This Friday, Portugal seeks to get closer to qualifying for the Euro 2024 football championship in Slovakia and, if it wins, it will make the best start in its history in qualifying for the final phase of a major competition.
After four victories, the team reaches the fifth round at the helm of Group J with 12 points, two more than the Slovaks, second classified, and five more than Luxembourg, third, a position that no longer gives access to the next Euro Cup. , which will take place next year in Germany.
A new victory, this time in Bratislava, leaves Portugal even further at the top of the group and with greater chances of celebrating qualification in October, before the double final round scheduled for November.
Midfielder Rúben Neves, due to physical problems, will almost certainly be excluded from Roberto Martínez’s selection, which on the day in Portugal could reach an unprecedented record in the qualifications, both for the World Cup and the European Championship, with its fifth victory in the first five. rounds.
With the victory in Iceland (1-0) in June, Martínez equaled the feat of António Oliveira, in qualifying for Euro 1996, with four consecutive victories at the start of Group 6.
The Portuguese team will play for the third time in its history in Slovakia, with a victory and a draw in Bratislava, always in qualifying matches for the final phases of major competitions.
In the first meeting between the two nations, in 1998, Portugal won in the capital of Slovakia, 3-0, in qualifying for Euro 2000, and, in 2005, on the way to the 2006 World Cup, the two teams were tied. (1-1).
The Slovakia-Portugal match is scheduled for 8:45 p.m. local time (7:45 p.m. in Lisbon), at the National Stadium, in Bratislava, and will be refereed by Swede Glenn Nyberg.
Three days later, on Monday, Portugal hosts Luxembourg in the Algarve.
Source: TSF
