Wales go to Lisbon on Thursday with a squad that keeps shrinking and a fixture that could hardly be harder. Jordan James is not pretending otherwise, and he is not worried about it either.
"Obviously they're the best players in the world at the end of the day, you can't really sugarcoat it," the Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder said of Portugal. "They've got Champions League winners, they've got these kinds of things. I think we're always underdogs. We're used to it, so hopefully we can use that to benefit ourselves."
The absentees keep adding up
Craig Bellamy was already without Joe Rodon and Dylan Lawlor before this window started. Since then Karl Darlow, Nathan Broadhead and Harry Wilson have all dropped out, and Wilson is the one that hurts. He has been Wales' most reliable source of goals and moments for years.
This is Wales' first game back in the top tier of the Nations League after winning their League B group in 2024, and they have not won since beating North Macedonia in World Cup qualifying last November. Opening the campaign away to Portugal is a brutal way to try to end that run.
What Wales are up against in midfield
Portugal's squad reads like a list of the best players at the best clubs. Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Joao Neves and Bruno Fernandes are all available, and Cristiano Ronaldo is still there at 41 with 146 international goals behind him.
James, who has 21 caps, is likely to be asked to handle a midfield that plenty of people consider the strongest in world football. In Portugal's last outing, the 1-0 defeat by Spain in the World Cup round of 16, the PSG pair of Neves and Vitinha sat at the base with Fernandes ahead of them.
He has done a version of this before. In October 2023, aged 19, he was outstanding as Wales beat a Croatia side whose midfield was Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic. "I've still got Kovacic's shirt on the game up in my room," James said. "That was a really proud moment for me at such a young age to be able to compete against the best. Hopefully there will be many, many more."
Facing Ronaldo
James was born 11 months after Ronaldo first signed for Manchester United in 2003, which puts the whole thing in perspective. He called the prospect of playing against him "a bit mad".
"We're all trying to achieve the same thing, to be the best player in the world," he said. "But you get those sort of aliens in a way that don't seem human. You look at the Messis, the Neymars, the Ronaldos. They've just got that extra little quality where in big moments they turn up and can do it again and again and again. The longevity of how they're able to do it is unbelievable."
He was more nervous, he admits, lining up for Leicester against Frank Lampard's Coventry last season, because Lampard is his idol. Star names on the other side do not move him much.
Prediction: Portugal at home with that midfield and a Wales squad this thin points one way. Portugal 2-0, with Wales' realistic target being to leave Lisbon with the group still open.
Match facts: Portugal v Wales, Nations League Group A4, Thursday 24 September, 19:45 BST, Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon. Wales missing Joe Rodon, Dylan Lawlor, Harry Wilson, Karl Darlow and Nathan Broadhead. Jordan James, Wolves midfielder, 21 caps and one Wales goal. Cristiano Ronaldo is 41 with 146 international goals across 23 years.
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