{"id":50404,"date":"2026-07-05T08:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/50404\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T08:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:04:14","slug":"portugal-vs-spain-fifa-world-cup-2026-preview-everything-you-need-to-know-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/50404\/","title":{"rendered":"Portugal vs Spain FIFA World Cup 2026 Preview: Everything you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

Portugal vs Spain will kick off on 6 Jul 2026 at 15:00 EST and 20:00 GMT. <\/p>\n

Iberian neighbours square off in the World Cup Round of 16<\/p>\n

As many might have predicted, near neighbours Portugal and Spain square off for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals. Who will get the better of this fiery rivalry?<\/p>\n

How Portugal and Spain got here<\/p>\n

Portugal has blown hot and cold so far. Unbeaten and having only conceded twice in four outings, they’ve still looked to lack fluency in a 1-1 draw with DR Congo and a 0-0 stalemate with Colombia. They needed a 94th-minute winner from AC Milan’s new record signing Goncalo Ramos to break Croatian hearts, and there was the extra drama of a disallowed Croatia goal after VAR intervention in the very last second of a match which contained four disallowed goals in total. <\/p>\n

\"PortugalGetty Images<\/p>\n

Luis De La Fuente’s Spain side is living up to the billing as one of the pre-tournament favourites. They’re yet to concede, with a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia and a 1-0 success against Uruguay. A 0-0 draw against minnows Cabo Verde was a surprise, but also a sign of other shocks to come at this fascinating showpiece. Amazingly, none of the winners from 2006, 2010 and 2014 (Italy, Spain and Germany) have won a knockout match since winning the World Cup. La Roja will be desperate to buck this trend. Spain showed their class in a routine 3-0 win over Austria in the first knockout round.<\/p>\n

\"SpainGetty ImagesOyarzabal proves his big-game mettle<\/p>\n

Mikel Oyarzabal isn’t the most glamorous household name in the Spain squad, but the Athletic Bilbao stalwart again proved his big-match temperament with a brace against Austria. <\/p>\n

Barcelona’s teenage superstar Lamine Yamal’s minutes have been managed carefully. He played just 19 minutes against Cape Verde, then 45 minutes against Saudi Arabia, where he also scored, and 76 minutes against Uruguay. The Barcelona superstar started and managed 85 minutes against the Austrians, a great sign for coach De La Fuente.<\/p>\n

\"FBL-WC-2026-MATCH84-ESP-AUT\"Getty ImagesRonaldo or Ramos, or both?<\/p>\n

Goncalo Ramos’ goal-scoring heroics against Croatia will give coach Roberto Martinez plenty to ponder when he picks his side to face Spain. It’s not unthinkable to imagine a situation where Cristiano Ronaldo is dropped, after all that happened in 2022, and Ramos scored a hat-trick as his replacement in a 6-1 win over Switzerland. However, Ronaldo’s penalty against Croatia and performance against Uzbekistan point to him starting here. Ramos is a pretty good option to have coming off the bench ahead of a supremely gifted midfield unit consisting of PSG pair Joao Neves and Vitinha. <\/p>\n

\"\ud06c\ub9ac\uc2a4\ud2f0\uc544\ub204Getty ImagesLikely Portugal XI<\/p>\n

Spain (4-3-3)<\/p>\n

Costa; Cancelo, Dias, Veiga, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha; Neto, Fernandes, Le\u00e3o; Ronaldo. <\/p>\n

Likely Spain XI<\/p>\n

Spain (4-3-3)<\/p>\n

Sim\u00f3n; Porro, Cubars\u00ed, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Pedri, Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz; Yamal, Oyarzabal, Baena.<\/p>\n

Portugal vs Spain key statsReal Sociedad stalwart Mikel Oyarzabal has directly contributed to five of Spain\u2019s eight goals at this tournament (G4, A1) and has contributed to 24 goals in his last 16 starts.Six of Portugal\u2019s eight matches this year stood level at half-time. Spain kept a clean sheet in nine of their last ten competitive games.Portugal 26-man squad<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers:\u00a0Diogo Costa (Porto), Jose Sa (Wolves), Rui Silva (Sporting), Ricardo Velho (Genclerbirligi).<\/p>\n

