2024-10-13 11:25:03
Portugal travel to Poland after consecutive wins to sit top of their UEFA Nations League pool — League A Group 1 — after the opening two games. Cristiano Ronaldo inspired them over the September games which puts the Portuguese three points clear of the Polish ahead of this one.
Roberto Martinez has kept faith in Ronaldo who is intent on making it to the FIFA 2026 World Cup despite being 39 now. Wins against Poland and Scotland this break can book a quarterfinal place via a top two finish. Unbeaten in six against Poland, they will be favorites coming into this one.
The Polish are coming off the back of a poor UEFA Euro 2024 showing and Michal Probierz is now in charge of getting the most out of an aging squad. World Cup 2026 will be the aim but avoiding UNL relegation will be about objective and a knockout phase berth is still possible. Third in the group would mean a relegation playoff so second place will be very much the main focus of efforts for the rest of 2024.
Here’s our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Saturday, October 12 | Time: 2:45 p.m. ET
- Location: Stadion Narodowy – Warsaw, Poland
- Watch: FS2 and Fubo (try for free)
- Odds: Poland +400; Draw +300; Portugal -167
League A Group 1
Ronaldo secured a narrow win over Croatia as part of the double header with Scotland as well which produced six points. A 900th professional goal for the Portuguese superstar helped to soften the blow post-Euro 2024 before another late effort to beat the Scottish. In Poland, there are opponents who also rely on an aging goal scorer with Robert Lewandowski on 84 international goals after last month’s win over Scotland. The Polish went down to Croatia though which means that both share three points ahead of the Scots.
Team news
Poland: Maxi Oyedele and Michael Ameyaw are new faces but Jan Bednarek, Piotr Zielinski and Lewandowski are all veterans now. Arkadiusz Milik is out injured so Karol Swiderski or Krzysztof Piatek should partner with the Barcelona hitman up top.
Possible Poland XI: Skorupski; Dawidowicz, Bednarek, Walukiewicz; Frankowski, Szymanski, Zielinski, Urbanski, Zalewski; Swiderski, Lewandowski.
Portugal: Ricardo Velho and Samu Costa are also new faces while Francisco Conceicao is back but both Geovany Quenda and Pedro Goncalves are missing. Martinez could go 4-3-3 here with Ronaldo and Rafael Leao two of the three most attacking players in that XI.
Possible Portugal XI: Costa; Dalot, Dias, A. Silva, Mendes; B. Silva, Vitinha, Fernandes; Neto, Ronaldo, Leao.
Prediction
It will be tight but expect the Portuguese to get a narrow win and do not be surprised if it comes through Ronaldo. Poland need to target their other games to secure second ahead of Croatia. Pick: Poland 0, Portugal 1.
