Portugal’s World Cup efforts were far from inspiring, the only highlight being a 7-0 thrashing of the hapless North Korea, and they face no easy task topping Group H en route to Poland/Ukraine.
A quite remarkable 4-4 draw with Cyprus in Guimaraes on Friday night was far from the ideal start to Portugal’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign and they will once again be without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday. The Real Madrid winger’s absence from the clash in Oslo will boost the hosts and I’m not sure how Portugal are no bigger than 2.38 with he fixed odds firms to resume winning ways.
With an above average Denmark side and Iceland completing the section, each game will be fiercely competitive and a win in the Norwegian capital is certainly no forgone conclusion. Norway themselves got off to the best possible start on Friday, winning 2-1 in Reykjavik thanks to a late Mohammed Abdellaoue strike, and not many sides win in at the Ullevaal Stadion.
Portugal’s strength prior to South Africa had been their defensive solidity and that was further underlined at the finals. Only David Villa’s second round strike found its way beyond the excellent Ricardo Carvalho and his defensive chums in four matches and therefore shipping four to Cyprus would have alarmed acting coach Agostinho Oliveira.
Oliveria currently stands in for the suspended Carlos Queiroz and knows he has his work cut out against a Norway side in decent from. The evergreen Egil Olsen has seen his side beat Switzerland, Slovakia and France in the last 12 months, all before that crucial win over Iceland on Friday, and Norway will be relying on impressive home form as they seek their first major finals appearance since Euro 2000.
Marshalled excellently at the back by Fulham’s Brede Hangeland, Norway have never been prolific, even with star striker Steffen Iversen still going strong, but they are difficult to beat and Portugal, who seem like a side regressing to me, will need to be at their best to triumph.
There is not doubt that the visitors possess the better individuals, new Liverpool midfielder Raul Meireles caught the eye in the summer, but they really struggle for goals against the better nations and Norway have conceded no more than once in their previous ten internationals.
At odds against, I cannot turn down the chance to back Norway in the draw no bet market safe in the knowledge that we’ll get our money back if the sides are level after 90 minutes and the wager has little downside. It pays 2.20 with a number of frims and the price is only going one way.
3pts Back Norway Draw no Bet (vs. Portugal) @ 2.20 (various)