Iceland vs Portugal Preview

Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal teammates will travel to Reykjavík this Tuesday to take on Iceland in the fourth round of the 2024 European Championship qualifiers.

Iceland’s chances of participating in the event in Germany next year are hanging by a thread following a poor start to this UEFA European Championship Qualifying campaign.

The hosts have suffered two losses in three qualifying games with a 3-0 loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina the first in that series. Not even a dominant 7-0 thumping of minnows Liechtenstein in their second game has helped them with their 2-1 loss to Slovakia in their last game pushing them to fifth position in Group J.

Therefore, newly-appointed manager Åge Hareide has little time if he wants to qualify Iceland for just their third-ever major tournament. He must win this game or at least get a draw to qualify from this group and avoid falling further down the rankings.

But ‘Our Boys’ have been poor at home recently, having picked up only one win in the last ten games on home soil (D4, L5). However, they have suffered just two defeats in their last 13 home ECQs (W9, D2), showing they can still dream of repeating their heroic Euro 2016 quarter-final run that captivated the world in Germany next year.

Meanwhile, Portugal have enjoyed a strong start to their quest to play in Germany next year. Roberto Martinez’s side have recorded three consecutive wins in the qualifiers to shoot themselves to the top of the group.

They have also done so in style scoring 13 goals and conceding zero. Their form has left the rest of Europe on red alert with Portugal looking like the team to beat in Germany next year.

Seemingly in a rush to secure their spot in the draw for Germany 2024, FIFA’s number nine-ranked side hasn’t missed a major tournament this century and will be strongly fancied to take one step closer with a win here.