Friday’s first game for Matchday 2 sees Portugal’s Benfica playing New Zealand’s Auckland City at 12:00pm EST as massive favorites. Read on for our top Benfica vs Auckland City picks.
Benfica vs Auckland City Odds
| BET | ODDS |
| Benfica | -50000 |
| Draw | +5000 |
| Auckland City | +6600 |
| Over 2.5 | -6600 |
| Under 2.5 | +2000 |
Club World Cup odds at Bet365.
Benfica vs Auckland Head-to-Head
This is the first-ever meeting between these teams.
Benfica Preview
Benfica found themselves in a hole early vs Boca Juniors 2-0 down after the 27′ minute. Angel Di Maria cut the lead to 2-1 through a penalty before halftime, Boca took a red card in the 45′, Benfica took a red themselves in the 72′, Nicolas Otamendi tied it in the 84′ and then Boca took another red in the 88′. End of the day, the game ended 2-2. For all of that, the shots on target were only 3-2 Benfica.
The Portuguese powerhouse fell just short of the title to their Lisbon rivals finishing 2nd in the Liga. They were 25-5-4, scoring 84 goals and conceding just 28. Their 80 points put them just 2 back of 1st-placed Sporting.
Benfica’s last loss in any competition came in the Champions League to Barcelona in March. Since that time they went 10 games undefeated scoring multiple goals in 8 straight before stalling out at the end with back-to-back 1-1 draws. They also conceded in 6 of their final 8.
The lone trophy Benfica claimed this season was the Taca da Liga over Sporting in penalties back in January.
Player props will likely start with the two key men in Vangelis Pavlidis (19G/7A) and Kerem Aktürkoğlu (11G/9A).
Auckland City Preview
The amateur club looked like a team with players who have other jobs, playing against the German champions Bayern Munich on Matchday 1 as they were run off the pitch losing 10-0. The shots were 31-1 and 17-1 in attempts/shots on target and Bayern had 72% possession. Five different players scored, Kingsley Coman, Thomas Muller and Michael Olise scored braces and Jamal Musiala had a hat-trick.
Auckland are 9 games into the New Zealand Northern League and are currently 3rd at 8-1-4, scoring 22 and allowing 14. They’re also into the 3rd Round of the Chatham Cup.
Auckland, of all teams, actually has the most Club World Cup appearances of any team, with 12 all-time showings.
Auckland City are the most successful team in Oceania, having won 11 of the last 13 OFC Champions League titles, however, they’re an amateur club, with players receiving only a weekly allowance of around $90 for basic expenses.
Benfica vs Auckland City Prediction
Benfica aren’t Bayern, but they will be equally expected to easily defeat Auckland. This basically an unbettable game unless you ask Benfica to win by 7, 8, 9 goals or more. Or you pack in many goalscorers or, take a chance on including Auckland to score in a same-game parlay.
Just to get to -138 odds at Bet365 you’d need to bet on Benfica winning at half and full-time and to score 7+ goals.
Or we can target their two top scorers in Pavlidis and Akturkoglu to score and Benfica to score 6+ at -120. Pavlidis had no shots last game but did start up top. Akturkoglu subbed on and managed just 1 shot attempt.
The leading shot taking were Angel Di Maria and Nicolas Otamendi with 2/1.
- FIFA Club World Cup Picks: Benfica to score over 5.5 goals and Pavlidis and Akturkoglu to score (-120) at Bet365
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Ryan Métivier is a seasoned editor, writer and communications professional with years of experience in all fields. When it comes to covering sports, he’s written for numerous outlets and organizations including the OHL, CHL, SportsXpress, Sports Betting Dime, Cleveland.com, MassLive, FanSided and others.
While he’ll always cheer for his hometown Toronto teams, when it comes to betting, his only allegiance is his bankroll. Ryan specializes in global soccer, the NFL and the NHL, but if there is a bet to be made, he’ll make it. As the founder of Shred The Spread, Ryan focuses on combining storylines, trends, analytics and good bankroll management to creating simple bets that make sense.
When not making a case for why both teams will score in an MLS soccer match, he can be found focusing his efforts on fitness, attempting to learn Spanish, cooking or planning his travel adventure.
