Portugal
Portugal head into the Round of 16 on the back of a dramatic clash with Croatia. After an entertaining but goalless first half, Croatia threatened to blow Portugal away with Ivan Perisic giving them an early second half-lead. Roberto Martinez made four changes around the hour mark, steadying the ship before Cristiano Ronaldo converted a penalty to equalise.
In the final stages of the game, Croatia continued to push on and look the slicker and more cohesive of the two sides, having a second goal disallowed with Petar Sucic straying just offside before Goncalo Ramos headed home an eventual winner for Portugal.
That goal being the winner was in doubt when Josko Gvardiol scored in the 13th minute of stoppage-time, only for that to also be disallowed with the referee deeming Igor Matanovic to have touched the ball on the way through to Mario Pasalic. That is something that has been debated, despite VAR’s equivalent of cricket’s ‘snicko’ suggesting there was the slightest of grazes from Matanovic.
Injuries & Team News
Blessed with a fully-fit squad for the last 16, Portugal boss Martinez is not expected to tinker with a winning formula, nor is he likely to axe Ronaldo from the first XI despite the 41-year-old’s substitution in the last-32 win over Croatia.
Ronaldo was less than impressed at his early withdrawal, which came after the Al-Nassr star finally scored a first-ever World Cup knockout goal and before Ramos maintained his astounding major tournament ratio.
The AC Milan new boy averages a goal or assist every 37 minutes at the World Cup – the best ratio of any Portugal player with five or more involvements – but he will be restricted to a super sub role again.
The only slight question mark in the Selecao XI lies on the right-hand side, where Pedro Neto must fend off competition from Bernardo Silva and Francisco Conceicao.
Form
| Last Match | Last 6 Matches |
|---|---|
| 2-1 vs Croatia | W W D W D W |
Predicted Line-Up
Portugal possible starting lineup:
Costa; Cancelo, Dias, Veiga, Mendes; Vitinha, Neves; Neto, Fernandes, Leao; Ronaldo
Spain
After a fairly tricky and unconvincing group stage, Luis de la Fuente’s Spain found their rhythm against Austria, having weathered an early spell of pressure from Ralf Rangnick’s Austrians. La Roja ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in the end with a Mikel Oyarzabal brace either side of a Pedro Porro header in Los Angeles.
In the groups, the Spanish had begun with a goalless draw against Cabo Verde in Atlanta before blowing Saudi Arabia away early on, settling for a 4-0 win in the end with three of those goals coming before the first-half hydration break. They then edged past a poor Uruguay side to win Group H in their final group stage game in Guadalajara.
Injuries & Team News
On Spain’s end, none of Lamine Yamal, Porro, Dani Olmo or Aymeric Laporte trained fully on Friday, but none is said to be carrying a serious issue; rather their workloads were being managed.
However, the same cannot be said for Yeremy Pino (shoulder) and Nico Williams (adductor), both of whom are expected to miss the last-16 clash but have not been ruled out of further rounds just yet.
Marcos Llorente is a viable Porro alternative if De la Fuente avoids risking the latter, but an unchanged Roja XI is expected to take to the field.
Form
| Last Match | Last 6 Matches |
|---|---|
| 3-0 vs Austria | D W D W W W |
Predicted Line-Up
Spain possible starting lineup:
Simon; Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Baena; Oyarzabal
Betting Odds
| Team | Odds | Bookmaker |
|---|---|---|
| Portugal Win | (4.30) | Grand Ivy |
| Draw | (3.70) | Dream Vegas |
| Spain Win | (1.95) | 247Bet |
Prediction
Portugal 0-2 Spain
These two squads are evenly matched but one of them produces on the big stage whilst one of them fails to live up to expectation. I’m sure you have worked out which is which and for that reason i fancy Spain comfortably here.