Back Portugal to end Northern Ireland resistance after half-time
A misfiring Portugal will get back to winning ways but at very short odds of 3/20, there is better value to be found elsewhere on a victory for the hosts.
Writing a preview for a Portugal match is like being reunited with an old friend. Having produced feature after feature about Portugal during this summer’s European Championships, it is good to once again offer bwin customers some tips for a match involving the Selecção.
A defeat in Russia on Friday evening was a major blow for Paulo Bento’s side as they look to qualify automatically for the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, so you can expect Cristiano Ronaldo and company to come out firing on Tuesday evening as they look to get their campaign back on track with a home win over Northern Ireland.
Michael O’Neill’s men were not in the action over the weekend so they should be raring to go, but this is unlikely to make a difference to the outcome and odds of 22/1 for an Irish victory demonstrate how tough a task they face.
A 1-1 draw at home to Luxembourg last time out was a disastrous result for Northern Ireland which sees them drastically trailing in the chase for a qualification spot and realistically, a defeat at Estádio Do Dragão will spell the end of their hopes.
| Champions League | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dortmund | 1-1 | Bayern Munich | £150.00 | (13/2) |
| Dortmund | 1-2 | Bayern Munich | £160.00 | (7/1) |
| Dortmund | 0-2 | Bayern Munich | £175.00 | (31/4) |
| Dortmund win | £84.00 | (16/5) | ||
| Draw | £82.00 | (31/10) | ||
| Bayern Munich win | £34.00 | (7/10) | ||
They will probably aim to keep things tight for as long as possible and would obviously be delighted with a point – for the match to end all square, bwin customers can get odds of 15/2.
Although a Portugal win is inevitable, they are not in the form we saw at Euro 2012, when they reached the semi-finals only to be defeated on penalties by the formidable eventual champions, Spain.
In their first Group F fixture for World Cup qualification, they fell behind to Luxembourg before sneaking a 2-1 win and against Azerbaijan, they were goalless at half-time.
With this in mind, backing the game to be level at the interval and Portugal to come out on top at the full-time whistle could pay dividends. Odds of 16/5 for this occurrence look tasty and this is certainly is a better option than simply backing a Portuguese victory at a miserly price of 1/10.
Russia currently having a 100% record in Group F, so Portugal really cannot afford to fall too far behind as the two heavyweights of the group look to battle it out for top spot.
As mentioned, Paulo Bento’s men have not been ahead at the break in any of their three matches so far, yet on two of those occasions they have managed to grind out a victory.
One of those was a 3-0 win over Azerbaijan thanks to three second-half strikes and a bet on another 3-0 success at 19/4 could be worth some investment.
New customers receive a free 20 bet for registering with bwin and placing it on a 3-0 Portugal win will return you 115 if it proves successful.
It may not turn out to be a pretty performance and goals may not be flying in from the opening whistle, but Portugal will get there in the end, so plump for the better value tips over a straight Portugal win.