Ireland vs Portugal Prediction: Irish can restrict CR7 and co to a single goal

Ireland host Portugal in their group’s fifth World Cup qualifier with a kick-off time of 19:45 on Thursday night, live on Amazon Prime PPV.     

Jamie Pacheco talks you through the team news, form, and his tips ahead of this one, where he thinks Portugal will struggle to score more than once, meaning under 1.5 Portugal goals is a solid bet at 7/4You can check out his Ireland vs Portugal Predictions below...   

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Match Preview

Ireland  

The bad news is that Ireland won't be topping the table and going to the World Cup.   

Not that that's any big surprise when you consider that Portugal are consistently one of the strongest sides in international football and remarkably consistent in qualifying campaigns.  

But Ireland are certainly not out of the race for a runner-up spot and the Playoff tie that would come with that.  

They're currently third and just one point behind Hungary after four games. They'll hope that Armenia does them a favour against Hungary, but that's somewhat unlikely. What they do need to make sure of is getting at least a point here.  

If they don't and Hungary win in the meantime, it's all over regarding the Irish campaign. But a point or a win and they'll at least have something to play for against Hungary on Sunday.  

Key striker Evan Ferguson has been ruled out with injury, so Johnny Kenny has been called up.  

Portugal  

Portugal have already qualified after securing three wins from four, that draw coming against Hungary.  

But there's rarely any letting up with this side and Roberto Martinez will be keen to carry on his quest to find the best XI he can field at next year's World Cup.  

Most of the usual suspects are there in the squad, starting, of course, with Cristiano Ronaldo.  Joao Cancelo, formerly of Manchester City, returns after injury.  

The big news is the inclusion of 21-year-old Carlos Forbs, who plays for FC Brugge and scored twice in the Champions League against Barcelona, no less. But he'll have to wait his turn, and maybe not be involved at all in this one. 

As ever, there's an embarrassment of riches for Martinez to choose from, particularly in midfield.   

The brilliant left-back Nuno Mendes is injured.  

For all of our World Cup Odds and Betting Markets - please head on over to that section on betfred.com  

Match Odds:

Ireland put in a really gutsy performance away in Portugal, losing 1-0 to a late Ruben Neves goal from a corner, after working so hard for a point all game. They did admittedly dodge a bullet 15 minutes from time when CR7 had  a penalty saved, and it was obviously Portugal with the bulk of the possession, but it was still a strong show from the Irish.  

Portugal are 1/3 here, implied probability of 75%. Ireland is a big-looking 17/2 (10.5%) with the draw 9/2, 18.2%.  

Despite their superiority in just about every area of the field, that's a short enough price about a Portugal side who can often be a bit sluggish against physical opposition away from home. Take their 0-0 draw as heavy favourites against Scotland just over a year ago away from home.  

The draw would certainly be my pick in this market, but we can do better than that.  

*You can check out all of our Ireland vs Portugal Odds on our betting market over on betfred.com

Away team Goals  

To me this has all the makings of a low-scoring slow burner with Ireland desperate to not lose it and Portugal not busting a gut to get a win they don't need.  

As stated already, Portugal can struggle on the road against aggressive opposition, and that at least is something Ireland can provide. Some early tackles, a few niggly fouls and loud crowd support can put Portugal off their game and they may not have it all their own way here.   

One thing is for sure: if they do score before say the 70th minute, they'll be in no rush to go in search of a second. Under 1.5 away goals, bringing plausible scores 0-0, 1-1 and 1-0 Portugal into the equation, looks the way to go at 7/4.  

Player to score anytime  

If we're right about Portugal not scoring many (and that Ireland may well not score at all), then this isn't the best market to play. But for what it's worth, we'll go through some prices that catch the eye.  

Ronaldo is just 4/6 to score anytime, what we'd expect, while Bruno Fernandes and Francisco Trincao are both 7/4, with preference going to the latter (if he starts) as he plays much further up the pitch. Full-backs Diogo Dalot (10/1) and João Cancelo (13/2) pop up with the occasional goal and those look like decent prices.  

For Ireland, Troy Parrott (4/1) and Adam Idah (18/5) are seen as the most likely to score.  

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Jamie Pacheco Football P/L 2025 (Excludes 3-3-3 column):  

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• Current P/L: +2.73   

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket and European Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out his Football Betting Tips, along with those from the rest of the team, at our Football hub page...