Portugal Will Need to Catch a Break in Group G

Portugal’s mixed form entering the World Cup makes it tough to predict how far they will go in South Africa.

How they got here
Having been expected to cruise through the qualifier Portugal made hard work of the road to South Africa. A home defeat to Denmark in their second game followed by a road draw at Sweden meant Portugal was forced to play catch-up in their group.

Further draws at home to Albania and Sweden did little to help but a road win over Albania got the campaign back on track. Yet another draw at Denmark followed before Portugal strung together wins at home and on the road over Hungary followed by a road win at Malta to sneak into second place and set up a playoff with Bosnia. Portugal won 1-0 at home followed by another 1-0 win on the road to secure a place in South Africa.

Who to watch
In Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal possess one of the highest profile players on the planet, not only because of his recent appearance on the cover of Vanity Fair. While not adding to his already impressive collection of honors in 2010, the attacker did score 26 times in 29 appearances for Real Madrid this season.

Portugal has an impressive depth of veteran talent at the back with Bruno Alves of Porto lining out with Chelsea duo Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho. Their Chelsea team mate Deco will be at the heart of Portugal’s midfield while Atletico Madrid’s Simao will be a key provider in attack. Deeps as the Portugese team is there has been a worrying lack of chemistry between the top talents at international level in recent times, with Portugal stumbling to a 0-0 draw with Cape Verde recently. An improvement in form is needed to maintain World Cup betting confidence.

How they will perform
Carlos Queiroz’s team is a cruel mistress to bettors. If raw talent alone sufficed it would be easy to just back Portugal to make the second round with room to spare over the Ivory Coast. In reality it’s far from that simple, Portugal’s roster appears capable of turning over Brazil and laying an egg against North Korea. The true ability of the team lies somewhere in the middle. This is a team that can compete, and while liable to make hard work of teams will prove difficult to beat for any side. For all Portugal’s struggles in qualifying they still only lost one game. I like Portugal to go through but it’s going to be a struggle.

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