Ronaldo fit and ready for the Germans
Cristiano Ronaldo fit and ready to face Germany in Monday’s Group G opener says keeper Eduardo….
Fears that the Real Madrid star would miss the game in Salvador when he was forced to leave Thursday’s training session appear wide of the mark after reports of tendonitis in his left knee may rule him out.
Howeve, despite Ronaldo only being seen joining in light running drills with his team-mates on Saturday, Eduardo is adamant that he will be fit and available to face the Germans.
Cristiano is good. He is training good, he is training hard. We are sure that he is going to be 100 per cent to help us and to have an excellent game. Eduardo
“Cristiano is good. He is training good, he is training hard. We are sure that he is going to be 100 per cent to help us and to have an excellent game,” Eduardo told reporters.
“We are a group, we have a lot of good players and nobody wins alone but with Cristiano of course it is better for us … You are talking about the best player in the world.”
Meanwhile Germany should be boosted by the fitness of first-choice goalkeeper Manuel Neuer who appears to have recovered from the shoulder injury which he suffered in the 2-0 DFB-Pokal final win over Borussia Dortmund last month.
Goalkeeper coach Andreas Kopke said: “Manuel is in a good way. We deliberately did not take too many risks with him, especially regarding the Armenia warm-up match.”
Statistics…….
Head-to-head
- Portugal have only won three of their 17 previous internationals against Germany (D5, L9).
- The Germans have won their last three meetings – including the third place play-off match at the 2006 World Cup, which ended 3-1 following a Bastian Schweinsteiger brace and a Petit own goal for the Germans.
- Germany have beaten Portugal at three of the last four major tournaments: the 2006 World Cup, Euro 2008 and Euro 2012.
Germany
- Germany’s will become the first team to play 100 World Cup matches on Monday.
- Miroslav Klose currently has 14 World Cup goals – only Brazilian star Ronaldo has more (15).
- Germany have won their opening match in every World Cup since 1990. In no fewer than four of those six matches, they scored at least four goals, beating Yugoslavia 4-1 in 1990, Saudi Arabia 8-0 in 2002, Costa Rica 4-2 in 2006 and Australia 4-0 four years ago.
- Germany have only lost one of their last 18 games in the group stages of the World Cup – 0-1 against Serbia on 18 June 2010.
- They have opened their last six World Cups with a victory; the last time they failed to win their opening game was back in 1986, when they drew 1-1 with Uruguay.
- Germany scored more goals than any other team in the 2014 European World Cup qualifiers (36).
Portugal
- Portugal have lost their two games in the World Cup against their opponents in Group G – USA in 2002 and Germany in 2006.
- Joao Moutinho delivered more assists than any other player in European World Cup qualifiers (10).
- In the group round of the last two World Cups, Portugal conceded just once in six matches (Jose Fonseca for Mexico in 2006).
- Cristiano Ronaldo is aiming to become the first player since Jurgen Klinsmann to score in six successive major tournaments having previous scored at least one goal at the European championships of 2004, 2008 and 2012, plus the 2006 and 2010 World Cup finals.
Betting…….
Germany, who are 6/1 to win the World Cup, can be backed at 23/20 to defeat Portugal on Monday. The Portuguese are 29/10 to win with the draw 23/10 and Ronaldo is 11/8 to score at anytime.
Suggested Bets….
Ronaldo has been kept under wraps and but there has been no real concern from the Portuguese media. We think a tight match will ensue and goals for both sides so we go with a BTTS – YES on that front.
Our featured player is difficult to keep from the goals so an ‘anytime’ bet and the Portuguese to shade the contest is our 3 suggestions?
Back Ronaldo to score at anytime @ 11/8
<<<<<Full World Cup Betting>>>>
Got an opinion on this story, who are YOU backing for GROUP G?…….
Join in the debate in the FORUM COMMENTS BELOW or contact Always Back Winners through our FACEBOOK LINKS or you can even tweet to us @BackWinners
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.