Portugal hosts Switzerland in the UEFA Nations League (League A) playoffs semifinals. The match will be played on Wednesday, June 5th at Estádio do Dragão (Porto)
The advantage of the reigning European champions in the upcoming fight lies in the fact that they will hold it in their home arena. However, even if the game is played in neutral territory, Portugal will still be considered the favorite. At the last World Cup in Russia, the Portuguese did not meet the expectations of their fans. They had big problems at the group stage and were naturally eliminated in the 1/8 finals of the tournament. However, Portugal braced itself for the Nations League, where it looked substantially stronger – the team managed to win the group with Italy and Poland.
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As for the starting qualification for Euro 2020, Portugal has made problems for itself at the start. The men of Santos played first two games in the home arena but tied with Ukraine and Serbia. Thus, the Portuguese made problems for itself, because the first place in the group is not guaranteed for them. Therefore, the value of the Nations League playoffs increases – If Portugal wins this tournament, it will automatically promote to the final stage of the European Championship.
Switzerland has never shone at international tournaments. It was always considered a strong team, but the Swiss still never managed to get close to the top level. But starting from 2014, their progress is hard not to notice - they regularly reach at least the 1/8 finals of the major championships. First of all, the fans should praise Vladimir Petkovic for this result; he skillfully squeezes the maximum out of the material at hand.
Note that the Swiss played with Belgium and Iceland in the elite division of the Nations League. Of course, this group was the weakest of four. Switzerland easily coped with Iceland twice (one of the matches ended with a 6:0 score) and celebrated one victory each along with Belgium, but the Swiss managed to go further due to the advantage in head-to-head matches. The second fight against Belgium was especially emotional. In the course of the home game, the Swiss were losing 0:2, but managed to break an opponent psychologically and won 5:2 in the end. Surely, this match is the best in the history of Swiss football. Thus, the Red Crosses, surprising themselves, are one of the four contenders for the trophy, and their chances are not that small.
Portugal and Switzerland also met in the past qualification for the World Cup. Then they exchanged home wins with the same score - 2:0. Interestingly, they did not lose points in that qualification anymore, and both teams scored 27 points out of 30 possible. That was because the group included far from the strongest opponents - Hungary, the Faroe Islands, Latvia and Andorra.
Certainly, it makes no sense to say that Portugal is more experienced in this pair, because it is far from it. Santos’s team has enough young 20-year-old players. On the other hand, the squad of Switzerland is well knit and disciplined.
Prediction for the match: Portugal to win
