England vs Portugal preview

June 1, 2016
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

England vs PeruThe final warm-up game and the first since Roy Hodgson finalised his euro 2016 squad sees England take on in-form Portugal side in what should be a great game of football at Wembley.

The Selecao have been raising their form of late and they will want to keep the good atmosphere in the squad with a solid showing against the Three Lions.

For the first time in quite a while, England head to a major competition with a realistic chance of reaching the closing stages, and they now need to ensure they do not disappoint yet again.

Bar a somewhat unfortunate defeat to Netherlands, the Three Lions have been thoroughly impressive of late, defeating the likes of France, Germany, Turkey and Australia.

The clash against Portugal will the final test before their opening Euro 2016 fixture vs Russia, and Roy Hodgson’s men are 2.30 (13/10) to emerge victorious.

The manager has raised some eyebrows by including both Marcus Rashford and Daniel Sturridge in his final squad, while Andros Townsend and Danny Drinkwater have been omitted.

Fabian Delph was earlier dropped due to injury, but both Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson are included even though they lack match fitness.

Roy Hodgson is likely to revert to his strongest line-up after resting some star players agains Australia, and he will have Jamie Vardy back in contention.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Hart – Clyne, Smalling, Cahill, Rose – Henderson, Dier, Wilshere, Alli – Kane, Rooney.

Portugal had a poor start to the Euro 2016 qualifiers, but they went to show a massive improvement under Fernando Santos and they head to France in excellent spirits.

The Selecao made amends for the unexpected loss to Bulgaria with an impressive display in the 2-1 win over Belgium back in March and they have since continued in the same manner.

Even without a number of star players, Portugal eased off to a 3-0 triumph over Norway, with Ricardo Quaresma staking a claim for a starting berth with an excellent performance.

The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, Pepe and Bruno Alves have joined the squad after being unavailable due to club commitments and they are all in contention.

Fabio Coentrao, Danny and Bernardo Silva had been earlier ruled out through injury, but there have been no fresh selection worries.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Patricio – Vieirinha, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Eliseu – Joao Mario, Danilo Pereira, Moutinho, Rafa Silva – Nani, Ronaldo.

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