Portugal Currently Small Favourite To Beat Ghana
Published on June 24th, 2014 7:11 pm ESTThe fate of Group G will be decided on Thursday when Portugal does battle with Ghana and the United States takes on Germany.
Germany is almost a certainty to qualify from the Group (they have a 99.7% chance of doing so), but the real interesting battle is for the runner-up position. Portugal, Ghana and the United States can all still qualify, though the United States is certainly in the driver's seat to do so.
Here are the current odds for the game between Portugal and Ghana:
Portugal, 2.25
Draw, 3.50
Ghana, 3.00
The over/under for 2.5 goals:
Under 2.5 Goals, 2.30
Over 2.5 Goals, 1.57
Here is the situation - Portugal and Ghana MUST win if they have a hope of advancing. Even with a victory, Portugal or Ghana advancing is far from a sure thing. Here is how the Group could play out:
For the United States to advance, they need to beat or draw with Germany. Even if they lose, the United States is still in the driver's seat due to goal differential.
For Ghana to advance, they need to defeat Portugal and have a two goal differential with the United States with a higher scoring 1 goal win. For instance, if the United States loses to Germany 1-0 and Ghana beats Portugal 2-1, Ghana will go through. If the US loses to Germany 1-0 and Ghana beats Portugal 1-0, the United States will go through.
For Portugal, things are even more dire. They need to beat Ghana and have the United States lose to Germany, but Portugal also needs to have a five goal differential with the USA. Portugal's four goal loss against Germany really sunk them and will make it extra difficult for Ronaldo and his team to advance.
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In short, you can likely expect a high scoring goal between Ghana and Portugal. Both teams need to win, and both teams need to score.
