Wednesday's Daily Double: Expect wins for Portugal and Germany in Group B

Group B gets back underway when Denmark take on Portugal in Lviv on Wednesday. The former won their opening game and the latter lost theirs, but the margins were fine.

Pepe and Nani both hit the German woodwork for Portugal while Netherlands spurned a series of opportunities against the Danes.

Indeed, Denmark were fairly open defensively, despite their clean sheet. They kept the wingers high up the field, content to leave the full-backs in one-on-one situations.

Dennis Rommedahl was unhappy to be withdrawn, but he was not helping his right-back Lars Jacobsen and that could prove fatal up against Cristiano Ronaldo on Wednesday.

Portugal were victims of their own caution early on against Germany and were full of creativity and movement once Silvestre Varela arrived to help in the attacking midfield zones.

Nani and Ronaldo scored two goals each against Denmark in their qualifying group, and I would expect a bit of urgency and ambition here to be enough to see a Portuguese win.

Back Portugal to win at 10/11 (1.91) with William Hill

In the evening kick-off in Kharkiv, one of the enduring rivalries of international football is reignited as Germany take on Netherlands.

It's all on the line for the Dutch after their defeat to Denmark at the weekend and, depending on the result of the earlier game, a defeat here could see them eliminated.

That's something the German fans would relish - schadenfreude, if you like - and there are certainly numerous questions that Holland need to answer here.

Is Robin van Persie’s confidence shot after his wayward display against the Danes? Would Bundesliga and Netherlands' top scorer in qualifying Klaas-Jan Huntelaar be a better bet? Can Arjen Robben outfox Bayern Munich team-mate Philipp Lahm?

Perhaps the key issue here is that the points situation going into the game could be an important factor in the outcome of it because there will be an onus on Bert van Marwijk's team to attack.

If Oranje are not winning, or if they fall behind, then they will feel the need to press the game and that could play into Germany's hands late on.

Miroslav Klose is likely come off the bench and it would be no surprise to see him combine with the likes of Lukas Podolski to punish Dutch ambition as the game becomes more stretched in the later stages.

Back Germany to win at 6/4 (2.5) with William Hill

A Double on Portugal and Germany pays over 15/4 (4.75) with William Hill

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Adam Bate is a professional freelance journalist who specialises in football and betting. He is editor of GhostGoal which can be found here - you can also follow Adam on

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