All smoke but no fire
Uruguay have to prove themselves
Uruguay have come out on top of a relatively weak Group A. Despite taking 6 points against Saudi Arabia and Egypt there were still a lot of questions to be answered before their final match against hosts Russia. Uruguay won that last game 3-0 and looked like the team we were all hoping they should be, and should see in the knockout stages.
Tougher opposition lays ahead
This is a complete Uruguay side who arguably have the tournament’s best attacking partnership in Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez. But there are a number of other players in the midfield that have bags of talent like Vecino, Bentancur, Torreira.
It’s difficult to say exactly what the weaknesses are in this Uruguay side who have looked pretty stable throughout the group stage. But now tougher opposition lays ahead when they meet Portugal on Saturday.
Potential Uruguay starting 11:
- Muslera
- Varela - Gimenez - Godin - Caceres
- Nandez - Bentancur - Vecino - Rodriguez
- Cavani - Suarez
Portugal stumble through the group stage
Many thought that Spain and Portugal would run away with it in Group B despite a fascinating 3-3 draw between them in the first game leaving the group undecided. Portugal’s advance to the knockout stages looked in serious danger even at the last minute of their final match against Iran when Portugal were just one side of the netting from crashing out at the hands of a strong Iran side.
Portugal really didn’t play well in their remaining group games against Morocco and Iran, struggling to piece attacking play together. At the same time, we’ve seen in 2016 how Portugal can play bad, uneventful football and win a European Championship.
The Portuguese are somewhat underdogs against Uruguay
Of course, they still have Ronaldo who looks to be at the top of his game. Ronaldo has scored 4 of Portugal’s 5 goals, and it would be a massive understatement to say Portugal can do a job without their star man. Portugal need a Ronaldo who is in top condition for them to get through.
Now it looks like the Portuguese are somewhat underdogs against Uruguay in the round of 16 match up and there is definitely cause for them to be worried.
Potential Portugal starting 11
- Patricio
- Soares - Pepe - Fonte - Guerreiro
- Quaresma - Carvalho - Moutinho - Joao Mario
- Ronaldo - Silva
Match Tips
Despite both teams having much in the way of attacking talent with Cavani and Suarez for Uruguay and Ronaldo for Portugal, I’m in agreement with the market in thinking it’ll be a tight and goal shy match. Uruguay have two of the best centre backs in the tournament in Gimenez and Godin who will have a good idea of how to stop Ronaldo after a few games under their belt against him in La Liga.
Uruguay are the only team to have not conceded a single goal in this year’s tournament, and they look the likeliest in stopping Ronaldo. On the contrary, how Portugal are going to stop Cavani and Suarez is a bigger issue.
Uruguay at +0 is a good bet to take on but the generally market odds are around 1/1 (2.00) I still think there’s worth in it though with Bethard. My bet is that the match will end with under 2 goals at odds of 4 / 5 (1.80) and money back if it ends with two goals.
