Sports Mole previews Tuesday’s European Under-17s Championship clash between Portugal Under-17s and Poland Under-17s, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Portugal Under-17s and Poland Under-17s will fight it out for a place in the European Under-17 Championship semi-finals when they go head-to-head at AEK Arena on Thursday.
Poland finished second in Group C to seal their place in the quarter-finals, while Portugal finished top of the pile in Group D.
Match preview
Portugal are set to make their seventh knockout-round appearance at the European Under-17 Championship after successfully navigating their way through the group phase.
They began their campaign with a 2-1 win over Iberian rivals Spain, before going on to claim a comprehensive 4-1 victory in their second group match against England.
They were unable to take anything from Monday’s clash with France after conceding a late goal to fall to a 2-1 defeat.
Despite being left empty-handed, Portugal still managed to progress as group winners, setting up a quarter-final tie against Group C runners-up Poland.
Portugal will now have the chance to reach the semi-final stage for the second time in three years after beating Spain to advance to the last four in 2022.
Following a semi-final appearance in 2023, Poland are set to feature in the European Under-17 knockout rounds for the second year in a row.
They entered the final group game in third place after suffering a narrow defeat to Italy and playing out a 2-2 draw with Sweden.
Poland ultimately took advantage of Sweden’s defeat to Italy to leap into the top two with a dominant 4-0 win over Slovakia on Monday.
A Michael Izunwanne brace and an Oskar Pietuszewski effort gave Poland a comfortable three-goal lead at the break, leaving substitute Stanislaw Gieroba to apply the finishing touches with a fourth in the second period.
With Poland set to make their third appearance in the knockout rounds, they will be hoping to pull off a similar result to the 3-2 victory they recorded in last year’s quarter-final against Serbia.
Portugal Under-17s European Under-17s Championship form:
Poland Under-17s European Under-17s Championship form:
Team News
Portugal’s Duarte Soares may be recalled to feature in a backline alongside Rui Silva, Rafael Mota and Martim Cunha.
Sporting Lisbon forward Gabriel Silva could also return to the starting lineup after dropping down to the bench for the third group game.
Meanwhile, Poland manager Rafal Lasocki could be tempted to select the same lineup that started the dominant win over Slovakia.
Having scored three goals in the last two games, Izunwanne will be key to his country’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals.
Portugal Under-17s possible starting lineup:
Ferreira; Soares, R Silva, Mota, Cunha; Mora, Daiber, Simoes; Quenda, Varela; G Silva
Poland Under-17s possible starting lineup:
Jelen; Kriegler, Potulski, Szwiec; Szczepaniak, Sarapata, Dziewiatowski, Adkonis, Mazurek; Pietuszewski, Izunwanne
We say: Portugal Under-17s 3-1 Poland Under-17s
Portugal may have lost their final group match, but they still managed to finish top of a tough group, and we think they will have the extra quality required to book their place in the semi-finals with a relatively comfortable victory over Poland.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.