[Football- World Cup] 28.11/ 20:00 Portugal- Uruguay

[Zlatko]

[Football- World Cup] 28.11/ 20:00 Portugal- Uruguay

Above I discussed the other two teams in Group H and why we should see goals in that matchup, and here I'll go further into detail about why I expect Portugal to join them, but not Uruguay. It's no secret that I picked Portugal to reach the Quarter-finals and semi-finals so I'm high on them. I'm also down on this Uruguayan team. Here's what I knew going in, and what the first game further confirmed for me:

They don't have the creative pieces, nor the pace to compete with the best squads in the world. Yes, they have younger, world talents Darwin Nunez, Federico Valverde, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Mathias Olivera, but aside from Olivera those players aren't known for blistering pace or their ability to pick apart defenses, and the rest of the squad is aging. Luis Suarez is still as clinical as any in front of the net, but the 35-year-old has clearly lost a step, and they don't have wingers with pace nor creative players in the midfield to unlock defenses.

Why is this going to be a problem? Portugal will have a large share of the ball tomorrow, and the game will be largely played in the middle third or in Uruguay's third of the field. Uruguay and other teams who don't have the capability to possess against Portugal will find their easiest path to victory being on the counter-attack. Unfortunately, they don't have the pace on the wings or up top to trouble Portugal there, and Ruben Dias and Pepe still have plenty of pace and strength to deal with the physicality of Uruguay. Joao Cancelo and Raphael Guerreiro will blast up the wings to give Portugal width without fear of speedy wingers causing their defense trouble, and Portugal should be able to take advantage of Uruguay for multiple goals. Give me Portugal to lock up advancing to the next stage through two games.

1 @1,80 Bet365

FT 2:0