Colombia vs Portugal Prediction: Back Bruno for a Goal Involvement

Portugal recovered from that disappointing 1-1 draw first up to beat Uzbekistan 5-0, while Colombia have won their opening two games and are already in the next round.  

But this match will have a huge bearing on who plays who in the Last 32 and Jamie Pacheco likes bets on a player from each side to do their thing in forward areas. BBC One will the broadcast for the 00:30 kick-off in the early hours on Sunday morning...

2026 World Cup

Group K

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Form
1	Colombia	2	2	0	0	4	1	3	6	W W
2	Portugal	2	1	1	0	6	1	5	4	D W
3	DR Congo	2	0	1	1	1	2	-1	1	D L
4	Uzbekistan	2	0	0	2	1	8	-7	0	L L

View All Groups

Remember you can check out all of the live World Cup Odds over on betfred.com

Portugal  

After the horror show in that 1-1 draw against DR Congo, Portugal hit back with a 5-0 win over Uzbekistan that was a reminder that an excellent team doesn't become a bad one overnight, or after just one under-par performance.  

Cristiano Ronaldo scored two to somewhat silence the critics after a quiet game in the first match, but he'll face far better opponents than the ones he did on Tuesday as the tournament progresses, and that will be the acid test.  

One notable difference in this last one was the decision to play João Félix as one of the front three rather than Bernardo Silva.  

Silva is an excellent player as we all know but lacks the pace to be much of a threat on that right side, while others can do the same job he can in terms of keeping possession. So he looks the odd one out at the moment, with either João Félix or Rafa Leao, who scored a good goal after coming on, the two in contention for that role.   

Colombia  

Two matches, two wins. While Portugal were going from bad to beautiful, Colombia were quietly racking up the two wins that mean they have something of a free pass in this one rather than leaving themselves in a position where they needed something from their third, and toughest, match.  

Their hero from the other day in that 1-0 win over DR Congo was Daniel Muñoz, perhaps not the most obvious candidate to get the winner from right wing-back, but he's a real class act as Crystal Palace fans will testify to. He scored five goals for the Eagles during the season and had already scored in the game before against Uzbekistan, so Portugal will need to keep an eye on him and his runs because he's a real threat.  

As is Luis Diaz, of course, a live wire whose pace may trouble Portugal's back four and another who had an excellent season at club level with Bayern Munich.   

Another Luis, this one of the Suarez variety, had a prolific season at Sporting but hasn't yet got going. James Rodriguez leads the side but has looked a bit off the pace so far.  

Colombia vs Portugal Odds

Portugal are 5/6, Colombia 10/3 and the draw 5/2.  

It's hard to argue with any of those prices. What we do know is that Portugal will want to win this match and try to be on the slightly easier side of the draw. 

But they'll have to balance that out with not wanting to play certain players for three matches in a row with the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Nuno Mendes and João Neves having already done a lot of running.  

Either way, there's not much we like here so we'll leave it alone.  

Player 1+ Shots on Target  - Daniel Munoz @ 3/1  

The fact that we highlighted Munoz's contribution earlier should be a clue to him being featured here.  

He's been pretty much their most active and dangerous player from right wing-back and in addition to having a chance he should have scored from the other day, he had also scored earlier in the game, only for it to be ruled offside.  

But that's two goals in two games and with Colombia so keen to get the ball to him in forward positions, we think he's good for at least one shot on target at 3/1.  

Player To Score or Assist - Bruno Fernandes @ 23/20  

It's perhaps a bit of a surprise that when Portugal scored five goals the other day, Bruno Fernandes was only involved in one of them, the through ball that set up Ronaldo for his second. He also had a good shot saved, though, and as those who watch Portugal closely will know, he's a more influential figure than Ronaldo these days for the side.  

So with the potential to score or more likely, assist, we can't resist the 23/20 he does one or the other in a match where we'd certainly expect Portugal to score at least once.