England vs. Portugal: Date, Time, TV Schedule and Live Stream for 2016 Friendly
England will host Portugal on Thursday in their last international friendly ahead of the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament starting on June 10.
The Three Lions enter the contest having won their last two friendlies, but the victories over Turkey and Australia were anything but convincing. Portugal dominated Norway in their last outing, and the 2004 finalists should hand England a sterner test.
Here's everything you need to know about Thursday's clash:
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Date: Thursday, June 2
Time: 7:45 p.m. BST/2:45 p.m. ET
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London
TV Info: The match will be broadcast by Fox Sports 1 (for U.S. viewers) and ITV 1 (for UK viewers).
Live Stream: Fox Soccer 2Go, ITV Live
Preview
After a perfect Euro 2016 qualifying campaign and two friendly wins in a row, the England squad have every right to be optimistic heading into this summer's tournament.
The Premier League's top stars were all on point against Turkey and Australia, with Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane, Leicester City's Jamie Vardy and Manchester United's Wayne Rooney and Marcus Rashford all finding the net.
But Turkey and Australia are hardly world-class opponents, and both teams still found it quite easy to breach England's defence. Portugal are of a different calibre, and they showed it against Norway.
Fernando Santos' side smashed the Scandinavians 3-0 without Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, and per Goal's Jamie Smith, it was an impressive showing:
"With the Real Madrid contingent still celebrating their Champions League triumph Santos' men showed they will be no pushovers for Euro 2016, as they romped to victory in Porto
Portugal showed they are far from a one-man team with a convincing victory over Norway on Sunday, as the Lusitanians won 3-0 in a one-sided friendly.
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Like England, the Portugal squad have received a tremendous boost from their younger players in the last 12 months.
The Portuguese lost the final of last year's UEFA European Under-21 Championship, and some of the top talents who featured in that tournament now ply their trade with the seniors.
Raphael Guerreiro scored a stunning free-kick against Norway, and midfielder Joao Mario has also made the step up to the highest level. Bernardo Silva is absent because of injury, but as the win over Norway showed, creativity isn't an issue, even without Ronaldo.
England have similar quality in attack, as the likes of Kane, Vardy and Rashford all enter Thursday's friendly in exceptional form. But the defence remains a worry, and manager Roy Hodgson fears transfer speculation surrounding the likes of Everton's John Stones can't help, per John Cross of the Daily Mirror:
"Whether agents come to the hotel or not is a moot point. They will be talking to the players face to face, on the phone or via Skype or Facebook. Who the hell knows?
But the one thing this group of players know and have accepted is that when you are on England duty, you are on England duty. It’s not a question of you sorting out your future or diving off for medicals.
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If healthy, United's Chris Smalling is a virtual certainty in the heart of defence. But Stones and Chelsea's Gary Cahill will battle to partner him, and after the poor season he had, the Stamford Bridge star perhaps shouldn't be the top option.
Stones didn't enjoy a particularly good campaign with Everton either, but he's in need of a big summer to boost his profile and silence his critics. A good showing against Portugal would be an excellent start.
The onus will be on the full-backs, however, who will likely face Mario and Nani at some point in the match. The two tore Belgium's makeshift defence to pieces in a friendly in March, so the likes of Nathaniel Clyne and Kyle Walker will be warned.
The absence of Ronaldo will be a big factor, however, and England should fancy their chances of grabbing a win on home soil.
