World Cup preview: Portugal wins and will secure first place in the group, Armenia hopes to rewrite history

At 22:00 on the evening of November 16th, Beijing time, in the 10th round of Group F of the European Qualifying Tournament of the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup, Portugal will face the last opponent Armenia in the group stage at the Porto Dragon Stadium.

There are still variables in the qualifying situation of Group F. Portugal has 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, with 10 points. Although it leads the group standings, Hungary, the second leader, only has 2 points, and Ireland, third in the group, also has 7 points. In other words, if Portugal accidentally overturns in the last game, or is even tied by its opponents, it is very likely that the two opponents behind it will counterattack at the last minute.

If Portugal wants to secure a direct qualification for the World Cup, Portugal must score all 3 points against Armenia. With 1 win, 4 losses and 3 points, Armenia has already missed the World Cup, but this cannot be used as a reason for them to give up resistance in the last game. A small loss, a draw, or even overthrowing Portugal are all the results that the Armenians expect to achieve.

After the first three rounds, Portugal has won all three games, and its momentum is obviously to secure the top spot in the group in advance. As a result, they had a 2-2 draw with Hungary in the fourth round. The most troublesome thing was that they actually lost 0-2 to Ireland in the fifth round, which instantly turned the group qualifying situation that had lost suspense into a mathematical theory problem. I could have enjoyed the flowers and applause easily, but instead I fell off the chain for two consecutive rounds without any bias. The Portuguese themselves pulled themselves from the brightest moment into the darkest moment.

The most surprising thing is that Ronaldo also received the first ejection card of his national team career in this unexpected defeat. He was directly ejected from the field by the referee for deliberately elbowing his opponent. This also means that Ronaldo will not be seen in the last game against Armenia in the group stage.

Although Armenia is weak, it has shown amazing resistance in the past few games. In addition to losing to Portugal 0-5 in the first game, Armenia also defeated Ireland in the next 4 games. Both times they faced Hungary, they lost by small scores. The Armenians did their homework on the defensive end, but they still couldn't find a breakthrough due to their limited offensive capabilities.

Historically, the two teams have played against each other 7 times. In all previous encounters, Portugal has won 5 times and been tied by opponents twice. It has never lost to Armenia. In the last four encounters, Portugal has maintained a complete victory over Armenia. As long as Portugal plays normally, it will be difficult for Armenia to take advantage of the other side.