World Cup Betting: Plenty of problems for Portugal to deal with
A poor qualifying campaign, a couple of key injuries and not getting the best out of Cristiano Ronaldo right now are just some of the problems Carlos Queiroz has to deal with, as if being in the “Group Of Death” wasn’t bad enough, says Ben Lyttleton. “But their qualifying campaign produced more questions than answers while Queiroz has clearly failed to win over his players who prefer the more laid-back approach of his predecessor Luiz Felipe Scolari. Fans even booed the team in their March friendly against China in Coimbra.” Benfica’s 1-0 win over Sporting Braga last weekend practically tied up the league title for them, set to be their first since 2005 and only one for 15 years. After coming from two goals down inside ten minutes to beat Assoaciao Naval 4-2 last night as well, Benfica are now six points clear with five games still to play and, after beating Liverpool 2-1 in the Europa League quarter-final first leg, they are ( 2.22 ) to reach the semis and ( 7.0 ) to lift the trophy. And so it comes as some surprise that the Portugal squad at this summer’s World Cup might not contain a single Benfica player in it: yes, much of the side is South American, and the world’s audience will be able to see talents like Angel di Maria (Argentina), Ramires (Brazil) and Oscar Cardozo (Paraguay) but there has been some head-scratching at coach Carlos Queiroz’s decision to ignore the claims of two key players
