Croatia vs Portugal Prediction 7/2/2026 Today’s Soccer Picks

In this article, we will formulate a Croatia vs Portugal Prediction for this World Cup Round of 32 matchup on Thursday, July 2nd at the Levi’s Stadium in BMO Field in Toronto, Canada. Let’s take a look at the prediction for this World Cup matchup.

Portugal Preview

Portugal finished the group phase of the World Cup with 7 points, with two wins and one draw and were placed 2nd in Group K. They are coming off a 0-0 draw with Colombia, where they had 55% possession of the ball and 24 total shots, 6 of them on target. They had 89% completed passes, and more expected goals, with 1.70 compared to Colombia’s 0.92.

Portugal is averaging 2.00 goals per game, while allowing 0.33 goals per game. They have a +1.7 goal differential, 1.28 average expected goals, 1.13 average expected goals conceded and +0.2 average expected goal differential. They have 58% possession of the ball and 90% save percentage, while having 2 clean sheets.

Cristiano Ronaldo is Portugal’s top scorer with 2 goals. Bruno Fernandes, Pedro Neto, João Cancelo are Portugal’s top passers, with one assist each.

Croatia Preview

Croatia finished the group phase of the World Cup with 4 points, with one win, one draw and one loss and were placed 2nd in Group L. They are coming off a 2-1 win over Ghana, where they had 53% possession of the ball and 8 total shots, 4 of them on target. They had 91% completed passes, and more expected goals, with 0.42 compared to Ghana’s 0.64.

Croatia is averaging 1.67 goals per game, while allowing 1.67 goals per game. They have a +0.0 goal differential, 0.80 average expected goals, 1.26 average expected goals conceded and -0.5 average expected goal differential. They have 53% possession of the ball and 62% save percentage, while having one clean sheet.

Martin Baturina, Petar Sučić, Petar Musa are Croatia’s top scorers with 1 goal each. Josip Stanišić, Ivan Perišić, Luka Modrić are Croatia’s top passers, with one assist each.

Croatia vs Portugal Prediction

Portugal has five wins and one draw in its last 6 meetings against Croatia and the over is 3-1 in their last 4 meetings.

In this Croatia vs Portugal Prediction, Portugal is coming as -125 favorites. I like Portugal in this one, as they have been undefeated so far in the World Cup and have been better both offensively and defensively. Croatia might be averaging 1.67 goals per game, but their expected goals per game are just 0.8, so I don’t trust their offense against a strong Portugal defense that has conceded just one goal in three games. Take Portugal to win this one.

Nikos Lagouretos's Pick: Portugal ML