World Cup Round of 16 Preview: Can the underdogs prevail in the World Cup of upsets?

Favourites Spain and Portugal look to triumph in their tough round of 16 ties to set up an Iberian derby quarter-final. 

Morocco v Spain

The first of the two fixtures sees the 2010 World Cup winners take on a very tough Morocco, who are the only African side remaining in the tournament. Looking to be one of the teams to beat after their opening fixture, Spain proved their quality before drawing to Germany and shockingly losing to group winners Japan.

Winning their match with Costa Rica 7-0, Spain are still considered to be one of the best sides remaining in the tournament and one of the favourites to progress to the semi-final. They are the clear favourites in this tie at 4/7 though their counterparts have also played some great football in Qatar.

Morocco are one of the only unbeaten sides remaining at the tournament, and with the likes of Hakim Ziyech and Achraf Hakimi in excellent form, it is easy to see why the underdogs aren’t being written off at 11/2.

The Chelsea and PSG men make up a very strong attacking force, one of the key contributors to the victory over Belgium and Canada. Youssef En-Nesyri, another essential figure in the Moroccan front line, is 9/2 to have over one shot on target in 90 mins with enhanced odds.

The centre-forward is the favourite to score first at 10/1 and looks to be Morocco’s biggest threat. Alvaro Morata is Spain’s biggest threat at 6/4 to score anytime and will look for support from Carlos Soler, who is 21/10 to score at any time.

Portugal v Switzerland

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal go head-to-head with a Switzerland side that proved they belong in the round of 16 with an incredible comeback against Serbia in their final group stage game.

Portugal, on the other side, are one of the best performers at the tournament, one of the only remaining unbeaten teams and one of the strongest squads.

Arguably going through their golden generation, Portugal are blessed with talent on all corners of the pitch, with Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes the tip of the iceberg. So, it is easy to see why they are the favourites in this tie at 10/11.

Switzerland, at 17/5 are certainly in the match and with their well-organised defence could make it difficult for this Portugal side to break through to the goal. A Portugal win and under 2.5 goals is reasonably priced at 11/4 and seems likely when analysing the previous scores of the two sides.

However, having scored three against Serbia, Switzerland will fancy their chances of racking up some more goals and two Switzerland goals is priced at only 4/1.

Looking at the firepower on both sides, with Ronaldo yet to hit his stride and Switzerland’s striker Breel Embolo scoring for fun, this equally could be a high-scoring affair. A goal in both halves is on the cards at Evens, and Portugal to come from behind and win is 13/2 and could be a profitable punt.