Soccer-Leao replaces Felix for Portugal against unchanged Croatia


Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup 2026 - Portugal Training - Gardens North County District Park, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, U.S. - June 25, 2026 Portugal's Rafael Leao during training REUTERS/Paul Childs

TORONTO, July 2 (Reuters) - ⁠Portugal made one change for ⁠their round-of-32 match against Croatia on Thursday ‌with Rafael Leao joining the attack in place of Joao Felix. Croatia are unchanged.

• Rafael Leao ​joins the Portugal attack ⁠alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and ⁠Pedro Neto.

• Ronaldo will surpass Lothar Matthaeus ⁠for ‌total World Cup matches played with 26 to move second ⁠on the all-time list behind Lionel Messi.

• ​Croatia ‌keep the same lineup as in their ⁠2-1 win ​over Ghana in the group-stage finale.

• This is the first World Cup meeting ⁠between Portugal and Croatia.

• The ​winner will face Spain on Monday in Dallas for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Lineups:

Portugal: ⁠Diogo Costa, Ruben Dias, Renato Veiga, Joao Cancelo, Nuno Mendes, Bruno Fernandes, Joao Neves, Vitinha, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Leao, Pedro ​Neto.

Croatia: Dominik Livakovic, Josip ⁠Stanisic, Marin Pongracic, Josip Sutalo, Mateo Kovacic, ​Luka Modric, Nikola Vlasic, ‌Martin Baturina, Petar Sucic, ​Ante Budimir, Ivan Perisic.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in TorontoEditing by Toby Davis)

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