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21 March 2024.. Portugal will take on Sweden in an international friendly fixture at the Afonso Henriques Stadium on Thursday. Portugal begin their preparations for this summer's Euro 2024 tournament with an international friendly on Thursday against a Sweden side looking to impress their new boss.
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The hosts will play for the first time in 2024 and in their previous outing, they registered a 2-0 win over Iceland in their last match of the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers. They finished at the top of the Group J table, winning all 10 games in the qualifiers.
The visitors, meanwhile, will play for the second time in 2024. They met Estonia in a friendly in January, recording a 2-1 home win. They narrowly missed out on qualification for the Euro 2024, failing to make it to the main event for the first time in the 21st century.
Another interesting prediction with a great odds, considering another interesting statistic for the Lusitanians: Portugal have won the first half in five of their last six games. And so our expectation here is that the hosts will open the scoring in the opening 45 minutes.
The hosts will conclude the ongoing international break with a friendly against Slovakia while the visitors will take on Albania next week.
The hosts look likely to be fielding something of an experimental side for their first game of the year, with coach Roberto Martínez set to be without a host of big-name players, including Diogo Dalot, João Cancelo, Danilo Pereira, Otávio, Rúben Neves, Vitinha, and João Félix, while Cristiano Ronaldo is set to be rested.
The "Navigators" suffered a sensational defeat to the Morocco national team in the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup, but since then, they have been on a winning streak. They have won their last ten matches, all of which were in the qualifying campaign for the 2024 European Championship. Roberto Martinez's team confidently finished at the top of their group, securing early qualification for the Euros. Typically, Portugal's victories were by large margins - 9-0 against Luxembourg, 5-0 against Bosnia and Herzegovina, or 4-0 against Liechtenstein. Moreover, the "Lusitanians" rarely conceded goals.
The international window sees the majority of Euro 2024 qualifiers playing two friendly games and Portugal take on Sweden and Slovenia this month.
Both Conceicao, 21, and Silva, 24, play in the Portuguese league with FC Porto and Vitoria Guimaraes respectively.
Portugal and Sweden have met 20 times and there have been balanced results for both teams, with Sweden triumphing on seven occasions, as well as six draws and seven wins for Portugal. The Portuguese have won the first half in five of the last six games. And so our expectation here is that the hosts will open the scoring in the opening 45 minutes. Five of the Swedes' last seven games have seen more than 2.5 goals.
Veteran stars Ronaldo, 39, and 41-year-old defender Pepe lead the 2016 European champions' lineup with the game against Sweden next Thursday in Guimaraes and away to Slovenia in Ljubljana on March 26.
There were more than a few raised eyebrows when Sweden turned to Denmark's Jon Dahl Tomasson to become their national team coach, but the path will be smoothed by his choice of talismanic Sweden midfielder Sebastian Larsson as his assistant.
The Swedes failed to qualify for the European Championship and opted for a change in the team's coaching staff. Jon Dahl Tomasson has taken over as coach and will make his debut on Thursday. At the same time, the match against Portugal will be the start of preparations for the Nations League, which begins in September this year.
The new era kicks off with a friendly away to Euro 2024 finalists Portugal on Thursday before the Swedes take on Albania in Stockholm on Monday - and former Malmo manager Tomasson said he had put some tough battles with Larsson, who played in midfield for AIK, behind him.
Cristiano Ronaldo had been expected to link up with his squad from Al Nassr, alongside a host of Premier League star names included in Martinez's selections, as part of a final attempt to impress the manager ahead of the tournament.
Thursday's game marks Jon Dahl Tomasson's first match in charge of Sweden, with the former Denmark international looking to get the team back on track after they missed out on Euro 2024 -- the first time the nation has failed to qualify for the tournament in over three decades.
In great form under coach Roberto Martínez, the Portuguese national team had the best overall record in the UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign and will come into this Thursday's match in high spirits. At the same time, Portugal are on a 10-game winning streak, with 36 goals scored and just two conceded.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. ended their qualifying campaign with an excellent record, having won all their 10 matches. They will be hoping to get much-needed minutes under their belt ahead of the Euros which is set to take place in Germany in June.
A Seleção had a 100% record in 2023, scoring 36 goals in 10 games
while conceding just twice, and will look to build on that form. They play for the first time this year and might be a bit rusty. Nonetheless, they are unbeaten in their last eight international friendlies, keeping six clean sheets, and are strong favorites.
Roberto Martínez will be without the services of Diogo Dalot, João Cancelo, Danilo Pereira, Otávio, Rúben Neves, Vitinha, and João Félix for the first friendly of the international break, with the players set to join up at their training camp next week. Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has also been rested by Martinez.
Raphael Guerreiro and Francisco Trincão have been included in the 24-man squad for this match but they are doubts following minor injuries.
Blågult have just one win in their last four away games in all
competitions. Interestingly, they are on an 11-game winning run in friendlies. They have failed to score in three of their last four away meetings against the hosts and might struggle here.
In turn, the Swedish national team cannot boast of performances in the qualification for the 2024 Euros. Placed in a group with Belgium and Austria, the "blue-yellow" team finished only in third place, trailing behind second place by a significant nine points. As a result, Estonia, which finished last in the group but performed better in the Nations League, earned the right to play in the playoffs. The Swedish national team will be spectators at the European Championship for the first time in a long time. Interestingly, the last two matches for the "yellow-blues" were against Estonia - one in the qualifiers, which they won 2-0, and the other in a friendly in January, which they won 2-1.
Sweden ended third in their qualifying group, behind Belgium and Austria. This game is nothing more than an exercise to test their squad. They beat Estonia in their most recent outing, which was also a friendly back in January this year.