Artem Frankov: “Portugal — Switzerland? The difference in class between rivals is small. The result is unpredictable"

Well-known Ukrainian journalist Artem Frankov told what he expects from one of the final matches of the 1/8 finals of the 2022 World Cup, in which Portugal and Switzerland will play today.

“The last confrontation in the 1/8 finals of the 2022 World Cup, after which Mundial will have only eight fights left ... Another pair with an obvious favorite and rather small reservations about this.

The point, of course, is not at all in the aging genius of Cristiano Ronaldo and his magic bangs, but in the general level of the teams. Switzerland coped quite bravely with Cameroon and Serbia, but against the Brazilians they could not hit the gate at least once. In addition, the Serbs in the first half of the match, which they lost 2:3, revealed the shortcomings of the Nati defense. One can only guess with what inspiration Fernando Santos and his wards studied these details!

During the tournament, Portugal lost the main left-back Nuno Mendes due to an injury and frankly merged with the Koreans in the last round, drowning Uruguay with Ghana and missing the Asians in the playoffs. Should we draw any long-term conclusions from this? I will only say one thing: the difference in class between these two teams, which are well known both to Ukrainian fans and to each other (the League of Nations! In the last draw, the teams exchanged home victories - 4:0 in Portugal, 1:0 in Switzerland), is not so great, and therefore the result of one single match, especially at such a stage and on a neutral field, is quite unpredictable,” Frankov said.