Germany v Portugal: More second-half goals among best bets
Published:We’ve already witnessed one massive shock in the opening exchanges of this World Cup as holders Spain were humbled by fellow Group B heavyweights Holland. So what to expect from this Group G mega clash?
Ladbrokes have understandably labelled the Germans, who’ve reached at least the semis of the last three editions, as 23/20 favourites for victory, with Portugal at 13/5 and the draw a 9/4 chance.
As you can see, the bookies are finding it a difficult result to call as are we, so below we’ve offered three alternatives to turn a profit from this stellar match-up.
None of Germany’s last three games have witnessed a goal at either end before half time, though Joachim Low’s last friendly against Armenia saw no fewer than seven fly in after the break – six for his own side.
Although the pace of friendly football could be to blame, this pattern was repeated in their last four qualifiers as
well.
This bet would also have landed in all of Portugal’s last five games which saw any goals.
So far this has been the World Cup of goals and who’s to say this one will be any less entertaining.
Although Germany shaded the last encounter by a single goal at Euro 2012, the same caution could have been applied to the Spain game after their last meeting with Holland.
Only the Dutch outscored Germany in the UEFA section of qualifying while they’ve averaged virtually 2.5 goals per game from their last 11 internationals.
Meanwhile Paulo Bento’s Portugal side have twice hit five goals in a game during their last four internationals.
Naturally it would be easy to tip up a certain Cristiano Ronaldo to get on the scoresheet but there are others on either side offering far better value than the Ballon d’Or winner.
One such is Bayern Munich midfielder Mario Gotze. Although Gotze has often been used as a substitute by Low an injury to Marco Reus pre tournament should see him elevated to the starting line-up.
Gotze notched twice in his last appearance off the bench – making it four in his last seven for his nation and nine in 29 caps overall.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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