Do or Die for Portugal

With 2 rounds left to go in Euro 08 Qualifying, it becomes time to "do or die" for many teams, one of them being Portugal. Portugal is currently second in Group A one point behind leaders Poland.
Here's what the standings look like:

Poland 24pts
Portugal 23pts
Serbia 20pts
Finland 20pts
Belgium 15pts
Armenia 9pts
Kazakhstan 7pts
Azerbaijan 5pts

With 2 rounds and 6 points up for grabs, Portugal needs 4 points to qualify. Looking at the teams who have a chance of qualifying; Poland will play Belgium at home and will go to Serbia on their final game. Portugal will play the remaining 2 games at home against Armenia and Finland respectively. Serbia will also play their final 2 games at home against Kazakhstan and Poland. Finland will host Azerbaijan and travel to Portugal for the last game. So there's still a lot that can happen, ultimately Portugal controls their destiny, with an easier first game against Armenia and then a crucial game against Finland. Finland will be looking to get the most points in hopes of qualifying, they have a seemingly easy game against last place Azerbaijan and will be looking to go into the Portugal game with chances of qualifying. Group leaders Poland, will have a very hard game against Belgium, who despite being out of the run, will not "play nice", anything other than a win for Poland can possibly see them dropping to second place if Portugal beats Armenia, the Polish will then have a very difficult game in Serbia, where the Serbs will possibly have a chance of qualifying with a win against the Pols, being that their game on Saturday is against second to last place Kazakhstan.
So everything still very much open with Portugal and Poland in control of their destinies but with difficult last round games. Portugal has the edge playing at home, the Pols will have a harder task with 2 difficult games, the last one being away at a Serbia.

Next Post
I will analyze Scolari's call up list and project the starting 11 for Saturday's match.