Portugal 11/5 - Draw 2/1 - Holland 6/5 (Stan James
Another eagerly anticipated clash between two of football's biggest underachievers takes place this evening as the Portuguese play the Dutch. The last time these two countries met was two years ago at Euro 2004 in the semi final of the competition. Portugal were triumphant 2-1 but lost in the final to Greece.
Portugal have their whole squad to choose from, apart from the injured Jorge Andrade. They are likely to bring back Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo and Pauleta back into the team after they were rested against Mexico.
Marco van Basten is in a quandary as to whether to pick Ruud van Nistelrooy or Dirk Kuyt up front. The Manchester United striker has failed to set the world alight and the majority of the Dutch media are pressuring for the selection of Kuyt. Holland only has one injury concern, and that is Johnny Heitinga. He is suffering from a hamstring strain.
One thing that can be guaranteed today is that the whole of the pitch will be utilized, as both sides style of play is to flood the upper third of the field and to do a quick break on the counter attack. We could see a few goals fly in today. For a 3-2 to Holland the odds are 25/1, the same result for Portugal is 33/1. However most of the time I have said there will be goals in a match it has ended up 0-0! So the odds for a goalless draw are 11/2.
Holland goes into the match as slight favourites, which is not surprising as they have emerged unscathed from the "group of death" whereas Portugal could not have asked for an easier route to the second round, and maybe lacking in competitive match practice. For Holland to win 1-0 the odds are 5/1 and 2-0 it is 8/1.
However Portugal is Holland's bogey team. The Dutch have only managed one victory in nine attempts and they will fancy their chances later tonight. A 2-1 win has odds of 10/1 and 1-0 is 6/1.
My prediction - Portugal to win 2-1 at 10/1.
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