Portugal plays Slovenia at 2:00 a.m. on July 2 in the round of 16 of Euro 2024. The winner will face Belgium or France in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Around the match
– Portugal started the group stage with wins over the Czech Republic and Türkiye, then retired almost the entire official squad and lost 0-2 to Georgia. What happened was exactly the same as Portugal’s group stage journey at Euro 2008, and 16 years ago, Portugal lost its momentum and was eliminated in the first knockout round against Germany – the following team. that advanced to the finals.
– Slovenia will be playing in their first knockout match at a major tournament in 32 years since becoming an independent nation. Slovenia were eliminated in the group stage at Euro 2000 as well as the 2002 and 2010 World Cups.
– Slovenia started Euro 2024 the same way Portugal did in 2016: with three consecutive draws, and entered the round of 16 as the third-best team.
– Portugal have had more wins in 90 minutes in this tournament (2) than in the entire 2016 championship campaign (1).
– Frankfurt hosts the fifth and final match, and this is not a city where favourites have always fared well. So far, Belgium have lost to Slovakia, England have been poor in a draw with Denmark, and hosts Germany needed a stoppage-time equaliser against Switzerland.
– This is the confrontation with the second largest difference according to the FIFA rankings in the round of 16. Portugal ranked 6th, while Slovenia ranked 57th – just behind the most lopsided pair between Spain (8) and Georgia (74).
– Slovenia beat Portugal 2-0 in March this year when they first met, in a friendly in Ljubljana. Slovenia have lost just once in 15 games over the past year, a 1-2 defeat to Denmark in November last year in qualifying.
– Portugal defender Pepe continues to extend his playing record as the oldest ever player, turning 41 years and 126 days old next Monday.
– Cristiano Ronaldo, who turned 39 in February, will set a record as the oldest ever goalscorer if and when he scores his first goal at Euro 2024. That record is held by Luka Modric, who scored against Italy last Monday at the age of 38 years and 289 days.
Human resource
– At the 2022 World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench in Portugal’s 6-1 win over Switzerland in the round of 16. His replacement, Goncalo Ramos, scored a hat-trick. That was under coach Fernando Santos. Ronaldo is now in a better position under current coach Roberto Martinez, while Goncalo Ramos has only played 24 minutes off the bench so far.
– Josip Ilicic has yet to start for Slovenia but the 36-year-old’s return to the national team is a positive story. The former Atalanta player’s career has been hit by depression he suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ilicic came on as a substitute in Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with England.
They said
– “He will do very well for this knockout stage of the tournament, and I hope – or I am sure – that he will bring us a lot of joy,” Pepe praised and supported for Ronaldo.
– “Two years ago, we played against Serbia and lost 1-4 in Belgrade. This was a turning point and since then we have only grown as a team,” Slovenian midfielder Adam Gnezda Cerin.
