The fast and furious nature of the Confederations Cup has meant we have reached the crunch stage of the tournament a lot quicker than we might have and on Saturday afternoon we will lose the first two teams from the competition.
Usually we would preview each match individually but an unexpected turn of events on Friday meant that we are a little shorter of time than we would like so for this match day only we will cover both in one preview.
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Mexico vs Russia
This is without doubt the big match of the day. Mexico go into the clash a point ahead of Russia and know a draw will see them through. Russia have a win and a defeat to their name in this competition and they must win here if they are going to progress to the semi-finals.
Mexico have looked great in attack in this tournament but in both matches they have looked very weak defensively and only a combination of snatched chances and good saves from their goalkeeper kept New Zealand to one goal.
I’ve actually been impressed with Russia in this tournament. They eased past New Zealand as they were expected to do and then gave Portugal a hard time in a narrow defeat. If they can find a ruthless streak in this contest they might extend their stay at their own party a touch longer.
I fancy goals in this match. I don’t think either side are fantastic defensively and that might just be an understatement but at the same time the balance of the group aligns with goals in the game. Once one scores the other will need to take risks to stay in the tournament and we should get an open and relatively high scoring game as a result.
New Zealand vs Portugal
We know the fate of these two sides already in this group. New Zealand will be going home after this match while Portugal will be playing a semi-final. Should Portugal win this by more than a goal they will be playing the runner up of the other group in the last four too.
New Zealand were much improved against Mexico last time out although to be fair they couldn’t really be any worse than they were against Russia but this is a whole different ball game against the European champions with so much depth in their squad that they will be strong even if they rest a few.
Portugal boss Fernando Santos hasn’t revealed whether Ronaldo will play in this match but it makes absolutely no sense for him to do so and even were he to be on the pitch at any stage you wouldn’t think it would be for the entire 90. Portugal are giving up a couple of goals on the Asian line and while I think that line is fair I don’t fancy taking it against a side who can play with complete freedom before they exit the tournament.
This has the feel of the sort of match that strange things can happen in but Bernando Silva scoring anytime wouldn’t be at all strange and the new Man City man looks overpriced at 2/1 to notch here.
Tips
WON – Back Mexico vs Russia – Over 2.25 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with Unibet
Back it here:
WON – Back B.Silva Anytime Scorer for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Titanbet
Back him here:
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