Category World News

How to follow: From 13:00 GMT, we’ll have the entire build-up on Al Jazeera Sport before our live text commentary stream.

Portugal’s UEFA qualifying match against Armenia on Saturday will be their first of its kind since the passing of their forward, Diogo Jota, who will represent them in the world cup.

Portugal’s midfielder Ruben Neves, who died in July, will wear the number 21 jersey of his late friend Jota during games for the country and has a tattoo on his left calf in his honor.

At a ceremony held at Portugal’s training facility late on Tuesday in preparation for the team’s World Cup qualifiers against Armenia and Hungary, Neves said, “I and the entire national team will do everything we can to keep Diogo with us, on our team.” The other team in Group F is the Republic of Ireland.

Jota and Andre Silva were killed in a car accident on July 3rd.

Neves, who plays for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, was close to Jota at the ceremony, which included the recently appointed prime minister, president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, president of Portugal, and Cristiano Ronaldo. They also played together at the English club Wolverhampton and Portugal.

Jota, who was wearing the number 21, was pictured embracing him in a video that the Portuguese federation posted on X of Neves.

𝗡𝗮𝗱𝗮 𝗡𝗼𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗿. Diogo Jota, por ti, pic twitter.com/Qy56zijvNP

Jorge Costa, a former Portugal international who died last month of cardiac arrest, was also the subject of Tuesday’s ceremony.

Jota and Costa were described as “men who loved football, loved their country, loved their national team, men who courageously and devoted their lives to defend the colors of our flag,” according to Pedro Proenca, president of the Portuguese Football Federation.

Jota and Costa were given medals that their families accepted and were given as Commanders of the Order of Merit following their posthumous honor.

Another nod to Jota’s memory, the federation claimed the squad consisted of “23 (+ 1)” players.

Portugal hasn’t yet qualified for the World Cup, so why?

Due to the accomplishments of some of the top seeds in the 2025 Nations League, which culminated in June, Portugal and 23 other teams are only currently enrolled in the World Cup qualifying program.

In the 2025 final, Portugal won the title of champion after beating Spain 5-3 on penalties.

Spain defeated France in the semifinal, while Portugal defeated Germany. The rest of the qualifiers for the later stages of that competition are currently only qualifying for the World Cup.

Head-to-head

With four wins and two draws already recorded in the countries’ previous meetings, this is their seventh meeting.

The Portuguese won the last meeting 3-2 in Armenia during a Euro qualifying match in 2015.

News from the Armenian team

Norberto Briasco misses out due to a family issue, while Narek Grigoryan is hurt.

However, Grant-Leon Ranos and Lucas Zelarayan are both back in the first-team plans.

news from the Portugal team

Diogo Dalot has been forced to withdraw due to a muscle issue, while Rafael Leao is out with a calf injury.

In the previous encounter between the two teams, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in five goals against Armenia, including a hat-trick.

Armenia had a starting lineup in mind.

Cancarevic, Hovhannisyan, Mkrtchyan, Arutyunyan, Muradyan, Tiknizyan, Iwu, Dashyan, Bichakhchyan, Zelarayan, Barseghyan, and others

Portugal guessed the starting lineup.

The forward now has 51 international goals, which puts him on par with Thierry Henry in second place behind Olivier Giroud (57), thanks to his Real Madrid teammate Aurelien Tchouameni’s 82nd-minute strike on Friday, which was set up by him at the end of a quick counterattack.

After replacing Desire Doue at the interval, second-half substitute Ousmane Dembele, who had already missed training this week due to a thigh issue, aggravated the same injury.

Before halftime, Doue was unable to continue because of a knock to his right calf. Hugo Ekitike earned his first cap, but Dembele’s evening also came to an end when he took off in the 81st minute, making way for him.

Les Bleus’ pace and movement kept Ukraine apart throughout the opening half of a smooth 4-2-3-1 formation Les Bleus had controlled the opening half.

Only goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin’s quick reflexes, including his deft sliding pass from Bradley Barcola to Olise, prevented further damage by blocking Dembele and denied Olise a second after a delicate Tchouameni chip over the defense.

After the hour, Ukraine, who had first threatened to shoot dangerous crosses into the box, burst forth. Before Illia Zabarnyi struck Mike Maignan’s post, briefly putting France’s backline under real pressure, Ibrahima Konate cleared off the line from Ivan Kalyuzhnyi.

However, Deschamps’ side were able to watch the final minutes with comfort once Mbappe sprinted clear to deliver the decisive blow with a low drive.

The 2018 World Champions advance to Group D when faced with the toughest opposition as a result. Iceland and Azerbaijan are also included in the group.

Maxime Prevot, the country’s foreign minister, said the stockpile was primarily heading for sub-Saharan Africa in an interview on Friday.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) under former president Joe Biden confirmed last month that the administration intended to destroy the supplies, which are unused and had already been purchased.

According to Prevot, “We continue to vigorously advocate against such waste” through diplomatic channels, according to the AFP news agency.

It is thought that about $10 million will be invested in the stockpile. Implants and intrauterine devices, which have long been crucial to the birth control campaigns of the humanitarian community, are included.

Prevot claimed that some of the supplies had already been moved out of their previous warehouse and were being kept in poor storage conditions.

Additionally, the Belgian diplomat sparked controversy over reports that claimed the contraceptives had been shipped to France for acineration.

We have intervened to say, “OK, you are changing your policy, whether it is at the US Embassy or directly in Washington.” We regret it, but he asked that you at least let the right people receive the goods that have already been purchased.

Flanders, Belgium’s self-governing, Dutch-speaking northern region, reported to Reuters news agency that the contraceptives are currently being stored in a warehouse in Geel, a municipality in the Antwerp province.

According to the Flemish spokesperson, the region’s ban on destroying medical waste prevented the supplies from being incinerated even if they were transported to another nation.

The spokesperson continued, “We have not received any such requests to this date,” adding that the Dutch government was willing to talk with US authorities about the situation.

Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has overseen a significant overhaul of US foreign aid. That included destroying USAID and cleaving billions of dollars in humanitarian funding.

Humanitarian organizations and UN officials have been in the dark about the US’s aid cuts, leading to shortages of essential supplies used to combat hunger, stop disease, and stop unwanted pregnancy.

Following the publication of this story, Reuters withdrew it, citing an error in the publication of a union spokesperson who stated that the statement the story is based on was false. &nbsp,

The regional unit and the airline’s flight attendants have cast a vote against ratifying the airline’s wage offer.

The union made the announcement on Friday.

A tentative agreement that was reached last month and that had put an end to a crippling strike at the time showed that many of the flight attendants at Canada’s largest carrier were unhappy with the wage increases.