Category World News

Who: Portugal vs Republic of Ireland
What: UEFA World Cup qualifier
Where: Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal
When: Saturday, October 11, at 7:45pm (18:45 GMT)

Portugal will seek to strengthen their grip on Group F in their UEFA World Cup qualifying campaign when they face the winless Republic of Ireland in Lisbon on Saturday.

The Portuguese stormed to the UEFA Nations League title earlier this year and are part of the group of football teams that have belatedly joined the qualifiers for the FIFA 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at the match that could put one foot in next year’s final for Portugal, while it’s a must-win for the Irish.

How have Portugal fared in their World Cup qualifiers so far?

Portugal have won both their opening qualifiers in Group F, winning 5-0 in Armenia in their first match and 3-2 in Hungary in their second game.

How have Ireland fared in their World Cup qualifiers so far?

Ireland came from two behind in Dublin to draw 2-2 in their opening Group F match against 10-man Hungary. Adam Idah scored the leveller in the 90th minute. The Irish fell two behind once again in their second match, away to Armenia, but Evan Ferguson’s 57th-minute strike did not set up another comeback on this occasion, with the hosts holding on for a 2-1 win.

Why have Portugal and Ireland only recently joined the World Cup qualifying process?

Portugal and Ireland, along with 22 other teams, are only joining the qualifying programme for the World Cup now due to the progress of some of the top seeds in the 2025 Nations League, which culminated in June.

Portugal were crowned champions as they beat Spain 5-3 on penalties in the 2025 final.

Portugal beat Germany in the semifinal, while Spain overcame France. The rest of the qualifiers for the latter stages of that tournament are also only entering the World Cup qualifiers now.

The spots are filling up.⏳🏆 @aramco | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/3opHdZQUDX

What happened the last time Portugal played Ireland?

Portugal beat Ireland 3-0 in a friendly match in June 2024 in the last meeting between the sides.

Joao Felix gave the Portuguese the lead in the first half of the match in Aveiro, before Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a brace to seal the win.

The last competitive meeting between the sides was in a World Cup qualifier in 2021, which ended in a 0-0 draw in Ireland. Portugal won the reverse fixture 3-1, aiding their qualification for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Ireland failed to qualify.

Roberto Martinez says Cristiano Ronaldo has lost none of his hunger

“Normally, when a player wins or achieves something, the next morning they don’t have the same hunger. But I haven’t seen that with Cristiano Ronaldo,” Martinez said ahead of the Ireland match.

“With him, the next morning is an opportunity to become better and win again. This is unique. I cannot explain it.

“He’s had a 20-year career. He’s not the same player as he was before, but he always finds a way to be useful. And he’s an example to the others. His love of playing football and the national team is there for all to see. He has played more than 200 games and continues to set an example. He will be remembered forever.

On the qualification process, Martinez added: “The national team’s focus is on trying to qualify. We continue step by step. The training camp in September was very good, but we can’t lose what we did in September. Our focus is on trying to be at the best level against Ireland.”

Ireland need ‘almost perfect game’ against Portugal

“We know that we need to have almost a perfect game to get something from this match,” Heimir Hallgrimsson, the Republic of Ireland coach, said.

“If we do, we have a chance to steal a point or to win the game. Obviously, we need to try to keep a clean sheet. That’s always going to make it easier.

“We have a game plan that we think is going to work. We’ll see if that materialises. But obviously, if you look at the table, we need at least a minimum three points from this camp. And for obvious reasons, it’s probably the Armenia game that everybody is saying: ‘OK, we can have a good performance and a better performance than in Armenia and get three points there.’”

Head-to-head

This is only the 17th meeting between the European sides, with Portugal winning nine and Ireland winning four.

Ireland’s last win in the fixture came in a friendly between the sides in 2005, courtesy of Andy O’Brien’s solitary strike in Dublin. There have been four subsequent matches, of which Portugal have won three.

