Kick-off: 1600, 24/11/2022
Stadium: Stadium 974
TV: ITV
Portugal are competing at their sixth successive World Cup finals and start their Group H campaign as hot favourites to beat Ghana, who came within a whisker of reaching the last four in 2010.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Co had to come through the play-offs to qualify for Qatar, beating Turkey and North Macedonia having finished runners-up to Serbia in the group stage.
The 2016 European champions are not a team that tends to win heavily, so we’ll go with a win for the group favourites and under 3.5 goals at 22/25 as our opening Portugal vs Ghana prediction.
Portugal Odds
Portugal remain unbeaten in their four games against African opposition at the finals, with one of their three victories coming against Ghana during the group stage in Brazil eight years ago.
Then, Ronaldo scored the winner 10 minutes from time for a 2-1 victory, but neither side qualified for the knockout stage, as the United States advanced on goal difference.
Fernando Santos’ men will need a marked improvement from their qualifying campaign if they are to make it to the last 16 for the fourth time in five appearances, having won five of their eight group games.
That included a remarkable late comeback victory against Republic of Ireland, courtesy of a Ronaldo double, and a goalless draw in Dublin.
They also conceded first in a 3-1 win in Luxembourg, while this year’s Nations League proved frustrating, with three clean-sheet victories ruined by 1-0 losses to Switzerland and Spain which saw them pipped to top spot by La Roja.
However, a squad containing a wealth of Premier League stars such as Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes and Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix should have too much for Ghana, even if an injury to Liverpool ace Diogo Jota was frustrating.
Ronaldo’s troubles at Manchester United which saw his contract terminated this week are not expected to prove a distraction and former Red Devils teammate Fernandes scored twice in a 4-0 warm-up win over Nigeria.
The Black Stars struggled for goals in their qualifying campaign and so a 1-0 win for the Selecao at 17/4 in the Portugal vs Ghana odds makes the cut as one of our selections.
Ghana Odds
Ghana, who have former Newcastle, Norwich and Brighton manager Chris Hughton as a technical adviser, were comfortably the lowest scorers of the 10 nations that made it through to the third and final round in African qualifying, finding the net just seven times.
Indeed, only once did Otto Addo’s side score more than once throughout their whole campaign, so it’s clear where their problems lie ahead of their opener in Doha.
They only finished ahead of South Africa on goals scored during the group stage and required the away goals rule to edge out Nigeria in the third round, so it’s understandable they are outsiders with South Korea to reach the round of 16, well behind Portugal and Uruguay.
As poor as they have been up front, their defence has been watertight and in Thomas Partey they have one of the best holding midfielders in the business.
Persuading Athletic Bilbao midfielder Inaki Williams to switch allegiance from Spain could also prove a major coup, while last week’s 2-0 friendly success versus Switzerland in Abu Dhabi was a boost to morale.
They will prove tough to break down and 8/5 for a goalless first half is the last of our Portugal vs Ghana betting tips.
Additional stats
Head-to-head: Portugal 2-1 Ghana
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