{"id":671221,"date":"2026-06-23T10:55:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T14:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=671221"},"modified":"2026-06-23T11:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:41:00","slug":"portugal-vs-uzbekistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/06\/23\/portugal-vs-uzbekistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Portugal vs Uzbekistan: Team News and Confirmed Lineups"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Word on Football brings you the latest team news and the confirmed lineups<\/a> for Portugal vs Uzbekistan<\/span><\/a> at Houston Stadium, in an 18:00 GMT kick-off on June 23. It\u2019s a must-win for both teams, with the Portuguese understandably starting as the heavy pre-game favourites.<\/p>\n

Portugal vs Uzbekistan, Team News and Confirmed Lineups<\/h2>\n

Portugal Team News<\/h3>\n

Tomas Araujo will be the only Portuguese player missing, with Ruben Dias returning after missing the first game against DR Congo.<\/p>\n

Martinez spoke to the press<\/a><\/span> about the focus in his squad, while addressing the criticism they have received after the first game:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are strong and focused,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cAnd our group is even more united than before. It is a process. Tension is not part of our team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s normal to have criticism after a poor result. Sometimes it\u2019s unfair or negative, but it is not part of how we prepare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More<\/b>: 2026 World Cup Matchday 14 Predictions Including Scotland vs Brazil<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Revealing his confidence in his team, Martinez said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feeling of disappointment is one we all have as a team,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cTomorrow I do feel like we will have a team that will be ready to perform for 90 minutes at the level we have,\u201d added the Portuguese manager.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Uzbekistan Team News<\/h3>\n

Uzbekistan have no reported injury concerns, and as one of the four debutants at the tournament, they will be eager to cause a huge shock.<\/p>\n

Their manager, former Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro<\/span><\/a>, said: \u201cAs I have always said, we have nothing to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPortugal always like to control the game. They will start in a very good way; they want to play fast. We will be prepared for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have our strategy. I know we are going to face a very good team. We will \u200ctry to do our best and stay in the game until the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked my team to play with more fighting spirit than against Colombia, but we cannot just run around stupidly everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More<\/strong>: <\/span>2026 World Cup Matchday 13 Predictions Including England vs Ghana<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Portugal Confirmed Lineup<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Diogo Costa<\/li>\n
  • R\u00faben Dias<\/li>\n
  • Renato Veiga<\/li>\n
  • Jo\u00e3o Cancelo<\/li>\n
  • Nuno Mendes<\/li>\n
  • Bruno Fernandes<\/li>\n
  • Jo\u00e3o Neves<\/li>\n
  • Vitinha<\/li>\n
  • Cristiano Ronaldo (Captain)<\/li>\n
  • Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix<\/li>\n
  • Pedro Neto<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Uzbekistan Confirmed Lineup<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • Abduvohid Nematov<\/li>\n
    • Abdukodir Khusanov<\/li>\n
    • Rustam Ashurmatov<\/li>\n
    • Sherzod Nasrullaev<\/li>\n
    • Abdulla Abdullaev<\/li>\n
    • Behruzjon Karimov<\/li>\n
    • Otabek Shukurov<\/li>\n
    • Odiljon Xamrobekov<\/li>\n
    • Azizjon Ganiev<\/li>\n
    • Abbosbek Fayzullaev<\/li>\n
    • Eldor Shomurodov<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Featured Image Credit<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

      REUTERS\/Pedro Nunes<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Last Word on Football brings you the latest team news and the confirmed lineups for Portugal vs Uzbekistan at Houston Stadium, in an 18:00 GMT kick-off on June 23. It\u2019s a must-win for both teams, with the Portuguese understandably starting as the heavy pre-game favourites. Portugal vs Uzbekistan, Team News and Confirmed Lineups Portugal Team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4106,"featured_media":671222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[161,30,1831,2132],"tags":[798,32871,2331,32819],"class_list":["post-671221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-football","category-news","category-starting-line-up","category-world-cup","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-portugal-team-news","tag-roberto-martinez","tag-uzbekistan"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671221"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":671233,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671221\/revisions\/671233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}