Portugal 1986: Part 2: The Saltillo Affair

Portugal’s preparations for the 1986 World Cup had so far been a shambles. An incorrect doping test, poor training facilities, unpaid bonuses and inadequate warm up opposition in the form of hotel and bar workers. Such amateur preparations led to growing frustration among the players and it all came to a head on the 25th May, less than two weeks since their arrival in Mexico. 

37-year-old Manuel Bento, captain of the national team, represented the players in a press conference attended by national and international media. Bento announced if the squad did not have their bonuses increased, as well as receive the share of the unpaid advertising revenue, the players would not take part in any more warm up games and threatened to strike by not training.

The squad’s cause wasn’t helped by lurid stories of players going to and hosting private parties filled with attractive women – problematic as a few of the squad members were married. What made it worse was the inability of Torres and his coaching staff to stop such partying more akin to a frat house. Once the national press reported on what was happening it elicited the fury of their wives - bombarding their husbands and Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) with calls. 

The crisis made waves back in Lisbon. Portugal’s Parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, called for calm among the squad and to moderate their behaviour. Some right wing opposition parties called for the team to be sent home as punishment for embarrassing the country. President Mário Soares merely called for the players to show “common sense” while Prime Minister Cavaco Silva stayed quiet.