Portugal-Sweden is a friendly and is played Thursday at 8:45 p.m.: news, likely lineups, TV, streaming and predictions.
Having fallen into a frankly very affordable group, Portugal took advantage of it by winning all ten matches and being the only team to end the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a full score, with a haul of no less than 36 goals. The Lusitanian adventure of Roberto Martinez, who took over from Fernando Santos after the Qatar World Cup, could not have started better.
The former Belgium coach, who arrived amid some skepticism because of his, shall we say, bittersweet experience with the Red Devils, has instead immediately shown that he has clear ideas, managing to make the most of a squad that for several years now, Cristiano Ronaldo aside, has abounded in quality in almost all departments. His Portugal, awaiting more probing tests, has been particularly convincing from the point of view of play and doing well even in the non-possession phase of the ball, as evidenced by the only two goals conceded.
It should come as no surprise, then, that it is rightfully among the main favorites for victory in Germany: Lady Luck, by the way, assisted Portugal as well in the last draw, since they fell in with Turkey, the Czech Republic and the winner of the C League play-offs, which will be played in these very days.
Martinez will use the two friendlies with Sweden and Slovenia to further experiment. It starts with the Guimaraes match with the Swedes, who recently made official their new selector, former AC Milan striker Jon Dahl Tomasson. An arduous task, his, taking into account that his predecessor left only rubble: Sweden, in fact, missed qualifying for Euro 2024 by finishing third in the group behind Belgium and Austria. Disastrous was also the last Nations League, which ended with relegation to League C.
The prediction
Portugal’s victory does not seem in question in a match that promises to be prolific, by more than two goals in total. Sweden, led by Sporting striker Gyokeres, is also likely to score on at least one occasion.
Portugal-Sweden likely lineups
PORTOGAL (4-3-3): Diogo Costa; Semedo, Ruben Dias, Pepe, Nuno Mendes; Bruno Fernandes, Palhinha, Joao Neves; Bernardo Silva, Gonçalo Ramos, Leao.
SWEDEN (4-3-3): Olsen; Holm, Hien, Lindelof, Gudmundsson; Cajuste, Larsson, Forsberg; Kulusevski, Gyokeres, Isak.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-1
