Portugal finished second, behind Colombia, in Group K
Croatia lost their opening game against England 4-2
Both sides are captained by players over the age of 40: Cristiano Ronaldo (41) and Luka Modric (40)
Two of the top soccer nations never to have won a World Cup meet in Toronto in this Round of 32 fixture, and by the end one of them will know they face at least four more years of hurt.
The reward for winning here is a last-16 tie that will likely see the victorious side face Spain for a chance to progress further. Which doesn’t seem like a reward but, as our betting guide for this game shows, there are reasons for their perilous path and they lie in their results so far.
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Portugal are a team that attract attention wherever they go at this World Cup, for good and bad reasons. In both cases, a lot of that attention is focused on Cristiano Ronaldo, a player who has undoubtedly achieved a lot in the game but, at 41, certainly isn’t the future of Portuguese football. Many argue that he shouldn’t be the present, either. He scored twice in a 5-0 win over Uzbekistan but in draws against DR Congo and Colombia, he affected the play so seldom that he should have been charged for a ticket along with the other spectators.
The upshot of Portugal’s uninspiring group performances is that instead of facing Ghana at this stage, they will now face 2018 finalists Croatia. In truth, that could be viewed as punishment or reward, but it does mean a tougher overall path to the final, and their shot-shy attack will be under pressure to produce against an opponent that represents the biggest challenge they have faced so far.
Croatia entered the tournament with a by now traditional showdown with England, and that’s a useful barometer of how this vintage of the national team stacks up compared to previous versions. Only goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic kept the 4-2 loss from being considerably heavier. This result was followed by a pair of wins: 1-0 against Panama and 2-1 over Ghana, which may not have been especially convincing but do indicate an ability to grind results out which could go in their favor for this contest.
With five goals scored so far in the competition, it’s mildly interesting that no player has scored more than one for Croatia. Some may argue that this points to the absence of a true elite striker in the Croatian ranks. Others, that it represents an ability to spread goals around. With Portugal one of the most sophisticated sides they’ll face, we may see which is true this evening.
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We’ve already seen a couple of knockout ties go all the way to penalties and it wouldn’t be a huge shock if this one was, at least, still in the balance at the end of 90 minutes. Neither side is the very best version of itself, but they’re both certainly experienced enough squads to be able to cancel one another out for long stretches. With the generally risk-averse vibe of the occasion and the teams involved, it is not hard at all to see why this could end up taking more than regulation time to settle, and this is where the value is at the main World Cup betting sites.
It’s not a negative reflection on the quality of these sides to consider that this could be a low-scoring contest. After their poor opening show against England, Croatia have found a rhythm that has made them hard to break down and in Livakovic and Diogo Costa, the sides have two of the more effective goalkeepers among the teams left in the competition. The reality is that this is one of the more 0-0 coded games in the second round and with a price like the one BetMGM have placed on it to end low-scoring, this is a game with the potential to be remembered as “one for the purists”.
There are plenty of Portuguese names in the list here, and the most obvious choice would seem to be picking one of those. But again, the value in this regard is lacking and Musa is one of those players who can sniff out chances even if he doesn’t do much else over the course of a game. A natural finisher can be of particular value in a tight game like we expect this one to be, and at this price, we do like the chances of Musa popping up when it matters most.
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