World Cup predictions: Portugal vs. Switzerland match has a live underdog

Portugal’s path to the World Cup Round of 16 looks fine at first glance. Fernando Santos’ side defeated Ghana, 3-2, in their first match and beat Uruguay, 2-0, in their second, which punched their ticket to the knockout stages and also afforded the Portuguese the luxury of resting key players in their match against South Korea.

Thus, it isn’t a huge concern that Portugal fell to South Korea, 2-1, in a match that they had very little at stake.

Switzerland, meanwhile, played an emotional, high-stakes match against one of their rivals, Serbia, to close out the group stage. The Rossocrociati defeated Serbia, 3-2, in an impressive performance and now find themselves as +192 underdogs to get through to the quarterfinals.

Can the Swiss knock out Cristiano Ronaldo and co.?

This generation of Switzerland is known for its defensive organization and ability to hang around in matches against some of the elite European teams. The Swiss won’t beat themselves.

Switzerland showed that skillset in an upset against France at last summer’s Euros and it carried over into their first two matches at the World Cup, but Friday’s performance against Serbia had more excitement to it than your normal Rossocrociati victory. The Swiss were open, they were creative and they let their skill — rather than will — shine through. Switzerland scored three goals and created 2.7 xG against Serbia, putting their group-stage total at 4.4 xG in three matches.

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If their performance against Serbia showed off some offensive panache, Switzerland’s 1-0 loss to Brazil was a strong reminder that it can still defend against some of the elite teams in the competition. Even though they ended up losing, the Swiss conceded just one expected goal and didn’t allow Brazil to find the back of the net until the 83rd minute.

Portugal’s got plenty of offensive flair, but they’re not as dangerous as Brazil, nor do they seem to be in the best defensive form. The Portuguese allowed four goals and 3.9 xG in the group stage, despite two of those matches coming against South Korea and Ghana.

You could argue that, even though they topped the group, Portugal have yet to really have a strong performance in Qatar. They were lucky to not draw against Ghana, they rode some good luck against Uruguay and their ‘B-squad’ blew a lead against South Korea.

Portugal had plenty of questions surrounding its potential coming into this match and they haven’t answered them yet.

The Swiss are a live underdog on Tuesday and could throw a wrench into the bracket against a paper tiger.

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