Portugal Shocks Spain in Historic World Cup Qualifier
Spain arrived as the heavyweight. Portugal walked in as the story nobody expected.
On paper, this World Cup qualifier was supposed to be routine. Spain, stacked with NBA pedigree—rising second-year wing Hugo Gonzalez, former Celtic Juancho Hernangomez and four other players with league ties—opened as 12.5-point favorites. This is the program that has spent two decades as the sport’s standard-bearer outside the United States.
Portugal had one NBA player. Neemias Queta. The Celtics’ backup center. The outlier in green.
Ninety-five to eighty-nine later, the script was in shreds.
Portugal’s win marked the first time in the country’s history that its national team had beaten Spain in a tournament. A landmark result against a giant, and one that keeps Portugal’s dream of a first-ever World Cup appearance very much alive at 4-3 in qualifying.
At the heart of it: Queta, growing into the role his country needs him to be.
He didn’t dominate from the opening tip. He took over when it mattered. Queta delivered a commanding second half and finished with 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting, plus nine rebounds, anchoring a Portugal side that refused to blink when the moment grew heavy.
For Portugal, this is not a one-off miracle. It’s the next step of a slow climb.
The national team reached EuroBasket last year for just the fourth time in its history and the first time since 2011. Now it’s trading blows with Spain in meaningful qualifiers, not just turning up to make up the numbers. The level has gone up. So has the responsibility on the 7-footer from Barreiro.
Queta feels that connection deeply.
“It’s a growing thing,” he told Eurohoops. “We’re getting so much better as a country in the sport. So, I feel like it’s only fitting that I keep on getting better, too. So, I just want to be out here competing my best and live with the results.”
Those results, for both club and country, are starting to catch up with his ambition.
A New Contract, New Demands in Boston
Queta doesn’t return to Boston as a plucky rotation piece anymore. He returns as an investment.
The Celtics handed him his first major NBA contract this offseason: a four-year, $56 million extension that kicks in after this year. It’s a clear statement of belief, but also a line in the sand. The development phase is over. Now the production has to match the paycheck.
Last season, Queta took a significant step. He averaged 10.2 points and 8.4 rebounds across 76 games, starting 75 of them. For a player who managed just 48 appearances total in his first three NBA seasons—split between Sacramento and Boston—that jump was enormous.
But it wasn’t enough when it mattered most.
Boston’s season collapsed in the spring against the Sixers, blowing a 3-1 series lead. In the postmortem, team president Brad Stevens didn’t hide from the shortcomings in the middle, or from Queta’s struggles against Joel Embiid.
“To be honest, one of the things with Neemi was just figuring out how to keep him on the floor,” Stevens said. “Because he had two games where he’s off the floor in four minutes.”
Too many fouls. Not enough resistance at the rim. In a league where playoff series are decided at the paint and the three-point line, Boston felt exposed in the most unforgiving area of the floor.
Mitchell Robinson Arrives, and the Battle Begins
Stevens’ answer was decisive. If the Celtics needed more edge at the rim, they would go and buy some.
Enter Mitchell Robinson, the former Knicks center, one of the league’s premier offensive rebounders and a punishing interior defender when healthy. His arrival instantly changes the dynamic at the five. The starting job is no longer Queta’s by default.
There’s a fight now.
Robinson brings shot-blocking instincts and a presence that warps drives before they even start. Queta brings size, touch, mobility, and, crucially, availability. Robinson’s career has been repeatedly interrupted by injuries, and that reality keeps the door wide open for Queta to log heavy minutes regardless of who hears their name first on opening night.
For Boston, that internal pressure is by design. For Queta, it’s an ultimatum wrapped in opportunity: sharpen your defensive discipline, hold your ground without fouling, and make your presence felt in the paint, or someone else will.
Performances like the one against Spain suggest he understands the stakes.
Portugal’s Push, and What Comes Next
While the Celtics’ training camp looms, Queta’s focus stays locked on a different jersey and a different shade of red.
Portugal’s 4-3 record has them right in the thick of the qualifying battle, and the next test is brutal in its simplicity: Georgia on Monday, also at 4-3, in what amounts to a must-win game.
Beat Spain for the first time. Then back it up. That’s the challenge.
Queta’s rise and Portugal’s surge are running on parallel tracks now. His country is “getting so much better,” as he put it. His game has to keep climbing with it—because both Boston and Portugal are starting to expect more than just promise from the big man in the middle.
