Uruguay vs Portugal 2018 World Cup Round of 16 Betting Preview

Uruguay and Portugal square off in the round of 16 at the 2018 World Cup on Saturday. Portugal had five points in group play but ended up losing the tiebreaker to Spain and settled for runner-up status, while Uruguay won its group to enter the bracket. Portugal boasts Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best players in the world, while Uruguay has a collection of talent up front, all of whom can deliver crucial goals at key times. Interestingly, Portugal is a fairly emphatic favorite here despite their iffy play in group play, including a draw with Iran in the round robin finale. Take a look at our World Cup betting insights for this match in the first knockout round.

Uruguay vs Portugal 2018 World Cup Round of 16 Betting Preview

Uruguay are the only team not to concede in the group stages of the #WorldCup. They face Portugal on Saturday.#URUPOR pic.twitter.com/lNCx3wNHQP

— Bavarian Tweets (@BavarianTweets) June 26, 2018

When: Saturday, June 30, 2018, 2:00pm ET Where: Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, Russia TV: FOX Radio: None Live Stream: fuboTV Soccer Odds: Uruguay +180 / Draw +200 / Portugal -200

Why should you bet on Uruguay?

With Godin, Cavani and Suarez swarming on the field, Uruguay doesn’t have a player that is the caliber of Ronaldo, but they have three playmakers who can make things happen at crucial times. This is what makes Uruguay so difficult to stop — they have multiple contributors who can all step in should someone else in the trio have a hard time escaping coverage. Uruguay did only manage a single goal against Egypt, but they have played better since then, and their rout of Russia in the group play finale showed where they really are in terms of offensive flow and creativity. On the defensive end, Uruguay is superior to Portugal, both in terms of physical presence as well as communication. Portugal gave up a couple of bad goals in that 3-3 draw with Spain, and the goal they conceded against Iran had a lot to do with defensive miscommunication as well. If you like Uruguay, you see their talented group finding cracks in the Portuguese defense, bottling up their ability to counter, and finding enough chances to score and take the win.

Why should you bet on Portugal?

This answer begins with Cristiano Ronaldo. He had four goals in the team’s first two games, but when he was bottled up by the Iranian defense, Portugal struggled and only mustered a single goal against an inferior side. Ronaldo will need to find open space against an Uruguay defense that has been stingy to this point in the tournament, and the Portuguese defense will need to lock up on the back end; they have given up crucial goals at key moments throughout the tournament. In the group play opener against Spain, Portugal conceded three goals, needing a miraculous hat trick from Ronaldo simply to earn the draw. If you like Portugal, you see Ronaldo returning to his transcendent form from the first two games of group play, and you also see the Portuguese defense managing to stifle that combination of offensive talent on the Uruguayan side. You also see Uruguay failing to show the offensive momentum that they have demonstrated in a crescendo since their shaky 1-0 win over Egypt in the group play opener.

Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction

This is the sort of game I can see going to penalty kicks (which would trigger the “draw” option), as neither team will want to make a mistake, which means you won’t see extreme pressure from either side. This could represent an interesting battle between Ronaldo and Luis Suarez, as the teams play a 90-minute game of chess to see who will make that one crucial mistake. Because of the even nature of this match (and the niceties of knockout round soccer), I predict a 1-1 draw at the end of extra time — and that Uruguay will advance on penalty kicks.