World Cup Portugal v Uruguay tips: La Celeste looking to keep Ronaldo quiet
- Sergiu Baltuta
- 28 November 2022
Portugal and Uruguay complete the second round of group stage matches at Lusail Iconic Stadium on Monday evening, and Tipstrr’s football expert Sergiu Baltuta has been weighing up their prospects.
Cristiano Ronaldo memorably became the first player in history to score at five different tournaments, albeit his penalty was only his eighth World Cup goal, three of which have come from the spot, with all of them coming during the group stages.
Portugal are looking to kick off their World Cup bid with back-to-back wins for only the third time, and it's worth noting that the two previous times they managed to do that (1966 and 2006) they went on to reach the semi-finals.
To do so they must buck a trend that has seen them win just one of their nine encounters with South American opposition (drawn three, lost five) and that came in a 1-0 friendly win against Argentina in 2014.
But their defensive solidity disguises a major problem for the South Americans, which is their lack of cutting edge at the other end of the pitch.
Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani both scored at each of the last three World Cups, but they are 35 years old now, and cannot be expected to carry the load up front, and with Suarez replacing Cavani in the opening game, it appears that we are unlikely see them operating in tandem.
That puts extra responsibility on the younger shoulders of Darwin Nunez, who barely had a sniff against Korea and indeed, the Liverpool striker had fewer touches (34) of all the outfield players to complete the full 90 minutes.
Head coach Diego Alonso will perhaps need to change his team's shape and mindset to allow his quality midfielders like Valverde, Vecino and Betancur more creative licence going forward to give those strikers the kind of service they thrive upon.
This game will be a repeat of their last-16 clash in 2018, and Uruguay will be hoping for the same outcome, when a Cavani brace secured a narrow 2-1 victory.
That was one of four wins that Uruguay have enjoyed in their last five encounters with European opposition. Factor in Portugal's failure to keep a clean sheet in eight of their last nine World Cup games and the odds of a Uruguay win appear overpriced - if they can find their killer touch in the final third.
