The group stage of the 2024 European Championship will come to a close this evening with the final two Group F matches.
Kick-off is at 20:00 BST.
Portugal are through from this group but there are two qualification spots still up for grabs.
Turkiye, sitting in second, require just a draw to be sure of progression. They could even go through in third with a defeat of less than three goals, so long as Georgia don’t win.
As for Czechia and Georgia, it’s win or bust:
| Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drawn | Lost | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portugal | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 2 | Turkiye | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 3 |
| 3 | Czechia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 1 |
| 4 | Georgia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 1 |
In terms of the rankings of the third-placed teams, four of the below countries will qualify.
The Netherlands, Slovakia and Slovenia are definitely through.
Croatia are eliminated for sure, while there’ll be a nervous watch for Hungary fans this evening:
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D | Netherlands (Q) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | E | Slovakia (Q) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | C | Slovenia (Q) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | A | Hungary | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 3 |
| 5 | B | Croatia (E) | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 2 |
| 6 | F | Czechia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 1 |
England’s opponents in the round of 16 will be determined by tonight’s results.
If Georgia win, or if Czechia triumph by one or two goals, England will face Slovakia next. Otherwise, the Netherlands await.
As for the team news, there are a whopping 12 changes made across the two teams in Gelsenkirchen.
Eight of them are made by Portugal boss Roberto Martinez, with only Diogo Costa (€5.0m), Joao Palhinha (€6.0m) and Cristiano Ronaldo (€10.0m) surviving from Matchday 2.
That means benchings for the likes of Bruno Fernandes (€9.0m) and Joao Cancelo (€6.0m), amongst others.
Despite the rotation, Diogo Jota (€8.5m) – who had been a slight injury doubt for this game – is not in the starting XI.
Georgia, meanwhile, recall Luca Lochoshvili (€4.0m), Giorgi Gvelesiani (€4.0m), Otar Kiteishvili (€5.5m) and Giorgi Chakvetadze (€4.5m).
Solomon Kvirkvelia (€4.0m), Zuriko Davitashvili (€5.0m), Anzor Mekvabishvili (€4.5m) and Giorgi Tsitaishvili (€5.0m) are culled.
In the other game, Czechia’s star striker Patrik Schick (€7.0m) isn’t fit to start. He’s named among the substitutes, at least, but whether there’s any chance of seeing him is another question.
Mojmír Chytil (€6.0m) and Antonin Barak (€5.5m) come in, with Vaclav Cerny (€5.5m) also making way.
There are changes aplenty for Turkiye as Vincenzo Montella makes seven alterations.
Only Samet Akaydin (€4.0m), Ferdi Kadıoglu (€5.5m), Barış Alper Yılmaz (€6.0m) and Hakan Çalhanoğlu (€6.5m) retain their places from Matchday 2.
Mert Gunok (€4.5m) returns between the sticks, while Arda Guler (€6.0m) is also back in the line-up.
LINE-UPS
Georgia XI: Mamardashvili, Dvali, Kashia, Lochoshvili, Kiteishvili, Kochorashvili, Gvelesiani, Kakabadze, Chakvetadze, Kvaratskhelia, Mikautadze.
Portugal XI: Costa, Danilo, A Silva, Inacio, Dalot, Felix, J Neves, Palhinha, Ronaldo, Neto, Conceicao.
Czechia XI: Stanek, Holes, Hranac, Krejci, Coufal, Soucek, Provod, Jurasek, Barak, Chytil, Hlozek
Turkiye XI: Gunok, Kadioglu, Demiral, Akaydin, Muldur, Ozcan, Yuksek, Yildiz, Calhanoglu, Guler, Yilmaz
but not an issue for me). Huge upsets on later rounds would be interesting. Georgia, Slovakia and Slovenia winning for example would mean chaos.
9 months, 11 days agoMade a draft real quick in case I forget to change my team lol
Pickford / Simon
Di Marco / van Dijk / Mittelstadt / Karnicnik / Guehi
Musiala / Baumgartner / Gundogan / De Bruyne / Fernandes
Kane / Gakpo / Mbappe