Overview
The Portuguese national team is less than two weeks away from entering the opening match of the 2026 World Cup against Congo in Group K. Therefore, hosting Chile at home is considered an important opportunity for coach Roberto Martinez to complete the final tactical tests before the biggest football festival on the planet.
Portugal won a ticket to the World Cup as the leading team in Group F of the European qualifiers. Martinez's team finished the campaign with 3 points more than the second-placed Republic of Ireland, in which the highlight was a 9-1 victory over Armenia in the final match.
The form of the "European Selecao" has also been very impressive recently. Recently, they defeated the USA 2-0 thanks to goals from Trincao and Joao Felix. That result helped Portugal lose only one of their last 11 matches in all competitions.
Home advantage further helps them to be rated higher. Portugal has won 7 out of 8 recent home matches, the remaining match is a 2-2 draw against Hungary. With this achievement, fans have every reason to expect another victory before the team sets off to participate in the World Cup.
In the opposite direction, Chile continues to experience a difficult period when missing the World Cup for the third consecutive time. The South American team finished the qualifiers in the last position in the region and could not compete for a ticket to North America this summer.
However, Nicolas Cordova's team still shows some positive signs in recent matches. They have gone through a 5-match unbeaten streak, including 4 consecutive wins. Notably, they crushed Cape Verde with a score of 4-2 in March.
However, Chile's excitement was quickly stopped when they lost to New Zealand 1-4 in the next match. This defeat was somewhat affected by Dario Osorio receiving a red card very early, causing the South American team to play with one less player for most of the time.
In terms of recent form, Chile has only lost one of their last 6 matches. However, their away record is still a big question mark when they have lost 4 of their last 5 trips.
With the relative strength and current form, Portugal is considered superior and is likely to take advantage of this match to create favorable psychological momentum before entering the 2026 World Cup campaign.
Personnel situation
Portugal is likely to take advantage of the friendly match with Chile as the final general rehearsal before the 2026 World Cup. In goal, Diogo Costa is expected to continue to hold a starting spot, ahead are the experienced central defender duo Ruben Dias and Goncalo Inacio.
The home team will not have the service of a group of Paris Saint-Germain players including Joao Neves, Vitinha, Nuno Mendes and Goncalo Ramos. However, Roberto Martinez still has many quality options in midfield with Ruben Neves, Samu Costa and Bruno Fernandes.
On the Chilean side, goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux is expected to continue to guard the goal. The central defender duo Guillermo Maripan and Francisco Sierralta will be the stoppers in the defense.
On the attacking front, Gonzalo Tapia is likely to be given the opportunity to play highest. Supporting this striker on both wings will be Maximiliano Gutierrez and Matias Sepulveda.
Expected lineup:
D. Costa, Dalot, Dias, Inacio, Cancelo, R. Neves, S. Costa, Silva, Fernandes, Leao, Ronaldo.
Vigouroux, Lichnovsky, Maripan, Sierralta, Suazo, Pizarro, Loyola, Gutierrez, Osorio, Sepulveda, Tapia.
The match between Portugal and Chile takes place at 0:45 am on June 7 (Vietnam time).
