Soccer Euro 2012 Free Premium Play 06/21: Portugal vs Czech Republic

Euro 2012 - Quarter Finals - Portugal vs Czech Republic

I think there is a considerable gap of quality between these two teams. Although this is a matchup between the winner of group A against the second placed in group B note that both teams ended up the group stage with 6 points, besides the fact that there is a huge difference: the quality of the opponents! 

Czech Republic faced Russia who is ranked #13 in the FIFA World Ranking, then they faced the #15 Greece and finally they defeated the host Poland who is ranked at #62! On the other hand, the Portuguese team was placed on the “group of death” for some reason because Germany (#3), Netherlands (#4) and Denmark (#9) are all in the top 10, so the path for this quarter finals contest was completely different, with Portugal having a much tougher task to do during the group stage.

In terms of matchups analysis, I think that Portugal has some substantial advantages all over the field. The right side of the Czech Republic is their most dangerous weapon with Gebre Selassie and Jiracek doing some nice combinations and run over the field. The problem is that this side will be limited today because they will face Cristiano Ronaldo and Fabio Coentrao. If they keep advancing on the field like they did in the last 2 games, then the Portuguese left wing will have space and we all know that this is likely to be the best left side in the competition. I don’t think this is going to happen because these two Czech’s players will be more conservative today, but this will limit Czech Republic’s offense that is already limited without Rosicky. 

Czech Republic was able to bounce back after a terrible defeat against Russia in the inaugural game. The key was for that was inserting Tomáš Hübschman in the midfield to play alongside with Václav Pilař. Then, a third midfielder would join them to control the middle of the pitch, with Rosicky being the first choice, but now due to injury it's Daniel Kolář who is playing on this area. That worked well against a slow footed Greek midfield and against Poland who lacks creativity on their midfield unit. But this won’t work today against Portugal and their dynamic trio in the midfield constituted by Moutinho, Meireles and Veloso. 

Portugal has a great defensive unit and with the edge on the midfield, I expect them to advance to the semi finals today with a comfortable win over Czech Republic.

Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on Portugal ML @ -134 / 1.746 on Pinnacle