Four Fifa World Cup Round of 32 matches take place throughout Friday starting with a clash between Portugal and Croatia in Toronto in the early hours of the morning
Portugal
Portugal were pre-tournament favourites to top Group K but they had to settle for the runners up spot. Colombia were first with 7 points, Portugal finished with 5, DR Congo also made the cut with 4 points and Uzbekistan lost all 3 of their matches and have returned home.
Heading into their final group match against Colombia in Miami Portugal needed a win to go top of the group but the game finished without a goal. Both sides were assured of a Round of 32 place but it still produced a very watchable contest and the Portuguese were arguably a touch fortunate to ern a point and stay unbeaten with Colombia having the better of it overall and a VAR decision went against them late on.
Portugal made no mistake against Uzbekistan in their second group match in Houston as they coasted to a 5-0 win. Ronaldo scored 2 first half goals and Mendes was also on target as they led 3-0 at half time and after an own goal made it 4-0 Rafael Leao rounded off the scoring in a one sided contest.
Portugal were huge favourites to start their tournament with a win over DR Congo, also in Houston but they had to settle for a 1-1 draw. Joao Neves put them in front after just 6 minutes but despite having more than 75% of the ball they created very little else, DR Congo were level just before half time and there was no further scoring.
Croatia:
Croatia finished as runners up to England in Group L. England topped the quartet with 7 points whilst Croatia won 2 and lost 1 of their matches to finish with 6. Ghana with 4 points did enough to qualify as a best third placed finisher and Panama were bottom after losing all 3 of their games.
Croatia made sure of automatic qualification with a 2-1 win over Ghana in Philadelphia in their final group match. Petar Sucic opened the scoring for Croatia on 31 minutes and it stayed that way until Ghana squared things up on 73 minutes before Nikola Vlasic popped up with the winner 10 minutes later.
Earlier Croatia put themselves back in contention for a place in the knockout rounds with a 1-0 win over Panama in Toronto in their second group match. Substitute Ante Budimir scored the decisive goal early in the second half.
Croatia went down 4-2 to England in their opening game in Dallas. They fell behind to an early penalty but Martin Baturina squared things up. England regained the lead before half time but Petar Musa made it 2-2 and that was how the first half ended. Croatia conceded early in the second half as England came on strong but it was only when England scored their fourth goal on 85 minutes that the writing was on the wall.
The Betting (Regulation time unless stated otherwise)
Portugal are priced at around 8/10 to win the game with the draw available at 2.53/1 and Croatia can be backed at around 39/10
A game of 3 goals or more is priced at 11/10 and its 9/10 for both teams to score
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The Verdict:
Croatia’s record in major finals illustrates their staying power and after they bounced back from losing their first group match they will be no pushovers the more fancied Portuguese.
I’m struggling to settle on anything I really like for this one but will side with us to see at least one goal in both halves.
Bets: Goal in both halves? Yes at 17/20 with BetOlimp
Note, odds are subject to change
