The group stages at the Women’s Euro 2017 come to an end on Thursday with a pair of matches from Group D. England tops the group with six points and will take on Portugal, who sits on third on three points. Spain is ahead of Portugal by one goal in the goal-difference category, and they’ll face pointless Scotland.
Portugal vs. England
Portugal rebounded from a 2-0 loss to Spain to beat Scotland 2-1 in their second game, getting goals from Carolina Mendes and substitute Ana Leite. The latter scored just two minutes after coming on to keep Portugal, who are ranked 23rd in UEFA, alive. Meanwhile, England is rolling after a 6-0 thrashing of Scotland, and then they defeated Spain 2-0 to put one foot in the knockout stages. Jodie Taylor scored a hat-trick against Scotland and was joined on the scoresheet by Ellen White, Jordan Nobbs and substitute Toni Duggan. Fran Kirby and Taylor scored against Spain, and Taylor’s four goals lead the tournament.
England is ranked third in UEFA and is one of the favorites to win the tournament, so they’re a huge favorite in this match at -600. Portugal comes in at +1200 and a draw is rated at +700. Don’t expect England to sit back in relax in their first meeting with Portugal, even though they’re basically into the next round.
Scotland vs. Spain
Scotland didn’t know what hit them when they were trounced by England, and they were pretty done by the 32nd minute when they were down 3-0. But they did show some heart in their loss to Portugal as substitute Erin Cuthbert tied the score after 68 minutes, but then Portugal hit back four minutes later. UEFA coming into the event, but they can show more pride and grab at least a point in this game. Spain, who was ranked sixth coming into Euro 2017, got two first-half goals from Victoria Losada and Amanda Sampedro in their win over Portugal, but couldn’t muster much against England. They even went to three defenders on the back line with a pair of wingbacks to try and keep England quiet, but they’re still alive in the group and their win over Portugal could be huge if they manage to get a point here. There will be no three-at-the-back for Spain in this game; they have to get forward as much as they can and an early goal would be massive for them.
Spain is favored in this game at -800 to win over Scotland, who is rated at +1600 and a draw is listed at +800. These two have had some good games in the past as their last three meetings have ended in a 1-1 draw on two occasions, and then Spain won 3-2. Overall, Spain has never lost in five meetings with Scotland, winning three times and drawing twice, and three points would go a long way, especially with Portugal playing a powerhouse England squad at the same time.
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