Defenders:\u00a0Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Matheus Nunes (Manchester City), Ruben Dias (Manchester City), Nelson Semedo (Fenerbahce), Joao Cancelo (Barcelona), Nuno Mendes (Paris St-Germain), Goncalo Inacio (Sporting), Renato Veiga (Villarreal), Tomas Araujo (Benfica).<\/p>\n

Midfielders:\u00a0Ruben Neves (Al-Hilal), Samu Costa (Mallorca), Joao Neves (Paris St-Germain), Vitinha (Paris St-Germain), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City).<\/p>\n

Forwards:\u00a0Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr), Joao Felix (Al-Nassr), Francisco Trincao (Sporting), Francisco Conceicao (Juventus), Pedro Neto (Chelsea), Rafael Leao (AC Milan), Goncalo Guedes (Real Sociedad), Goncalo Ramos (Paris St-Germain).<\/p>\n

Spain 26-man squad<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers:\u00a0Unai Sim\u00f3n (Athletic Bilbao), David Raya (Arsenal), Joan Garcia (Barcelona).<\/p>\n

Defenders:\u00a0Marcos Llorente (Atl\u00e9tico Madrid), Marc Pubill (Atl\u00e9tico Madrid), Pedro Porro (Tottenham), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao), Eric Garc\u00eda (Barcelona), Pau Cubars\u00ed (Barcelona), Marc Cucurella (Chelsea), Alejandro Grimaldo (Bayer Leverkusen).<\/p>\n

Midfielders:\u00a0Rodri (Manchester City), Martin Zubimendi (Arsenal), Mikel Merino (Arsenal), Pedri (Barcelona), Gavi (Barcelona), Fabian Ruiz (Paris St-Germain), Alex Baena (Atletico Madrid).<\/p>\n

Forwards:\u00a0Yeremy Pino (Crystal Palace), V\u00edctor Mu\u00f1oz (Osasuna), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Ferran Torres (Barcelona), Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Dani Olmo (Barcelona), Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Borja Iglesias (Celta Vigo).<\/p>\n

Team news & squads\"crest\"POR\"crest\"ESP<\/p>\n

Roberto Martinez has not confirmed a probable lineup for Portugal, and no injuries or suspensions are listed in the current squad data. Updates are expected closer to kick-off.<\/p>\n

Luis de la Fuente is similarly yet to name his projected XI for Spain. No injuries or suspensions are confirmed at this stage, though Nico Williams and Yeremy Pino were both ruled out of Spain’s previous match against Austria with a groin issue and shoulder injury respectively. Their availability for this fixture has not been confirmed. Further team news will be added as it becomes available.<\/p>\n

Injuries and Suspended playersFormHead-to-Head RecordGames over 2.5 goals0\/5Both teams scored1\/5<\/p>\n

The most recent meeting between Portugal and Spain ended 2-2, a UEFA Nations League A draw played on June 8, 2025. Before that, Spain won 1-0 in Lisbon in September 2022, with the sides also drawing 1-1 in Seville in June 2022. Across the last five meetings, neither side has dominated, with one win each for Portugal and Spain, two draws, and one further draw rounding out the record. Both sides have shown they can be difficult to separate at this level.<\/p>\n

Standings<\/p>\n

Spain finished top of Group H, while Portugal claimed second place in Group K to advance to the Round of 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portugal vs Spain will kick off on 6 Jul 2026 at 15:00 EST and 20:00 GMT. Iberian neighbours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12669,22013,2376,20005,1726,17,5003,369],"class_list":["post-50404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-c-ronaldo","tag-g-ramos","tag-l-yamal","tag-m-oyarzabal","tag-portugal","tag-spain","tag-tv-guide-streaming","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}