World Cup Group H is one of the weakest groups relatively in the tournament. Based on FIFA’s country rankings, the group average ranking is better only than Group A’s.
That must mean there’s a team that’s likely to dominate the group and be the overwhelming favorite, right? Portugal is favored to win this group according to sportsbook Sportsbook with odds at -400, while Ghana’s odds are the worst at +2800.
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World Cup Group H Odds: Odds To Win Outright
| Country | Sportsbook Odds | Current Odds |
|---|---|---|
| Portugal | -145 | -400 |
| Uruguay | +200 | +400 |
| South Korea | +1000 | +1100 |
| Ghana | +1100 | +2800 |
Odds as of November 25 at Sportsbook
World Cup Group H Odds: Odds To Advance From Group Stage
| Country | Sportsbook Odds | Current Odds |
|---|---|---|
| Portugal | -650 | -2500 |
| Uruguay | -225 | -200 |
| South Korea | +250 | +175 |
| Ghana | +275 | +500 |
Odds as of November 25 at Sportsbook
World Cup Group H Odds
Portugal (-400)
Portugal is the defending UEFA Cup of Nations champion and won the Euros back in 2016. They also boast Cristiano Ronaldo among their ranks, and despite being 37, he’s still an elite player, scoring six goals for Portugal in qualifiers and 18 goals for Manchester United last season.
They were expected to top UEFA qualifying Group A that featured Serbia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan. They finished second, three points behind Serbia, after a 2-1 loss to the Serbians in the final game of the group stage. They scrapped through the second round of qualifiers with wins over Turkey and North Macedonia.
Focusing specifically on Ronaldo, he’s out at Manchester United and now unattached. He’s not done playing so the Real Madrid legend has to put himself in the shop window. A Cristiano Ronaldo that has something to prove is the best Ronaldo.
Ronaldo holds the sixth-best World Cup Golden Boot odds at +1600.
Uruguay (+400)
Uruguay may have finished third in the CONMEBOL region behind Brazil and Argentina, but their qualification didn’t go nearly as smoothly. Uruguay edged out Ecuador by two points for the third spot in the region but was the only team in the top four to not hold a positive goal differential.
Through 18 qualifying matches, the Uruguayans scored 22 goals but also allowed 22. Uruguay has some exciting attacking talent. Luis Suarez (Nacional) scored eight goals through qualifiers and Giorgian de Arrascaeta (Flamengo) had five goals in qualifiers. Darwin Nunez (Liverpool) may have only scored once in qualifiers but consider Liverpool spent $60 million to acquire the 23-year-old’s goal-scoring talents.
But for all that offense, Uruguay is horrendous defensively. Their 1.22 goals against per 90 is the fifth-worst in CONMEBOL qualifiers and their 4.28 shots on target against per 90 was the sixth-worst in the region behind Peru and Colombia and tied with Paraguay. Those three nations did not qualify for the World Cup.
That kind of porous defending won’t serve Uruguay well at the World Cup, but given just how weak this group is, it might be enough for them to qualify for the Group of 16 and probably even top the group.
South Korea (+1100)
The South Koreans have rarely made it out of the group stage at the World Cup, doing so only twice in their nine appearances since 1986. They’ve won their group once, back in 2002 when they shared World Cup hosting duties with Japan.
South Korea dominated AFC Group H in the second round of qualifiers, going 5-1-0 and allowing only a single goal. But that domination was stopped in the third round of qualifiers with Korea dropping to second in Group A behind Iran.
There’s no issue defensively for Korea – they held the second-best goals against per 90 rate at 0.24 through AFC qualification. Only Qatar, who automatically qualified as host and played eight fewer games, had a better goals against per 90 at 0.12. It’s offensively where Korea struggles.
Their 2.00 goals per game ranked 10th in the Asian region, behind China and Uzbekistan. You’d think a side that features recent Premier League Golden Boot Sportsbook Son Heung-Min wouldn’t have an issue scoring, but Heung-Min is dependent on service and can’t do it alone. That’s exactly what he’s forced to do for the Koreans and it’s why their odds are so low.
Son sits sixth on the Premier League Golden Boot oddsboard with odds to win at +4000 despite winning the award (alongside Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah) last year with 23 goals.
Defense wins championships, or so we’re told, but if a team doesn’t have the offense to pop in a few goals, then what good is all that defending? You can’t win if you can’t score.
Ghana (+2800)
Revenge is a powerful motivator, right? Revenge will be driving Ghana for a portion of the group stage. We all remember Luis Suarez’s deliberate handball to prevent a sure Ghana goal late in the semifinals of the 2010 World Cup. Ghana’s Gyan missed the resulting penalty kick and Ghana would be eliminated through penalties later. Ghana hasn’t forgotten and wants to exact revenge on Uruguay and Suarez for the injustice.
The Black Stars play Uruguay on the final day of group play – can that revenge motivate Ghana through the group stage? It’s going to have to. Ghana didn’t enter the World Cup in top shape.
They made it through CAF qualifications on away goals only after a two-leg playoff with Nigeria ended 1-1 on aggregate. Through eight qualifying matches, Ghana ranks 18th for goals per 90 and 10th for goals against per 90. Counterattacking play and capitalizing on their limited opportunities will be key for Ghana, but they don’t seem to have the offensive power to sustain that strategy through the group stage or beyond.
Ghana is also the lowest-ranked nation in FIFA’s world rankings. Their form coming into the tournament as well as their level of competitiveness based on FIFA’s rankings are why Ghana is +2800 to win the group. But at +500 to qualify, there’s a real chance that if they get timely offense, they could exit this group as one of the top two teams. Sure, Ghana isn’t great but neither are the other three teams in this group.
