Euro 2024: Portugal Home in on a Perfect Ten

Portugal vs Iceland

With Group J in the bag thanks to a record nine wins from nine, Portugal have booked their place at Euro 2024 and now they have just one more target…

…to make it ten from ten. 

Roberto Martinez’ team has one game to play; Euro 2024: Portugal vs Iceland is next up on Monday; and the Portugal vs Iceland betting odds say it’s almost certainly going to be a Selecao victory, the question is not ‘if’ they will win but ‘by how many’? Portugal have totally dominated Group J, winning all nine games, scoring a whopping 32 goals and conceding two and they come up against a team which is past its best, needs some rebuilding and has endured a miserable campaign.   

Age Hareide’s Iceland are in fourth place on ten points, and their only hope is to fend off Bosnia and Herzegovina who are a point behind going into the last round of fixtures. Bosnia host Slovakia in their final game and that’s a more appealing prospect than a Sunday clash with Portugal!

Talking Points

The incredible Ronaldo!

While some of Europe’s biggest football nations, Italy and Netherlands included, still had plenty of work to do, Portugal entered the final two rounds of fixtures with their tickets to Germany long booked. After leaving his job with Belgium, a team which has underachieved for a decade and now needs something of a rebuild, Martinez has taken over a nation which is nicely established among Europe’s elite. And, of course, they have, in their ranks, one of the all time greats.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been one of the two, alongside Lionel Messi, best players of the last 20 years and he scored his 128^th goal for the Selecao as they beat Lichtenstein 2-0 on Thursday night. The minnows were on their home turf, and they kept Portugal at bay for the first half; but they only lasted one minute of the second period before Ronaldo latched on to a through ball from Diogo Jota and hammered home the opener. Joao Cancelo curled in the second and Goncalo Ramos thought he had made it three but his effort was ruled out.

Ronaldo has been playing in the Saudi League for almost a year now; but while some may have thought his appetite for the game had gone, they couldn’t be more wrong. The 38-year-old has scored ten goals in Portugal’s campaign and he looks as hungry as ever. Ronaldo missed the game against Luxembourg through suspension, but I can’t imagine he’ll want to sit out any more, and CR7 is primed and ready to make his unique contribution to the Portugal vs Iceland highlights next week.     

The Icemen have melted!

Iceland became everybody’s second favourite team in 2016 with their brave performances and the thunderclap celebrations from their passionate fans. But it was always going to be difficult for such a small nation to continue to punch above their weight. And in this particular tournament Hareide’s team went out with a whimper as Slovakia claimed the second place with a comfortable 4-2 win over the Icemen.

Orri Oskarsson put Iceland ahead with a well placed header on 17 minutes but that was as good as it got as Slovakia dominated the game and were 4-1 up early in the second period. Andri Gudjohnson nudged home a consolation from a Johann Gudmundsson corner, but while Slovakia celebrated their third successive Euro qualification there was no sign of a thunderclap and Iceland were left to rue their third defeat in the last six.

History

There’s a big gap between Portugal and Iceland in Group J, 17 points to be precise, but there’s always been a pretty big chasm between these two teams. Portugal, ranked sixth in the world on current form, won the 2016 Euros and the 2019 Nations League. Iceland, a nation with a population of 381,000, had their golden period very recently, qualifying for their first European Championships in 2016 when they reached the quarter finals, beating England on the way. They reached the 2018 World Cup but failed to escape their group and have since dropped to a world ranking of 67^th from a peak of 18^th in 2018.  

Portugal have won two of the last three meetings with Iceland, including  a 1-0 win in Iceland in June as Ronaldo scored the only goal of the game.

And recent form favours the Selecao too, with nine straight wins in 2023 while Iceland have won three, drawn two and lost six.

Betting tip

With Iceland at SBOTOP odds of 9.16 and the draw at 7.50, this is as near a dead cert as you can get and I can’t see any way Portugal will fail to finish up with a maximum 30 points.

 

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