Begovic eyes Portugal upset

The nation's football federation was only founded in 1992 and it has never made it to the finals of a major competition.

It is currently closer than it has ever been before, as after just missing out on automatic qualification after a 1-1 draw in its final match in France it faces a two-legged play-off against Portugal.

"It was a big disappointment against France because we were so close," said the Stoke City goalkeeper ahead of Friday evening's (Saturday morning AEDT) home leg.

"But we have to move on to the Portugal play-off.

"We have put ourselves in a position where, if we do things the right way, we can qualify for the Euros.

"We've got the toughest task playing Portugal but it will be a fantastic experience playing against that type of quality player.

"Looking at the quality of their players, no one sticks out more than Cristiano Ronaldo.

"When you have a player like that it makes your team very good but we have nothing to lose and we will go in there fighting.

"We are going to need some luck and great performances all round to even have a chance of qualifying.

"It will be an extreme test but if we do things right we have a good chance of causing an upset.

"It would mean everything for the country - it is such a small country compared to Portugal."

Begovic and Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko are now household names in England as well as in their homeland, but the goalkeeper believes there is plenty more to come from the small nation.

"We have some good players and we can do something," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

"There are more and more players coming through, making bigger moves to bigger leagues.

"It is good to see and it makes our team better and hopefully we can have success in the future."