While only being the fourth game of the tournament, the match between Portugal and Spain at 12 Eastern on Friday, June 15th at Fisht Stadium in Sochi will be one of the most important games of the group stage as Portugal and Spain are both highly-ranked teams who have their sights on the later stages of the World Cup. Odds have Spain coming out on top as favorites, while Portugal is a slight underdog in this match. For the latest World Cup betting odds and futures and prop bets, register here at Skybook and also join our World Cup bracket contest to win great prizes.
The reason this game is so important, however, is that it has huge bearing on who will win the group and thus have the easier match-up for the round of 16. Spain are favorites to win Group B and Portugal favored to come in second.
Spain
Spain comes into the World Cup as one of three favorites to win it all, right behind Germany and Brazil. They have loads of talent and have been especially tough as of late, unbeaten in their last 12 matches. However, they did get upset in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup and were ousted in the round of 16 at the UEFA championships in 2016, so there is a string of upsets in their recent history as well. Regardless, they were beasts in the qualifying rounds, their only stumble being a 1-1 draw with Italy. Portugal will certainly have their hands full trying to deal with the likes of David Silva, Sergio Ramos, Isco and Andreas Iniesta.
Portugal
That's not to say that Portugal doesn't strike fear in the hearts of the Spanish side. This is, after all, the team that won the UEFA 2016 tournament by defeating Poland, Wales and France in the knockout stages, and glided through World Cup qualifying with a 9-0-1 record, finishing first in their group. Christiano Ronaldo aside, this team posseses a variety of talent across the field. Jose Fonte and Bruno Alves are getting up in age, but are still effective as defensemen, while the midfield has improved with the additions of Bernardo Silva and Andre Silva.
Match Overview
Any soccer fan will look at the World Cup 2018 schedule and have this game stand out as one of the most important of the group stage. It has enormous implications on how the round of 16 matchups will play out, as the first place country out of this group will likely get to face Russia in the round of 16, which would be an easy win for either of these teams. The second place team will likely have to play Uruguay in the next round, which is not such an easy draw. Surprisingly, there is not much recent history to draw off of here, as these teams have only played each other 3 times in the last decade. The most recent was a 2012 UEFA Championship match which Spain won in penalty kicks. Dating further back, these countries have played each other a total of 36 times, dating back to 1921.
