2026 World Cup: Colombia vs. Portugal, Probable Lineups

The final group stage match for Colombia and Portugal, the two leaders of Group K at the 2026 World Cup. The match between the Cafeteros and the Lusitanians is effectively a battle for first place in the group, with the former needing only a draw to finish at the top and face one of the third-place finishers (Ecuador, Senegal, Ghana, or Croatia, depending on the results), while also earning an extra day of rest—a factor not to be underestimated in such an intense tournament with venues spread far apart.

Colombia has made the most of its favorable schedule, defeating Uzbekistan 3-1 in its opener (with goals from Daniel Muñoz, Luis Díaz, and Campaz) and narrowly beating the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the second matchday, thanks to Muñoz’s second goal of the tournament. Against Portugal, they’ll look to break their European jinx: in their most recent matches against teams from the Old Continent—Croatia on March 26 and France three days later—they suffered two consecutive losses (2-1 and 3-1, both in the U.S.).

Portugal got off to a controversial start, drawing 1-1 with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (with Joao Neves scoring for Portugal) and seeing a lackluster performance from Cristiano Ronaldo, only to take sweet revenge a few days later against Uzbekistan, crushing them 5-0 in a one-sided match where CR7 broke his scoring drought with two goals, while the other goals were scored by Nuno Mendes and Rafael Leão—the latter finding the net after Nematov’s own goal. Against Colombia, a win—by any score—is needed to secure first place.

Probable Lineups

COLOMBIA (4-3-3): Vargas; Muñoz, Sanchez, Lucumí, Mojica; Puerta, Lerma, Arias; Rodriguez, Suarez, Luis Diaz. Head Coach: Lorenzo.

PORTUGAL (4-2-3-1): Diogo Costa; Cancelo, Dias, Veiga, Nuno Mendes; João Neves, Vitinha; Pedro Neto, Bruno Fernandes, João Félix; Cristiano Ronaldo. Head Coach: Martinez.