” Fonte told whufc.com. “It’s always an honour to play for your country. It will be good to see the boys and to be with them, but I want to succeed here. I want to win here.
“Obviously I want to win with Portugal and we’ll give our best but I want to win with West Ham and start to put things right and start to get good results, because that’s why I came here; to win. I’ll be giving my all to put that right.”
Despite their outstanding performance at Euro 2016, Portugal have only been beyond the Round of 16 at the World Cup finals once, when they finished fourth in 2006.
Portugal’s 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier with Hungary kicks-off at 7.45pm on Saturday, but the tie will not be shown live on TV in the UK. However, Fernandes’ Switzerland versus Latvia will be screened on Sky Sports 1 via the Red Button from 5pm on the same day.