Euro Betting – Upstart Iceland Battle Ronaldo, Portugal
Portugal (-180) vs Iceland (+625), Draw (+290)
Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal will start their Euro 2016 journey this Tuesday when they take on first-timer Iceland at the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard in Saint-Étienne in a Group F matchup (3:00 PM Eastern).
Portugal received what looks like a favorable draw and are the favorite to win Group F, which also features Austria and Hungary. Portugal are 17/20 favorites, while Austria is second at 2/1, Iceland third at 6/1, and Hungary fourth at 12/1.
Portuguese fans will hope that Cristiano Ronaldo can have the same impact for the national team that he does every week with Real Madrid. He finished as the top scorer in the 2015-16 Champions League, leading Real to its 11th title. He won’t be surrounded by quite the same talent when he takes the pitch with Portugal, though Ricardo Quaresma and Nani are talented players that will take some of the pressure off of Ronaldo.
Impressively, Portugal have played in every Euro since 1996 and qualified for the knockout stage each time. Four years ago, they reached the semifinals, losing to eventual champions Spain on penalties.
Iceland is obviously a tiny nation, and one that’s inexperienced on this type of stage; nonetheless, they can’t be overlooked. They finished second in their qualifying group, which also featured the Czech Republic, Turkey, and the Netherlands. They won six of their ten matches in qualification (6-2-2), including a historic 1-0 win over the Dutch in Amsterdam, which played a huge role in keeping the Netherlands out of the main draw.
Portugal and Iceland were grouped together in the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Portugal took both matches back then, winning 5-3 at home and 3-1 on the road. This Iceland team is markedly better and will give Ronaldo and company a stiffer test, but Portugal have a lot more top-end talent and should prevail. Look for Ronaldo to be a difference maker, even though he often struggles while wearing the national team kit.
Pick: Portugal (-180).
(Photo Credit: Ludovic Péron (Own work) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
