(Football news) Iceland, sitting in fourth place, missed out on the opportunity to qualify from this section. Roberto Martinez’s team has a perfect record in Group J, winning all nine of their games to amass 27 points. They have already guaranteed themselves a berth in Pot 1 for the finals draw.
Of course, there will be more difficult games ahead, but Portugal’s head coach Martinez has led the side to nine straight wins in an incredibly outstanding start to his tenure.
The Iberian nation lost to Morocco 1-0 in the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals, eliminating them from the competition. However, since that match in December of last year, they have won nine straight games, easily qualifying for Euro 2024.
Portugal will go into this game fresh from a 2-0 victory over Liechtenstein on Thursday night. They have scored 34 goals and given up only two goals in the section.
Martinez’s team has already secured a place in Pot 1 of the finals draw, and it will be interesting to watch how this incredibly talented squad plays come summertime. While Portugal had a great tournament at Euro 2016, they only made it to the round of 16 in Euro 2020.
With nothing significant at stake, Martinez will once again be evaluating his team as the hosts look to win 10 games in a row. Several players are hoping to perform well enough to guarantee a spot in the final roster that will travel to Germany in the summer.
With a record of three wins, one tie, and five losses from their nine games, Iceland has struggled in this category and is currently in fourth place with 10 points.
With a 4-2 victory over Iceland on Thursday, Slovakia and Portugal advanced from the area, and the playoffs will see the confirmation of Luxembourg and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Although it will be a challenging journey into the competition, Age Hareide’s team still has a remote possibility of making it to the finals via the UEFA Nations League B playoff path.
In 2016, Our Boys made history by famously qualifying for the European Championship for the first time in their history. They went on to win over a lot of new admirers by reaching the competition’s quarterfinals.
While Iceland participated in the 2018 World Cup as well, they were not present at Euro 2020 and did not advance to the World Cup final in 2022, thus it is not shocking that they will not be at Euro 2024.
