Group B of UEFA World Cup qualifying hasn't had a heck of a lot of drama to it over the course of the last year and a half. Portugal and Switzerland have run roughshod over the rest of this group and have the maximum eight wins against the other teams in the home-and-home series. The Swiss were able to beat the Portuguese when these two teams met 368 days ago. Now, Portugal will have to win the rematch on Tuesday if it wants to avoid falling into the home-and-home playoff for Europe's last spots to the world's biggest soccer tournament.
Don't miss the World Cup Qualifying action from Estadio da Luz at 2:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday, October 10, 2017. Catch every moment of the match live on FOX Sports 1.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Portugal -180
Switzerland +450
Draw +280
Over/Under 2.5
Odds Analysis
Portugal has outscored the other four teams in Group B by an aggregate score of 30-2. Unfortunately for it, the other two goals that it allowed were both against the Swiss. Goal differential isn't going to make a difference here for A Seleccao, thus making the math simple. Win and the Portuguese are onto the World Cup. A draw or a loss, and it's off to the European playoff as the top second place team on the continent.
That's why there's no sense in leaving anything on the pitch in this one. Cristiano Ronaldo only played half the match against Andorra on Saturday, scoring the goal that proved to be the game-winner. You can bet he'll be out there for the full 90 minutes in this one. That's why the Portuguese are set at -180 to win this match.
How They Got Here
There isn't much to say bad about either of these teams in qualifying.
To Switzerland's credit, it has really done a nice job hanging in there every step of the way even though it hasn't been favored by nearly the same wide margins that Portugal has been against every other team in this group. The Swiss had a close call at home against Latvia, but aside from that, most of the matches have been put away rather easily. The 23-5 goal differential would look stellar, save for the fact that it's next to Portugal's 30-4 mark.
The Portuguese haven't been made to sweat at all. Their only one-goal match came at Hungary, a duel back in September that was dominated from start to finish.
The only blunder came against Switzerland. The Swiss deserved their three points in their 2-0 victory in Basel way back in the first match day of qualifying. They scored twice within six minutes in the first half, first getting a strike from Breel Emobol, then from Admir Mehmedi.
Free Soccer Betting Pick
Portugal doesn't come up with substandard results here at home all that often, but this might be a day where the math doesn't add up properly.
This Switzerland team does a fantastic job of holding the ball through the midfield and playing with extreme purpose. Granit Xhaka, Xherdan Shaqiri and Blerim Dzemaili have been out of this world in qualifying, and if these are the three that are lining the midfield again on Tuesday night, we foresee good things happen.
Though we would recommend taking Switzerland and the Asian Handicap, we think there's room for an upset, merely due to the fact that Portugal has no choice but to push forward in the end. We could be one breakdown in possession away from the Swiss being on a fantastic break that could break the hearts of the Portuguese faithful who are hoping to celebrate a World Cup bid on Tuesday.
World Cup Qualifying Odds: Switzerland 1, Portugal 0
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