CROATIA v PORTUGAL
Saturday 25th June 2016 – Kickoff: 2100hrs
Football – Europe – Euro 2016 Betting Tips
Croatia emerged as winners of Group D following their impressive 2-1 win over Spain in the final match of the group phase to come out on top by one point ahead of the reigning European champions Spain.
Both Croatia and Spain qualified from the group as expected but Croatia have now earned their ‘dark horse’ tag for the tournament with this recent win which followed a 1-0 win over Turkey and a 2-2 draw with Czech Republic.
Kalinic and Perisic linked upwell against the Spaniards as they provided each other with assists (and both scored), and this win was achieved without the likes of Modric or Mandzukic even appearing at all during the ninety minutes which is a very good sign.
Portugal narrowly scraped through the group stages as one of the best third placed teams in the groups overall to claim a very fortunate place in the last 16 – once again flattering to deceive as they drew all three of their Group F matches.
Despite all the pre-tournament hype that usually surrounds Portugal (only because of Ronaldo, let’s be honest), the Portuguese struggled in their group matches anc could only muster stalemates against Iceland, Austria and Hungary.
And although they’ve lost just once in their last seven matches overall, Portugal have found it really difficult to stamp any kind of authority over the perceived ‘weaker’ sides so far in this tournament.
By comparison, Croatia do not possess any real stars but they have a very solid unit of players including Modric, Manzdukic, Perisic and Kalinic who can turn a game, while Portugal do seem to be a case of if Ronaldo doesn’t score, Portugal don’t score.
Pick: Croatia AH0 @ 1.87 Bet Victor
