Tuesday World Cup Preview and Odds – France vs. Belgium

July 10, 2018 17:00pm – Saint-Petersburg Stadium.

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France: WWDWW

Belgium: WWWWW

It’s the final week of the World Cup and the first action on Tuesday sees 1998 winners France take on Belgium’s golden generation in Saint Petersburg. The winner will progress to Sunday’s finals where they will face either England or Croatia in Moscow.

With a squad of extreme talent at their disposal, France were tipped by many to go all the way in this competition. However, they were not convincing in their early matches against Australia, Peru and Denmark, and even in the dramatic 4-3 over Argentina they looked vulnerable at the back, often riding their luck in games. However, they have done what is required to reach the last four and shown improvement as the tournament has progressed.

Last time out, they overcame the tough challenge of a dangerous Uruguay side. They were handed a boost when star man Edinson Cavani was ruled out for their opponents and took full advantage battling to a 2-0 win.

It was by no means an easy game and both teams had good chances in the early stages. But once Raphael Varane broke the deadlock after 40 minutes the momentum swung the way of Didier Deschamps’ men. Antoine Griezmann wrapped the game up on the hour mark and France never looked like relinquishing their lead.

Belgium are the highest ranked team left in the tournament and have already equalled their best-ever World Cup showing by reaching the semi-finals. When they were beaten by Argentina at this stage 32 years ago, only two of the current squad (Thomas Vermaelen and Vincent Kompany) had been born. That year, they went on to lose to France in the third place play-off match.

Belgium stunned the watching world by knocking out favourites Brazil in the last round. Prior to that they showed great character to overturn a 2-0 deficit to Japan and beat England 1-0 in a group stage dead rubber. Since losing to Spain in Martinez’s first game in charge nearly two years ago, Belgium have remained undefeated.

France predicted starting XI:

Lloris, Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez, Pogba, Kante, Matuidi, Griezmann, Mbappe, Giroud

Belgium predicted starting XI:

Courtois, Alderweireld, Kompany, Vertonghen, Chadli, Carrasco, Witsel, Fellaini, De Bruyne, Hazard, Lukaku

Prediction

Belgium’s five matches have already produced 19 goals and with both teams boasting some talented goal scorers in their ranks, another open and attacking game can be expected. As a result, the Total Goals Over 2.5 wager looks like a decent option.

You can back Over 2.5 Goals at 23/20 with Betfair.