FIFA World Cup Betting: The Portuguese are thought of as a European powerhouse in the World Cup betting scene in spite of the fact that this is only their fifth ever appearance on soccer's grandest stage. Still, there are high expectations for this team, even playing in the "Group of Death," as a first round elimination will certainly spark a ton of questions about this side's abilities.

Qualifying was nearly a disaster for Portugal as well. It only won one of its first five matches, and needed to outscore its L/4 opponents by an aggregate score of 8-0 just to make it into the playoffs. The good news is that Bosnia-Herzegovina provided very little challenge, which brought the Portuguese into the World Cup for the third straight time.

Watch out for M Cristiano Ronaldo! He is one of the world's most lethal offensive options no matter where he is on the pitch, as demonstrated by the fact that he netted 26 goals in just 29 matches in his first year at Real Madrid in the Spanish Primera. Ronaldo has played for his country 70 times and put 22 strikes in the back of the net to show for it. His penalty kick helped set the tone for a tremendous shootout win in the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup against England.

Portugal's biggest issue is going to be matches with both Ivory Coast and Brazil. Three points from the opening match will heap a ton of pressure onto everyone else in this group, as the Portuguese should then have six points going into the match with Brazil to wrap up group play. There's a reason that they are +350 to win Group G and are very reasonable +2800 choices to beat the World Cup odds and win the trophy.