Euro 2024 Portugal – The Portugal National football team ended the qualification for EURO 2024 with all 10 victories after beating Iceland 2-0 in the last-round match in Lisbon.
Portugal registered 10 victories in ten rounds with a 36-2 goal difference. They did not concede a goal in nine matches, and Slovakia scored the only two goals in a 2-3 defeat. Along with Portugal, only France was the maximum in the qualifications, registering all seven victories in Group B. This will be Portugal’s 9th participation in the EURO and their best result was at EURO 2016 in France when they became European champions. Portugal is among the favorites for winning the trophy, almost every time they participated in the tournament they played in the final stages of it.
Portugal will start the competition in Group F, and their opponents are Turkey, Georgia, and the Czech Republic. In the first match, Portugal will play against the Czech Republic and from the start they will have to try to get points as this is a very unpleasant group with tricky opponents.
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Portugal is playing flawlessly and under the new coach, Roberto Martinez won a maximum of 21 points from 7 matches played with 25 goals scored and only two conceded.
Martinez still hasn’t decided on which 26 players will go to Germany and we can say that he has “sweet problems” as Portugal has many options for every position on the field and it’s really difficult to decide. Namely, the Portugal media reported that Martinez has made a bigger list of players from which he will choose 26 that will represent Portugal on EURO.
It’s not often to see one nation have so many top-level goalkeepers as Portugal has. On Martinez’s list are: Diogo Costa (Porto), Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Rui Patricio (Roma, injured), Jose Sa (Wolves), and Rui Silva Real Betis.
In the defense, Portugal has Joao Cancelo (Barcelona), Ruben Dias (Manchester City), Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Toti Gomes (Wolves), Diogo Leite (Union Berlin), Raphael Guerreiro (Bayern Munich, injured), Goncalo Inacio (Sporting CP), Joao Mario (Porto), Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain), Pepe (Porto), Nelson Semedo (Wolves), Antonio Silva (Benfica).
Midfield and attack are Portugal’s strongest features, Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Joao Neves (Benfica), Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal), Matheus Nunes (Manchester City), Otavio (Al-Nassr), Joao Palhinha (Fulham), Danilo Pereira (Paris Saint-Germain), Renato Sanches (Roma), Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain) will play in the midfield while in the attack Martinez has Bruma (Braga), Joao Felix (Barcelona), Ricardo Horta (Braga), Diogo Jota (Liverpool), Rafael Leao (AC Milan), Pedro Neto (Wolves), Goncalo Ramos (Paris Saint-Germain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr), Francisco Conceicao (Porto). Of course, this is still an unofficial list and Martinez almost certainly will make some changes and maybe include some surprise on it.
With the “enthusiasm of an 18-year-old boy”, as coach Martinez described it, Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal with 10 goals through the qualifications (10 wins) to EURO 2024 in Germany, which will be his 11th major competition in his career. “CR7”, if no injury happens, will play his sixth consecutive EURO since 2004 in Germany! Ronaldo is the EURO record holder with five participations, he played the most matches (25), was on the field the most minutes (2,153), won the most matches (12), scored the most goals (14), was the team captain the most times (16). The Portuguese, who won the title in 2016 (in addition to UEFA Nations League 2019), also scored the most goals – 55 (41 qualifications, 14 EURO). He is the only player who hit the net at every EURO, but also every World Cup, and he participated in five consecutive ones.
Certainly, Ronaldo will once again lead the Portuguese team in pursuit of glory on the biggest stage in Europe.Â
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