Portugal vs France Betting Tips

These two teams, slightly surprisingly, have only played twice during the last decade. At the 2006 World Cup, France beat Portugal 1-0 on their way to advancing to the World Cup Final, and then in a friendly in October 2014, which France won 2-1.

Portugal appear to have righted the ship after a frustrating couple of years in international football. They suffered a shock disappointment when they exited at the group stages of the 2014 World Cup ending a run of relatively impressive performances in major international tournaments.

However, they’re not likely to have complete focus in this tie. They’ve got an extremely important Euro 2016 qualifying tie against Albania on Monday and just two more games to play in October after that. They’ve also not performed especially well at home in friendlies in recent games winning just two of their last eight.

Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to earn his 121st international cap for the hosts, while William Carvlho will miss the tie through injury. Portugal’s manager Fernando Santos isn’t likely to risk key players though, he’ll be more interested in giving them a run through ahead of the game against Albania.

France haven’t had to worry about a long Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, but Dider Deschamps and the international squad will still need to work hard to meet the high expectations that are being set by their home fans.

They haven’t enjoyed a particularly good 2015 so far losing three out of four friendlies, including their last two against Belgium and Albania. It’s wrong to read too much into the results of friendly matches, but it’s all that “Les Bleus” have to go on right now.

New Man United teenager Anthony Martial is in the squad, but not expected to start. In general, Deschamps appears to have figured out his preferred lineup and most of the names in this side are now relatively familiar. Karim Benzema will lead the front line, while a lot of the attacks will be driven from midfield by the likes of Matuidi and Paul Pogba.

Three Reasons for Betting Tips

1. French motivation

It may not be a ‘big deal’, but France won’t want to lose a fourth friendly match in five attempts. They will want to start building momentum and a win away from home against Portugal would be exactly the type of momentum they need.

2. Portugal’s upcoming Euro contests

On the other hand, Portugal will have an eye on their upcoming games, in particular the clash with Albania on Monday. Beating France in a friendly is not a priority for a nation that is building to firstly get into Euro 2016, and then hopefully to make a deep run.

3. Portugal home form

Portugal’s home field advantage hasn’t looked as much like an advantage in their recent friendly schedule. We don’t think that it’ll be a factor here and that should aid French confidence.