STAR FOOTBALL PREVIEW Sat: Portugal v Ireland

It’s been a pretty good International break for fans of ‘home nations’ teams so far but there looks unlikely to be much joy for Irish supporters when they visit Portugal this evening, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.

The meeting of these two teams brings the top and bottom of Group F together, and Portugal’s price of 1/7 with starsports.bet is understandable when looking at the results so far. Portugal have won both of their qualifiers so far, scoring eight goals in the process, thanks to a 5-0 win in Armenia and a 3-2 success in Hungary.

Those form comparisons don’t make for pretty reading on Ireland’s part, given that Heimir Hallgrimsson’s men were beaten 2-1 by Armenia and drew 2-2 with Hungary thanks to a late equaliser against 10 men, and they look set for a struggle this evening.

Portugal’s home record makes for exemplary reading – they’ve won 13 of their last 15 competitive home games going back to 2021, scoring 45 times in the process and conceding just nine – and a clear win seems the obvious outcome.

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Portugal v Ireland
FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifier
19:45 Amazon Prime PPV / Prime Video

LAST FIVE STATS

HEAD-TO-HEAD
JUN 2024 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Portugal 3-0 Ireland
NOV 2021 WORLD CUP Ireland 0-0 Portugal
SEP 2021 WORLD CUP Portugal 2-1 Ireland
JUN 2014 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Ireland 1-5 Portugal
FEB 2005 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Ireland 1-0 Portugal

PORTUGAL
SEP 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Portugal 3-2 Hungary
SEP 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Armenia 0-5 Portugal
JUN 2025 NATIONS LEAGUE Portugal 2-2 Spain
JUN 2025 NATIONS LEAGUE Germany 1-2 Portugal
MAR 2025 NATIONS LEAGUE Portugal 5-2 Denmark

IRELAND
SEP 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Armenia 2-1 Republic of Ireland
SEP 2025 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING Republic of Ireland 2-2 Hungary
JUN 2025 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Senegal 1-1 Republic of Ireland
JUN 2025 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Luxembourg 0-0 Republic of Ireland
MAR 2025 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Republic of Ireland 2-1 Bulgaria

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Finding value at such prices is tricky, but the handicaps and goals market looks the way to go. Cristiano Ronaldo is the obvious place to start – he’s scored in 9 of his last 11 internationals, including Portugal’s two qualifying wins so far, and will be popular in all markets – but Portugal have a whole host of attacking talent they can use here.

The hosts are 21/20 to score 3 or more goals, which they’ve managed in both qualifiers so far, whilst even Germany and Spain conceded two against them in the Nations League (during the same tournament, they’d put 3 past Denmark in normal time before going onto win 5-2).

All eyes will be on Cristiano Ronaldo but Pedro Neto, Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, Bernando Silva and Nuno Mendes are all likely starters and Ireland are likely to find Portugal too hot too handle. Either the hosts to score three or more goals or pass a two-goal handicap make an appeal and backing both with starsports.bet looks to be the best choice.

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