Blog

Portugal who had a scary narrow win over Ghana in round one is one of the few teams of the FIFA World Cup 2022 who could secure their place in the last 16 by winning their upcoming fixture against Uruguay.

Uruguay was unable to take all three points from their first match of the competition against South Korea. The South American and the Asian side played a somewhat unconvincing draw in both of their opening games of the ongoing competition in Qatar.

Uruguay vs Portugal is rather a revenge game for that latter; the Iberian side was knocked out of the FIFA World Cup 2018 in the last 16 by the South Americans with a scoreline of 2-1.

Portugal Vs Uruguay Expected Lineups

Considering Uruguay is a far more formidable team than Ghana, Portugal does have the urgency to start their veteran defender, Pepe in their upcoming clash against the two-time FIFA World Champion. The man is also the one who netted an equalizer for his nation versus the South Americans when they faced each other at the previous competition of the same franchise. But as mentioned that match saw la Celeste winning with two fantastic goals from Valencia striker, Edinson Cavani, who is also expected to start this game. Portugal will be without their first-choice defensive midfielder Danilo Pereira for the rest of the world cup as the 31-year-old fractured his ribs in training.

Portugal is also a bit worried regarding their integral men on the flanks, Nuno Mendes and Otavio. However, Fernandes and Jao Felix are guaranteed to have the back of Ronaldo. The other two immovable men are Joao Cancelo and Raphael Guerreiro.

As for Uruguay, it seems improbable that the South Americans will have the presence of Ronald Araujo. Godin, Caceres, Gimenez, and Mathias Olivera seem inevitable to start at the back. Suarez is 50-50 but is also very likely to start anyway.

Portugal Vs Uruguay Prediction

Portugal hasn’t been convincing since their Euro 2016 title win and was also somewhat fortunate to snatch a win against Ghana than appearing as a deserved team.

Their upcoming opponent, Uruguay, too, was disappointing against South Korea throughout the first half though they did show some promising moves in the second with Valverde especially coming across as a potential game-changer.

Uruguay although looked barely the better team than South Korea in their first match, still has some quality in attack to trouble Portugal. Nevertheless, the one common thing between both teams is that neither of them has a free-flowing or fixed style of playing. Given that, it’s really hard to say who will be the dominating side in the upcoming match. However this time, Portugal has some really quality players other than Cristiano Ronaldo and they may have a bit more command of the ball than the South Americans.

One could definitely back them drawing the first blood or even double their lead at some point in the second half considering they have really learned from Ghana. However taking the reference of the same match, Cristiano and his teammates were also unable to protect the lead of two goals all the way to the final whistle. So expect, Uruguay to hit them with at least one of their own.

But then again, Portugal having more dynamic options in the attack should be slightly more creative in that area and subsequently have more chances to convert.

We, therefore, are going with Cristiano Ronaldo and co’s win although it may be a narrow scoreline of 2-1.

Projected Scoreline: Portugal 2-1 Uruguay

Portugal Vs Uruguay Previous Meetings

Before the event in Qatar, Portugal and Uruguay faced each other a total of only three times and both teams hold the best record by 50-50 with each of them winning one and playing a draw in one. It’s however Portugal who has registered more goals; 5 vs Uruguay’s 3.

Portugal Vs Uruguay Most Recent Odds

While the last meeting saw Uruguay subduing the European Selecao, this time, analysts have predicted Portugal is the one who will bring this tie in their favor. And for that, bookmakers from bet 365 have provided 19/20 (1.95) of odds to Fernando Santos’ men. Meanwhile, Uruguay is at 16/5 (4.20) to take all three points from Portugal.

The likelihood of the game ending at the draw is seen at 5/2 (3.50).

As always former Real Madrid star forward, Cristiano Ronaldo is the most projected one to score the game’s first goal while following him in terms of probability is Uruguay’s aging forward, Luis Suarez at 15/2 (8.50).

However, he is expected to be dropped considering his off form against South Korea, and Edinson Cavani is anticipated to see the action from minute one. He subsequently is also one of the priced players to break the deadlock at 9/1. Another man to fall within a likewise possibility is Liverpool’s forward, Darwin Nunez.