The road to Euro 2016 has already been a bit rocky for Portugal, who lost at home to Albania in their opening match. But they got back on track with a win away to Denmark in an early virtual must-win situation, while events elsewhere have given them a boost. Albania and Serbia both ended up with no points from their match that was abandoned due to a fight.
On Friday, Portugal play host to Armenia, who have struggled in their first two games. The Armenians have played well in recent cycles, looking like they might be able to qualify for a major finals sometime soon, but their narrow loss away to Denmark and failure to beat Serbia at home has them sitting bottom of the table. But currently, this group is so close that a win of any kind would see Armenia record a better record than any other team had through three games.
Key player - Henrik Mkhitaryan (Armenia)
Armenia have swung some big upsets in the last couple of qualifying cycles, and Henrik Mkhitaryan is usually at the heart of them. He has seven more goals than any other player in his team's squad, and he's the most likely to find Edgar Manucharyan or Yura Movsisyan with a big assist as well. But if he gets marked out of the game, Armenia will struggle to create anything at all.
Euro Qualifying
Key question - Can someone who isn't Cristiano Ronaldo make an impact for Portugal?
This is the eternal question for the Portuguese national side. Often, Ronaldo is good enough that he can guide his team to wins without anyone else making a significant attacking contribution, but it would certainly be nice if one of their other attackers brought something to the table. When Nani and Joao Moutinho are in form, Portugal actually look formidable.
Match Date/Time: Friday, 7:45 p.m. local, 2:45 p.m. ET
Venue: Estadio Algarve, Faro, Portugal
TV: ESPN Deportes (U.S.), Sky Red Button (U.K.), RTP 1 (Portugal)
Online: Watch ESPN (U.S.), Sky Go (U.K.), Sportsnet World Now (Canada)