Portugal is in danger of losing its army in the round of 16

Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Neves, Ruben Dias and Joao Felix are the Portuguese players who have received a yellow card in the first two legs of the group stage.

FIFA rules that players who receive two yellow cards in the group stage will be suspended for the next match. Thus, if they continue to receive a yellow card in the match against Korea on December 2, the four Portuguese players mentioned above will be absent in the next match, which is in the 1/8 round.

Fernandes received a card in the opening match against Ghana 3-2, but was not penalized in the match against Uruguay. Meanwhile, Neves, Dias and Felix were warned against Uruguay. Therefore, all four players are allowed to play in the final round.

In addition to this quartet, Danilo Pereira also received a yellow card against Ghana. However, the PSG midfielder broke three ribs on his right side in training and will certainly miss the match against South Korea. Therefore, Danilo is not in the risk group of being suspended in the 1/8 round.

Portugal was in a similar situation at the 2006 World Cup. At that time, Nuno Valente, Costinha, Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo and Pauleta received a yellow card in the first two legs of the group stage, beating Angola 1-0 and Iran 2-0. .

Portugal only needs one point in the last leg to win the top spot. Therefore, coach Luiz Felipe Scolari - then leading Portugal - replaced all five players with Caneira, Petit, Tiago, Simon and Helder Postiga in the last leg.

However, Portugal still beat Mexico 2-1 thanks to Maniche and Simao Sabrosa. After taking the first place, Portugal in turn defeated the Netherlands in the 1/8 round, England 3-1 in the quarterfinals and then lost to France in the semi-finals. In the third place match, Scolari's teachers and students continued to lose to Germany 1-3.

Therefore, coach Fernando Santos can also make the same decision when Portugal meet South Korea on December 2.

After two wins against Ghana and Uruguay, Portugal led Group H with 6 points and passed the group stage one round early. They only need one more point against Korea in the last leg to keep the top of the group and avoid the top team of Group G - most likely Brazil - in the round of 16.

Ghana is the only team that can take the top spot of Portugal. Currently Portugal has 6 points with a difference of +3, while Ghana has 3 points and a difference of 0. If they want to continue with the first place, Ghana must win strongly against Uruguay, and Portugal lose to South Korea to level it out. three tables.