Soccer Odds: Portugal, Chile in Confederations Cup Semi
Portugal (+138) vs Chile (+200), Draw (+225)
Portugal and Chile will meet in Kazan, Russia on Wednesday (June 28th) for the semifinal of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. It’s a battle between the Euro ‘16 winners and the Copa América Centenario champs.
At their best, Chile is one of the most exciting teams in world football. Their fast-paced, high-energy style of play can tear up opponents. But when it goes wrong, they’re left dangerously over-exposed. That’s what happened on Sunday (June 25th) when they faced Australia, a team they were expected to easily defeat.
Australia opened the scoring and Chile were pretty fortunate to walk away with a draw. The Aussies had quite a few chances to snatch the three points but squandered every opportunity. Chile have the oldest squad in the Confederations Cup and it’s starting the show. After three games in the span of a week, the Chileans appeared fatigued and sluggish. That’s a little worrying considering that they only have two rest days before the Portugal match.
Arturo Vidal, 30, is the engine behind the Chilean side and Alexis Sánchez, 28, is the man spearheading the attack. They’ve done a great job so far, but the heavy workload is definitely taking its toll on the aging players.
Portugal played their last group game on Saturday (June 24th), comfortably beating New Zealand 4-0. Many of their star players are also hitting retirement age as well — Pepe (34), Nani (30), and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo (32). But they also have a bunch of promising young players coming up through the ranks. There’s Man City’s Bernardo Silva, AC Milan’s André Silva, and Barca’s André Gomes.
For what it’s worth, the FIFA World Rankings puts Chile at fourth and Portugal at eighth. That could be something to take into consideration, but right now Portugal definitely appears to be the stronger team. They have a lot more depth in their line-up and their players will be better-rested by Wednesday.
Portugal isn’t the most entertaining team to watch, but they’re undoubtedly effective. If last year’s Euro taught us anything, it’s that the Portuguese side can struggle their way through anything.
Pick: Portugal (+138)
Don Aguero is a man of many talents, writing about nearly anything you can put odds to. Don has been writing for SportsBettingDime since 2015, covering sports, entertainment and politics. You name it, he's covered it! He is also a steadfast West Ham fan, and has learned to embrace that suffering.
