Portugal's place in the last 16 is already secure but Fernando Santos' side will know that any slip-ups against South Korea on Friday will almost certainly mean a knockout-tie against Brazil.
That should focus the minds of a Portugal side that have sound prospects of qualfying with a one hundred per cent group record. Portugal are 19/20 favourites with Betfred which is a fair bit bigger than they would have been had they needed to win this game to qualify.
South Korea, who do need to win this and hope that Ghana don't beat Uruguary, are 11/4, while the draw is the same price.
Cristiano Ronaldo missed training earlier in the week and Portugal may be tempted to rest their star attacker with the knockout stages in mind but it can easily be argued that they are no less weaker when he doesn't start nowadays and it's not as if Portugal don't have multiple other goal threats in their side.
Bruno Fernandes, who scored two against Uruguay, might just fancy a dart at the Golden Boot and his prospects will increase plenty if he can get on any set pieces and penalties in the absence of Ronaldo.
South Korea have to go for broke and that will likely mean they need to take risks because nothing less than a win will do after taking just a single point from their opening two games.
They generated a huge shot count against Ghana after going two down before the interval but ultimately it wasn't enough and they weren't able to build on their solid opening point against Uruguay.
There is no doubt that they are capable of causing Portugal problems and another surprise result can't be ruled out, but the best way into this game from a betting point of view is to focus on the second period.
South Korea vs Portugal Prediction
There has been a huge disaprity been goals scored in the second half of games so far in this tournament compared to the first half so that looks a tempting way into a game that could again burst into life in the second period.
With Korea needing to take risks, Portugal might jusy be able to pick them off on the counter attack late on so the most appealing option is the Draw/Portugal HT/FT selection, which can be backed at 7/2.
It's a bet that has been successful in both of Portugal's fixtures so far in this group and the clean sweep is entirely possible.
South Korea vs Portugal prediction: Draw/Portugal (HT/FT) - 7/2
South Korea - Argentina Odds with Betfred
- South Korea - 11/4
- Draw - 11/4
- Portugal - 19/20
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