Republic of Ireland v Portugal live stream, Thursday 11 November, 7.45pm GMT
Portugal will climb to the top of Group A if they avoid defeat by the Republic of Ireland in a crucial World Cup qualifier on Thursday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo and co. currently sit second in the five-team group, with one point fewer than Serbia in top spot. The leaders are not in action on Thursday, though, and will therefore fall two points behind Portugal if the latter triumph in Dublin.
By virtue of their superior goal difference, even a draw here would mean that Fernando Santos’ side only need a point against Serbia on Sunday to book their place at Qatar 2022. A defeat would leave Portugal needing to win that match to qualify automatically.
This is not such a significant match for the Republic of Ireland, who have endured a dismal campaign to date. Their six qualifiers have yielded a single victory, while their 1-0 defeat by Luxembourg in March immediately went down as one of the worst losses in the national team’s history.
Ireland only have five points to their name and cannot finish any higher than third. They did perform creditably against Portugal in the reverse fixture, though. Stephen Kenny’s side were 1-0 up until the 89th minute, when a brace from Ronaldo turned the game on its head.
The Manchester United superstar will be looking to add to his all-time record of 115 international goals on Thursday. He is joined in the Portugal squad by fellow Premier League stars Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota, Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Dias and Joao Cancelo.
Seamus Coleman is back in the Ireland squad after missing last month’s World Cup qualifiers. Jayson Molumby and Alan Browne have also been called up, but Aaron Connolly has been left out as he continues to recover from a heel injury which has restricted him to only a handful of minutes for Brighton this season.
Kick-off is at 7.45pm GMT on Thursday, 11 November, and UK viewers can watch it on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football. See below for international broadcast options.
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VPN guide
Use a VPN to watch World Cup qualifiers from outside your country
If you’re out of the country for a round of fixtures, then annoyingly your domestic on-demand services won’t work – the broadcaster knows where you are because of your IP address (boo!). You'll be blocked from watching it, which is not ideal if you’ve paid up for a subscription and still want to catch Steve Bruce’s extra-red face without resorting to illegal feeds you’ve found on Reddit.
But assistance is on hand. To get around that, all you have to do is get a Virtual Private Network (VPN), assuming it complies with your broadcaster’s T&Cs. A VPN creates a private connection between your device and t'internet, meaning the service can’t work out where you are and won't automatically block the service you've paid for. All the info going between is entirely encrypted – and that's a result.
There are plenty of good-value options out there, including:
UK TV rights
How to watch Premier League live streams for UK subscribers
Sky Sports and BT Sport are the two main players once again, but Amazon also have a slice of the pie in 2021/22.
US TV rights
How to watch Premier League live streams for US subscribers
NBC Sports Group are the Premier League rights holders, with the Peacock Premium streaming platform showing even more than the 175 games it aired last season, with other matches split between NBCSN channel, CNBC and the over-the-air NBC broadcast channel. If you pick up a fuboTV subscription for the games not on Peacock Premium, you'll be able to watch every game.
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Canada TV rights
How to watch Premier League live streams for Canadian subscribers
DAZN subscribers can watch every single Premier League game in 2021/22 – and it gets better. After a one-month free trial, you'll only have to pay a rolling $20-a-month fee, or make it an annual subscription of $150.
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Australia TV rights
How to watch Premier League live streams for Australian subscribers
Optus Sport are offering every game of the Premier League season for just $14.99/month for non-subscribers, which you can get via a Fetch TV box and other friendly streaming devices.
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New Zealand TV rights
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Spark Sport are serving up all 380 games – plus various highlights and magazine shows throughout the week, as well as the Champions League – for $24.99 a month, after a seven-day free trial.
It's also available via web browsers, Apple/Android devices, Google Chromecast and some Samsung TVs, and Apple TV and Smart TV compatibility new for this season.
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