After a short break between the domestic leagues finishing and the international summer beginning, focus turns towards the Nations League this week. We have two semi finals on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by the final on Sunday where the first ever Nations League champion will be crowned. Portugal are hosting the event after winning the bid and that is going to give them an advantage that they will be looking to use over the coming days.

In the second semi final, England face the Netherlands but the first game is the one that will attract the most attention in the host country. This is the game on Wednesday, the one we are going to focus on here and it is the game featuring Portugal, who are playing Switzerland. I think you can expect a lot of interest in this tournament, with little other football going off at the moment. Being the first final of this tournament will also help, as many will want to see how things work and which team battles their way to lifting the trophy first.

Portugal – How They Made The Semi Final

Portugal went through the group stages unbeaten, although that doesn’t really tell the full story of their games. They ended with two wins and two draws from their four matches at home and away to Italy and Poland, winning their first two then losing their last two. However, what they did was really struggle to score, and they were involved in low scoring games.

They ended the four games with just five goals scored and three conceded. While it is great that they were defensively tight enough to concede less than a goal per game, it is worth saying that they scored at just over one goal a game, and that is where they need to improve.

If there is one thing to question Portugal over it is their path to this stage. Drawing Italy and Poland gave them one of the easiest groups, and they have not really faced a real test for some time now. While Switzerland are a good team, they aren’t the biggest of challenges, so could they get away with that once again?

Switzerland – How They Made The Semi Final

The Swiss didn’t go through their group stage unbeaten, but did win three games, which is one more than Portugal. Their loss came to Belgium, who are one of the best teams in the world so there certainly was no shame in losing there. To qualify for this stage ahead of Belgium, even though they only did so on goal difference is a great achievement and if Switzerland can play in the same way here then they certainly have the ability to trouble Portugal.

Something that Switzerland offer that Portugal don’t is goal scoring, they scored 14 goals in their four round robin games to get here. Conceding five was a very good effort too, although with Iceland in the group they had two comfortable games against that opponent which certainly helped them score.

This is a dangerous team, and one that did very well to qualify above Belgium and get here. This is another big test, made even more difficult by the fact that Portugal have home advantage, but Switzerland shouldn’t be scared of what awaits them, and at their best they have a chance.

Portugal vs Switzerland Betting Tips

The first of two semi finals in the Nations League this week, with the winner progressing to Sunday’s final while the loser will have to take part in the 3rd/4th placed game on the same day. These two teams, along with England and the Netherlands are still involved, and one of them will have the privilege of lifting the Nations League trophy for the very first time.

I don’t actually think there is too much between these two teams in terms of quality, although there is a big difference in the way they play. Portugal are a team who think about defence first, which may be a little surprising to some considering they have Cristiano Ronaldo spearheading their attack, but as we saw in the group stage, that is exactly what they do. Their defence has played together for a while now, they are settled and hard to score against.

Switzerland are a little more expansive, they like to hold onto the ball and control play, which in turn creates them plenty of opportunities to score goals. I think the winner of this game will be decided on how the game is played, can Portugal close up the game and make it tight? If they do I think they win, or can Switzerland make this an end to end game with plenty of scoring chances, if they do then I think they win.

My pick is for Portugal to win the battle of the styles, and come out on top here. They have home advantage in the tournament, which is going to really help them and I think it will be the difference maker here. With someone like Ronaldo up top in attack, Portugal aren’t going to need many chances to score a goal, and by controlling the game and keeping things tight, they will ensure that neither team has many.

With the chance to win a competition on home soil, I’m backing Portugal to get off to a good start here, beat Switzerland and reach the final on Sunday.

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