Portugal, with seed status, faces its rival this Saturday in the group stage of the Euro 2024 soccer championship, with Italy, world champion, and the Netherlands being the theoretically most complicated rivals.
Being in pot 1, the team immediately avoids the main European ‘sharks’ at the start of the competition, unlike what happened at Euro2020, when it was placed in a group with Germany and France, but anyway I could have a difficult life.
In addition to the Germans, hosts of the competition next year and three-time European champions (1972, 1980 and 1996), and the French (1984 and 2000), it is certain that Portugal, champion in 2016, will not face it for Now, also Spain (1964, 2008 and 2012), Belgium and England, finalist in the last edition.
After a perfect classification, with 10 wins in 10 games – it was the only team that achieved it in the entire qualifying phase – Pot 2 does not seem to ‘scare’ Roberto Martínez’s team either, taking away the presence of Denmark, which reached the title in 1992.
Hungary, Romania, returning to major competitions, Turkey, Albania and Austria complete this group, in a group of teams, excluding the Scandinavians, with little or no tradition in European championships.
The scenario changes in pot 3, with Holland, champion in 1988, being able to cross the path of the national team, but also Croatia, accustomed in recent years to going far in major competitions, and Scotland, which made life difficult for them. . in Spain during the qualifying phase.
This group of possible rivals also includes Slovakia, the only team that faced Portugal in the qualifying phase (the Portuguese triumph 1-0 in Bratislava and 3-2 in Porto), Slovenia and the Czech Republic.
In pot 4, Italy will basically be the ‘nightmare’ of the highest-rated teams, not only because of their status as European champions, but also because of their record in the final phases.
After winning in 2021, at Wembley, the Italians missed the final phase of the 2022 World Cup, in Qatar, and also had poor results in this qualification (only in the last round, against Ukraine, did they confirm their presence in the final phase) . but they are always within the list of candidates and selections identified as possible finalists and winners.
In this ‘group’, Serbia, which ‘threw’ Portugal in the play-offs on the way to the last World Cup, and Switzerland could also complicate the accounts of the ‘quinas’ in Germany.
Three places are still up for grabs, all included in Pot 4, for the final phase of Euro2024 and will be decided in the play-offs in March next year.
The draw for the 2024 European Championship is scheduled for 17:00 (18:00 local time) at the Elbe Philharmonic in Hamburg, Germany.
Composition of the raffle jackpots:
– Pot 1:
Germany (host, champion 1972, 1980, 1996)
Portugal (2016)
France (1984, 2000)
Spain (1964, 2008, 2012)
Belgium
England
– Pot 2:
Hungary
Türkiye
Romania
Denmark (1992)
Albania
Austria
– Pot 3:
Netherlands (1988)
Scotland
Croatia
Slovenia
Slovakia
Czech Republic (1976, as Czechoslovakia)
– Pot 4:
Italy (1968, 2020)
Serbia
Swiss
Winner of route A of the play-offs (Poland or Estonia or Wales or Finland).
Winner of route B of the play-offs (Israel or Iceland or Bosnia-Herzegovina or Ukraine).
Winner of route C of the play-offs (Georgia or Luxembourg or Greece or Kazakhstan).
Source: TSF
