4 reasons Portugal will beat Sweden in FIFA World Cup play-off

On Friday, Portugal will take on Sweden in Lisbon in the first leg of the World Cup play-off. The match pits two of world football’s biggest superstars, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, against one another. While that means the matches will no doubt be entertaining to watch, it also means that only one of the two will feature in the World Cup next year.

The potential result of the play-off has many fans divided, while some are lamenting the fact that both of them won’t be at Brazil next year. That being said, let’s take a look at why Portugal might be considered favourtites for this match:

1) Home advantage for the first leg – The first leg of the play-off will be played in Lisbon, and Portugal will no doubt look to build on their home advantage in order to try and get an upper hand for the second leg. Playing at home means they will have the backing of their home crowd and will perform with less restraints than they would had the first leg been an away fixture for them. They will no doubt look to score a couple of goals and then see out the game and the next leg as well.

2) Ronaldo‘s current form – Both Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo have been in flying form of late; however, the alarming regularity with which Ronaldo has been finding the back of the net means he is currently in better form than Zlatan. That might not seem like much, but both are their teams star players and will look to be at their best for these two matches in order to better their nation’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup. Ronaldo in his current run of form has tormented some of the best defences in Europe; Sweden will do very well to keep him quiet.

3) Zlatan can be outmarked – On his day, Zlatan is unplayable as he can both terrorise defences as well as trouble goalkeepers. However, he can be outmarked. If he is denied space to work in, Sweden’s game plan will basically be useless as the one man they will always look to target will be in no position to recieve the ball. Ronaldo is a lot harder to pin down in that sense as he is constantly moving and while a lot hinges on him, he won’t always be the target . However, the same can’t be said about Zlatan.

4) Portugal have a more balanced squad – The current Portugal side, while not full to the brim with superstars, isn’t as poor as many think they are. In Bruno Alves and Pepe they have two centre-backs capable of dealing with threats and in players like Joao Moutinho, Miguel Veloso and Raul Meireles, they have midfielders who offer some very different threats. Nani can be inconsistent but is hard to beat on his day. Postiga and Almeida aren’t impact players but can score a few goals, and in Bruma they have a very explosive young player, should they choose to deploy him. Sweden’s squad isn’t terrible, but lacks the same balance.