Ireland’s last competitive win against Portugal came in a European Championships qualifier in 1995.

The fixture dates back to 1946 and began with a 3-1 home win for Portugal in a friendly.

Portugal form

W-W-W-W-W

Republic of Ireland form

W-D-D-D-L

Portugal team news

Midfielder Joao Neves and defender Joao Cancelo are both absent due to hamstring injuries.

Republic of Ireland team news

The Irish have been hit by an extensive injury list, including Matt Doherty, Jason Knight, Bosun Lawal, Callum O’Dowda and Sammie Szmodics

Striker Troy Parrott made a substitute appearance in a match with  AZ Alkmaar at the weekend, and returns to the Ireland squad, having missed the last two internationals due to injury.

Portugal predicted starting lineup

Costa; Dalot, Dias, Inacio, Mendes; Bernardo, Vitinha, Fernandes; Conceicao, Ronaldo, Neto

Republic of Ireland possible starting lineup

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has announced that it started laying off federal employees as the government shutdown grinds on, despite questions about Trump’s legal authority to do so.

In a terse statement on Friday, US Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said that the government was moving forward with “reduction-in-force” plans or RIFs to slash the workforce.

“RIFs have begun,” Vought wrote in a social media post.

Citing anonymous sources in the administration, the news outlet Politico reported that the agencies affected include the departments of the Interior, Homeland Security, Treasury, Environmental Protection Agency, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Spokespersons at several of those departments, including the Treasury and HHS, have since confirmed that layoff notices have gone out to employees. In its notices, HHS referenced the “Democrat-led government shutdown”, mirroring the partisan framing of the administration.

“All HHS employees receiving reduction-in-force notices were designated non-essential by their respective divisions. HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda,” the department’s statement adds.

Friday marked the 10th day of the shutdown, with no end in sight. Earlier in the day, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced he intends to keep his chamber shuttered until the Senate acts on a continuing budget resolution that House Republicans had already passed.

The Senate has voted down the House resolution seven times since the start of the shutdown.

“We will come back here and get back to legislative session as soon as the Senate Democrats turn the lights back on. That’s the fact. That’s where we are,” Johnson told reporters.

Democrats, meanwhile, have argued that Republicans have refused to negotiate on healthcare priorities, including extending subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire by year’s end.

Trump, a Republican, has been open about his intention to use the shutdown to inflict cuts on programmes he associates with the Democratic Party.

Already, since the shutdown started on October 1, Vought announced nearly $18bn in cuts to New York City infrastructure projects, $2bn in cuts for Chicago’s transportation system, and $8bn in cuts related to climate change, destined to affect 16 largely Democratic states.

“We’re only cutting Democrat programmes, I hate to tell you, but we are cutting Democrat programmes,” the president said during a Cabinet meeting earlier this week. “We will be cutting some very popular Democrat programmes that aren’t popular with Republicans, frankly.”

Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, have accused the Trump administration of using the shutdown to continue its purge of government agencies and slash services, even though Trump’s legal authority to do so is contested. During government shutdowns, employees are typically furloughed but not fired from their jobs.

On Friday, a federal court in San Francisco held a hearing to weigh complaints from workers’ unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).

Those unions have argued that laying off employees during a shutdown amounts to an “unlawful abuse of power”.

In a statement, AFGE President Everett Kelley argued that no other president has attempted to terminate furloughed government employees during a shutdown.

“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country,” Kelley said, calling on Congress to break its impasse.

“These workers show up every day to serve the American people, and for the past nine months have been met with nothing but cruelty and viciousness from President Trump. Every single American citizen should be outraged.”

Trump, however, has long sought to slash what he has described as “waste” and “bloat” from the federal government. He has also advanced a vision of expanding presidential authority.

A massive blast at a military explosives factory in the US state of Tennessee has left multiple people dead and others missing. Officials have not given any indication of what may have triggered the explosion about 85 kilometres southwest of Nashville.