Portugal vs. Croatia World Cup Match Preview, Picks & Odds for Thursday, July 2, 2026

By Thom Cunningham | Jul 01, 2026, 6:50pm

In what should be an excellent match, Portugal faces Croatia for the second 2026 World Cup match set for Thursday. Let’s get into all the betting data, trends, insights and odds for this elimination match from Canada – one of two matches taking place in the ‘Great North’ on Thursday.

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Portugal vs. Croatia World Cup Match Betting Analysis

Portugal enters this match unbeaten in eight straight, winning four of six overall as well. Croatia has won three of four matches but a quiet trend is that the Croatians have actually won nine of 10 World Cup matches when playing at night. Focusing on Croatia, this is a club that sees offense in its matches, so the potential to pull off an upset is very much alive – based on the data.

Croatia has gone Over the total in eight of 10 matches, while seeing the Over hit in five of six World Cup matches. Three of the last four matches overall have seen the Croatians score two or more goals, while also seeing the BTS occur in seven of nine matches. It seems reasonable that both the BTS and the Over are good enough plays to stop here, but looking at the value the total is much better than the BTS with the former in plus-money territory and the latter at -125.

Portugal vs. Croatia World Cup Match Best Bet, Pick & Prediction

Best Bet: POR/CRO O2.5 (+105)
Score Prediction: Portugal 2, Croatia 1

Portugal vs. Croatia World Cup Match Odds

Portugal vs. Croatia World Cup Match Information

Date: Thursday, July 2, 2026
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Network: FOX
Location: Toronto, Canada
Venue: BMO Field – 2.4 goals per match; 2-3 O/U
Stage: Round of 32

Portugal vs. Croatia World Cup Match Betting Resources

Portugal vs. Croatia World Cup Match Key Players

Portugal

Diogo Costa – Last Game: 6 saves, 0 goals allowed
Cristiano Ronaldo – Last Game: 35 touches
Bruno Fernandes – Last Game: 56 touches

Croatia

Petar Sucic – Last Game: 1 goal
Nikola Vlasic – Last Game: 1 goal
Luka Modric – Last Game: 1 assist

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Photo Credit: REUTERS

Thom Cunningham

Thom Cunningham is the Lineups.com News Editor and has been involved with sports media for almost two decades at Spectrum, VegasInsider.com, Oddschecker, VSiN and much more as a content producer - focused on the betting and gaming space over the last decade tracking insights, data analytics and covering various markets from the NFL to the Oscars.