Portugal vs Norway – Match Preview and Betting Tip

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Thomas Jensen

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Tags: EURO 2012, Football, Sports Betting

The qualifying campaign didn’t start too well for the Portuguese, with a 4-4 draw at home to Cyprus and a 0-1 defeat away to group leading Norway. Now they stand three points behind and with Denmark playing Iceland tonight, Portugal is in a must win situation. Playing at home and having their best players fit should help a lot, especially after the convincing results achieved lately. The hosts also have a new coach, Paul Bento who is playing a very aggressive football.

Match preview for Portugal vs Norway

Spain was humiliated 4-0 in a friendly game and Argentina got away with a win thanks to a penalty scored in overtime, but Portugal’s performance in both games was remarkable. Cristiano Ronaldo returns and will feature in the starting eleven as well as Malaga’s midfielder Duda who missed for many months. Nani and Almeida will start in the offense, with Helder Postiga being used as substitute, but in case the Norwegian defense resists we could see them all at some point.

This team has played together for a long time and the synergy between the players is excellent, not to mention the incentive they have when they play at Estadio da Luz. The visitors will try to resist the 90 minutes siege by fielding a fairly defensive team, but most of the players are not fit to play. Those who will start the match are lacking form, Riise, Carew and Gamst being just some of the more notable examples, so the offense will clearly suffer.

Huseklepp scored the winning goal in the first leg and the equalizer against Denmark, but he is not the kind of player to defeat by his own a defense such as Portugal’s. The problem is that the hosts midfield is vastly superior and for the brief moments when the Norwegian players in this area will have the ball, they won’t send it to him. Stranded amid a pack of Portuguese defenders, Huseklepp will make a small impact tonight and his only chance is to take advantage of another individual error.

Betting tip for Portugal vs Norway

This game will be nothing like the first leg and the leaders will struggle to keep up with Portugal’s offensive prowess, but 90 minutes are simply too much. The hosts will try to avenge the defeat in Oslo and overtake Norway at top of Group H. There is no doubt that Portugal will win tonight, but the odds for a straight victory are simply too low, so it would be better to back the hosts to win by at least two goals.

Betting tip – Portugal Handicap win.