Group H gets underway in Qatar on Thursday and we take a look at the two matches from a betting angle.
Portugal are the shortest price of the group currently trading at 14/1 to win the tournament with Uruguay 40/1, the Republic of Korea 250/1 and Ghana 300/1.
Looking at the betting to win Group H, Portugal are 4/6 favourites ahead of Uruguay at 15/8, Republic of Korea 10/1 and Ghana 12/1.
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URUGUAY v REPUBLIC OF KOREA
URUGUAY
Uruguay left it late in their qualification group for the World Cup, but they won their last 4 matches to book their spot in the finals. They were some distance behind Argentina and Brazil who finished above them in that qualification group.
They were impressive in the World Cup in 2018, but eventually went down to France in the quarter-finals. Their last outing was a friendly International against Canada back in September when they won 2-0.
THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA
The Republic of Korea finished runners-up in their qualifying group to Iran, but that was enough to see them into the finals. They failed to make the knock-out stages in 2018 and they warmed up for this Tournament with a 1-0 victory over Iceland a couple of weeks back.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
These sides last played in a friendly International in 2018 with the Republic of Korea winning 2-1.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Uruguay 8/10
Draw 5/2
Republic of Korea 4/1
Suggested Bet: Uruguay win at 8/10
I am sticking with a straight win bet on this game as I feel like Uruguay could be dark horses for the Tournament and if you look at how Iran performed against England in their opening game, the fact that they finished above Korea in qualification has me thinking that Uruguay are a solid bet to win the opening fixture.
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PORTUGAL v GHANA
PORTUGAL
Portugal finished runners-up to Serbia in their qualification group and that meant they had to come through the playoffs. They saw off Turkey and North Macedonia to ensure that they would take their place in Qatar 2022.
Much was expected of them in the 2018 World Cup and although they qualified 2nd in their group they were bundled out of the Tournament by Uruguay in the last 16. Portugal warmed up for this Tournament with a 4-0 victory over Nigeria last week.
GHANA
Ghana topped their qualification group ahead of South Africa and they then squeezed through against Nigeria in the playoffs courtesy of the away goal rule. They failed to make it into the knock-out stages of AFCON earlier this year and didn’t qualify for Russia in 2018.
Ghana looked impressive in their last warm-up game with a 2-0 victory over fellow World Cup finalists, Switzerland.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
These sides met in the World Cup in 2014 where Portugal won 2-1.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Portugal 4/10
Draw 15/4
Ghana 8/1
Suggested Bet: Over 2.5 goals at 19/20
This is actually one of the group matches I am really looking forward to as I think we are going to see plenty of action and I suspect that Ghana are just being that bit under-estimated by the bookmakers.
My main bet will be that we get 3 goals or more in the game, but I am also going to have a speculative flutter on Ghana to lead at half-time and Portugal to come back and win the match at odds of 30/1.
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Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
