Pauleta - International Career

International Career

Pauleta was the first national team player to never have played in the Portuguese first division when he made his international debut against Armenia, in August 1997. He would have to wait 18 months for his first national team start, against the Netherlands. His first goals came a month later, when he scored two in a 7–0 rout of Azerbaijan in a UEFA Euro 2000 qualifier, on 26 March 1999.

A substitute at the Euro 2000 tournament, he led the Portuguese attack at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, scoring a hat-trick against Poland, ending with that tally in as many games, as the national team was ousted in the group stage.

Although he played all but one game on the road to the Euro 2004 final, Pauleta did not score in that tournament finals. However, on 12 October 2005, against Latvia, he became the national team's all-time goal scoring leader, surpassing Eusébio's previous record of 41 goals.

During the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, Pauleta was the European zone's top scorer and, in a friendly match against Cape Verde in May 2006, preluding the final stages, he showed great form as he netted three times, in a 4–1 win. However, after scoring the first national side goal in the group stage match against Angola, he failed to find the net again during the tournament. After Portugal's defeat to Germany in the third place play-off game, Pauleta announced his international retirement.