Portugal vs. Sweden 15.11.2013 World Cup playoff

Arguably the pick of the 2014 World Cup playoffs in Europe is the meeting between Portugal and Sweden. The first leg takes place in Lisbon on Friday with Portugal priced up in red numbers to come out on top.

Portugal Update

Portugal are no strangers when it comes to running the gauntlet of the playoffs to reach the finals of a major tournament and in the qualifying group they finished as runners up, one point behind Russia. Their start was again responsible for failing to book an automatic ticket as although they began with wins against two minnows, a defeat in Russia, draw at home to Northern Ireland and a 3-3 thriller away in Israel saw them playing catch up. They won three and drew two of five home fixtures but dropped points against both the Irish and Israel on home soil which had many favourite backers licking their wounds.  

Sweden Update

In some way's Sweden qualifying campaign followed a similar pattern to their playoff opponents. They were always going to battle to keep group winners Germany in range but they won key games against Ireland and Austria as the group drew to a close which saw them finish in second spot. Their two most notable qualifiers came against the Germans, a 4-4 draw away from home where they came back from 4-0 down and a 5-3 home defeat where they relinquished a 2-0 lead.

Head to Head

The teams last met in a qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup Finals. Both group matches finished 0-0 and Portugal finished as runners up (to Denmark) before coming through the play offs whilst Sweden finished third in the group and missed out completely.

The Betting, Match Result

Portugal 0.73 BetXchange

Draw 11/4 Sportingbet

Sweden 4/1 Sportingbet

Selected Others

Under 2.5 goals 15/20 Sportingbet, World Sports Betting

Over 2.5 goals 21/20 World Sports Betting, MBet

Both teams to score (no) 7/10 BetXchange, World Sports Betting, Hollywood, MBet

Both teams to score (yes) 11/10 BetXchange

Total goal bands 2-3, 10/11 Sportingbet, World Sports Betting

Note, odds are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change. Not all bookmakers had priced up at the time of writing and many more markets are available.