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Portugal was among the pre-tournament favourites to lift the trophy, but its campaign ended in the Round of 16 after a 1-0 defeat to European champion Spain.

Mikel Merino scored in stoppage-time to inflict the loss on Portugal, which has now lost or been eliminated from six of its past eight FIFA World Cup knockout-stage matches.

It had lost just one of its first five in the competition.

"There's no point in talking about it now because we're out of the [FIFA] World Cup, but it was a missed opportunity," Fernandes said.

"Every opportunity is a missed one because when we reach a [FIFA] World Cup, everyone wants to win. We're no different – it's been the same in every [FIFA] World Cup Portugal has participated in – but it was a missed opportunity.

"I know Portugal has never won the [FIFA] World Cup and that we always set our expectations very high, but I think I can say with some certainty that this team had the quality to win the [FIFA] World Cup.

"We have a great team. I'm sure we had the quality to go further."

Portugal did not manage a single shot on target in the second half against Spain, while two of its five shots after the interval overall came in stoppage-time.

"Obviously, we were eliminated by a great team – we lost to one of the favourites to win the [FIFA] World Cup, just as we were ourselves," Fernandes added.

"The overall assessment can't be positive – it would only be if we'd made it to the end, and we didn't.

"Perhaps we weren't able to get the best out of everyone in the best way possible, and we ended up being eliminated very early on.

"But we shouldn't lose faith. We lost to one of the top contenders, and we need to look ahead with a different mindset. I think we have to be more true to ourselves, tap into what we have inside, try to play more in our own style and our own way, and find a way to make other teams respect us more."