Portugal vs Croatia: Ronaldo, Modric face potential World Cup farewell

Who: Portugal vs Croatia

What: FIFA World Cup 2026 – round of 32

Where: Toronto Stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

When: Thursday at 7pm (23:00 GMT)

How to follow: We will have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 20:00 GMT before our live text commentary stream.

Portugal play Croatia in Toronto in a game that could mark the final career World Cup match for either 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo or his former Real Madrid teammate and veteran Croatian midfielder 40-year-old Luka Modric.

Croatia have again shown the resilience that has marked their recent World Cup runs, recovering from an opening loss to England with a 1-0 victory over Panama and a 2-1 win against Ghana.

Portugal, meanwhile, have underwhelmed with just one win and two draws in the group stage and Ronaldo looking well off the pace.

A last-16 meeting against either Spain or Austria awaits the winners in Toronto.

But for one of football’s all-time greats, the World Cup curtain will come down in Canada.

Ageing stars Ronaldo, Modric clash

Ronaldo and Modric will make history when two outfield players aged over 40 face off for the first time in a World Cup.

But both men are facing questions over whether their status as national heroes is now more of a burden than a boost to their countries’ hopes of progressing far in the competition.

Before this tournament, only Cameroon’s Roger Milla had played in a World Cup as an outfield player after turning 40.

At 41, Ronaldo defiantly screamed, “I’m back,” after netting twice against Uzbekistan as he became the first player to ever score at six World Cups.

Yet either side of a 5-0 romp over a team ranked 60th in the world, Portugal failed to beat the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Colombia and fell into a tougher section of the draw as a result.

Ronaldo played every minute of the group stages, and outgoing Portugal boss Roberto Martinez shows no sign of taking the bold call to sit the five-time Ballon d’Or-winning forward on the bench.

“There is not an issue physically or mentally for Cristiano in today’s game to play the 90 minutes,” Martinez said after Ronaldo managed just two touches in the Colombia box.

Modric struggles in fifth World Cup

Modric, 40, similarly showed his age in Croatia’s tournament opener, which ended in a 4-2 defeat to England in Dallas, Texas.

Caught on his heels, Modric conceded a penalty when chopping down Noni Madueke for England’s opening goal and was sacrificed by coach Zlatko Dalic before the hour mark.

Croatia bounced back to celebrate Modric’s 200th cap, edging past Panama 1-0.

In doing so, Modric became the fourth man to reach a double century of international appearances, joining Ronaldo.

The AC Milan midfielder then provided the assist for Nikola Vlasic’s winner as Croatia beat Ghana 2-1.

Finalists in 2018, Croatia also reached the semifinals four years ago. Modric was the driving force behind those incredible runs for a country of less than four million people.

How did Portugal and Croatia reach the round of 32?

Portugal were the runners-up in Group H with five points. Here’s a list of their results:

1-1 draw with DR Congo

5-0 win over Uzbekistan

0-0 draw with Colombia

Croatia were runners-up in Group L with six points. Here’s a list of their results:

4-2 defeat to England

1-0 win over Panama

2-1 win over Ghana

Portugal vs Croatia prediction

Opta’s supercomputer has calculated a 54.5 percent probability of Portugal winning this fixture in regulation time while Croatia is assessed as having a 20.4 chance of victory.

The probability of going to at least extra time is 25.1 percent.

Portugal vs Croatia: Kickoff time, TV channels

Portugal: RTP1, Sport TV 5 (midnight into Friday, Western European Summer Time)

Croatia: HRT (1am on Friday, Central European Summer Time)

United Kingdom: BBC One, BBC iPlayer (midnight into Friday, British Summer Time)

USA: FOX, FOX One, Telemundo App, Telemundo Network, Peacock (7pm Eastern Daylight Time)

To check the TV listings for your country, head to FIFA’s TV listing schedule here.

Head-to-head

The two countries have met 10 times with Portugal winning seven of those games while Croatia have won just one match, and two ended as draws.

Their first encounter was at Euro 1996, which Portugal won 3-0 thanks to goals from Luis Figo, Joao Pinto and Domingos Paciencia.

Croatia’s only victory came in June 2024 in an international friendly in Portugal, which Croatia won thanks to goals from Modric and Ante Budimir, which were scored either side of a Diogo Jota equaliser.

The most recent matchup was a 1-1 draw in Croatia in November 2024 in the Nations League.

Portugal’s team news

The Selecao have no reported injury concerns.

Predicted starting XI:

(4-2-3-1): Costa (goalkeeper); Cancelo, Dias, Veiga, Mendes; Vitinha, Joao Neves; Neto, Fernandes, Felix; Ronaldo

Croatia’s team news

They also appear to have a clean bill of health.

Predicted starting XI:

(4-3-3): Livakovic (goalkeeper); Stanisic, Sutalo, Pongracic, Gvardiol; Sucic, Modric, Kovacic; Baturina, Budimir, Perisic