The current European champions were the favourites coming into the World Cup but have so far failed to shine in their first three matches.

Switzerland caused a huge upset when they beat Spain 1-0 in the first match and, while Vincente del Bosque’s men went on to win their next two, they look a pale shadow of the side that romped to European Championship victory two years ago.

Portugal will be hopeful of taking full advantage of Spain’s recent downturn in form when the two sides meet in Cape Town on Tuesday.

Carlos Queiroz’s side squeaked through the group stages thanks in part to an emphatic win over North Korea.

While the 7-0 victory helped boost their goal difference it was in fact two solid defensive displays that made the difference as they drew 0-0 with the Ivory Coast and Brazil.

Portugal are now unbeaten in their last 16 matches and will prove a tough nut for Spain to crack on Tuesday.

The Spanish struggled against Switzerland, who were resolute at the back as they ground out a 1-0.

Portugal (10/3 to beat Spain) might offer a similar challenge and having seen their neighbours already lose once at this World Cup Simao is confident they can inflict a second defeat on the Euro 2008 winners.

“They’re one of the best teams in the world,” said Simao.

“They have a style of play like Barcelona, with lots of players from Barca, who play with two or three touches of the ball.

“But it’s 50-50. Without showing them a lack of respect, we’re not scared at all. We’ve got a great team too. And to become better, we have to beat Spain. They’re champions of Europe, but we have our own qualities.”

Simao claims that Portugal’s performances in the ‘group of death’ have given them a lot of confidence after they just made it to South Africa.

“We’re strong as well and I think we’ll give them at least as many problems. Instead of talking about Spain all the time, we need to focus on ourselves,” he added.

Portugal’s qualifying campaign left a lot to the imagination as they were forced to come through a play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

While they look to be a long way off the Portugal side who reached the semi-finals of the last World Cup their defensive displays will have given them hope of progressing.

The winner in Cape Town will face either Japan or Paraguay (11/10 to beat Japan) in the quarter-finals and whoever they face either Portugal or Spain will certainly fancy their chances of getting through to the semi-finals.

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