On the way to the World Cup in Russia
Portugal formed Group B of the UEFA Qualifier, where they finished first, beating Switzerland, Hungary, the Faroe Islands, Lithuania and Andorra. The Lusitanians added 27 points in the 10 games played in the group, product of 9 wins and only one defeat, suffered in Switzerland 2-0. They finished with the same points as Switzerland, but through the amazing distinction of 28 goals, on 16 of the Swiss, managed to qualify directly to Russia, without the need to play the second round elimination.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the second best scorer of the European qualifier with 15 notes, only down the Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, who scored one more. Spain joined Group G, along with Italy, Albania, Israel, Macedonia and Liechtenstein, where they finished unbeaten reaching 28 points, product of 9 wins and a draw in their visit to Turin. This group was also characterized by leaving Italy in second place, having to play the second round of Play-offs, where it was eliminated.
Antecedents in World Cups
Portugal participated in 6 previous editions of the World Cup, where it has a third position, achieved in its first participation in England 1966, when they defeated the USSR 2-1. They were in the first round in the editions of Mexico 1986, Korea - Japan 2002 and in the last participation of Brazil 2014, edition where they fell 4-0 against Germany, tying 2-2 with USA and won 2-1 to Ghana, within the Group G.Spain has more experience in World Cups, since its debut in 1934, has participated in a total of 14 editions, resulting champion in South Africa 2010, when they beat the Netherlands in the final of Johannesburg, with solitary score of Andres Iniesta.
In this same edition, Portugal and Spain met in the Octavos de finals, where in a very close game the Spaniards managed to make a difference and win the game by the minimum difference of 1-0, leaving out the Lusitanians and continuing their road to the championship.
The last participation of Spain in the World Cup was within Group B of Brazil 2014, where he arrived as defending champion and fell 5-1 against the Netherlands, 2-0 against Chile, and managed to straighten the step with a 3-0 victory over Australia. on the third day, however, it was not enough, being eliminated in the first round.
Spain vs Portugal Betting
Portugal against Spain is one of the most anticipated matches of the first round, and is the first to appear on the calendar, after the opening match. They are high expectations of the fans to see Cristiano Ronaldo at his best, facing many of his teammates of Real Madrid and the country where he has established himself as one of the greatest stars of world football throughout history.
Spain has resumed a good football level in the last matches, which allowed it to qualify directly to Russia 2018, so it is expected a strong contender to overcome the group stage, however, will face a Portugal that maintains a safe way to consecrate European Champion in 2016, Third place in the 2017 Confederations Cup of Russia and will seek to maintain that good step in the world's highest football competition.
It is expected a very even meeting, perhaps with one or two goals per side, where it is possible that because they are the debut, they will opt for a conservative performance in order to obtain one point per side.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who remains as the top scorer of each competition in which he participates, will try to increase his performance obtained in the previous world championships, where he has only obtained 3 annotations in 3 editions.