The England run was magnificent and united a country at a difficult time, while there have been a couple of truly memorable World Cup matches notably Portugal vs Spain and Brazil vs Belgium.
Hopefully there are two more quality matches to come with the unwanted Third/Fourth Play Off coming on Saturday before the Final between France and Croatia kicks off on Sunday.
And then it will be all eyes turned to Qatar in four and a half years time.
Belgium vs England
Some would consider this the most meaningless game in international football as the two losing Semi Finalists at the World Cup Finals meet for the right to say they finished third at the event. No player is going to be that interested about parading a bronze medal around, but there is an edge to Belgium versus England which could mean another high-scoring game.High-scoring games is what the Third/Fourth Play Off has become known for as teams are perhaps using changed line ups and there isn't anything to lose so attacking football comes to the fore.
Both Belgium and England will feel they can get at what can be considered vulnerable defences and the attacking players will have their chances in this one.
The edge between the teams comes from the fact that so many of them will be familiar with one another with a huge amount of the Belgium players currently plying their trade in the English Premier League. While the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku were not featured in the Group Stage win over England, I imagine they will be urging Roberto Martinez to allow them to play this game.
Martinez himself has insisted Belgium are looking for their best ever World Cup Finals and they can do that by winning this game and surpassing the efforts made by the 1986 squad. It is also important to Martinez to give the team some momentum for the UEFA Nations League and moving through to Euro 2020 in two years time after an improved Belgium performance at this World Cup.
Gareth Southgate has suggested the same for England, but injuries are adding up and England have had less time to get over their disappointment of missing out on a World Cup Finals place. They have also had to play an additional thirty minutes before going out of the tournament and I think a fresher Belgium with arguably a stronger starting eleven will be too good for England.
This may not be the game that either team wanted to be playing this weekend but I think the players will be keen to get one over on club team-mates and that makes for a good looking game of football.
I have to give the edge to Belgium who have the stronger attacking approach and what looks like a defence with a few less mistakes in them than their England counterparts. Having an extra day to recover for this game will help and I think Belgium are worth backing on the Asian Handicap to earn the win.
France vs Croatia
This may not be a World Cup Final that a lot of people would have predicted at the start of the tournament but it could be argued the two best teams have made it through to contest the biggest prize in football.Teams like Belgium may argue against that, and some have even suggested the Semi Final between France and Belgium was effectively the 'real Final', but France will need to be reminded of how things can go wrong if you overlook an opponent.
Just look back two years- France beat World Cup Champions Germany 2-0 in the Euro 2016 Semi Final and most expected them to get past Portugal and even more so when Cristiano Ronaldo had to leave very early with an injury. Even then things did not work out as they would have expected as they were beaten 0-1 in their home Final and I think Didier Deschamps will make sure the players are reminded of needing to be focused.
I do think the players would have learned from those mistakes though and I don't think France will make those again.
That isn't underestimating Croatia, but there has to be an accumulated fatigue building up to the levels which will make it tough for them to perform at their best. For forty-five minutes against England Croatia were clearly second best and it was only a couple of big missed opportunities that prevented England from taking complete control of that Semi Final.
France may be a cautious side by nature under Deschamps, but they have been looking pretty tight defensively and they have the midfield to disrupt the power of the Croatian side in the middle of the park. That is key for France and doing that should mean they can expose what has looked a vulnerable Croatia defence and I very much think France win this Final.
They are the fresher team who have had longer to prepare for the Final and the experience of Euro 2016 should really help the players focus for this one. France have enough quality in the final third to create chances and are a threat at set pieces, while the last couple of games have seen them defend very well.
It all adds up to a simple selection for me and that is backing France to win this game. If they score first, as they have in their three Knock Out ties and Croatia have conceded first in all three Knock Out ties, I think France will be very tough to peg back and have the counter attack to finish off what will be tired opponents.
All credit to Croatia for making the Final, but all the additional football needed will have added up physically and emotionally and I will back France to win a second World Cup title twenty years after the first.
MY PICKS: Belgium - 0.25 Asian Handicap @ 2.00 Bet365 (2 Units)
France @ 1.95 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Semi Final Final: 1-1, + 0.20 Units (4 Units Staked, + 5% Yield)
Quarter Final Final: 2-2, + 2.70 Units (8 Units, + 33.75% Yield)
Last 16 Final: 2-6, - 7.20 Units (16 Units Staked, - 45% Yield)
Group Stage Round Robin Three Final: 8-8, + 3.53 Units (27.50 Units Staked, + 12.84% Yield)
Group Stage Round Robin Two Final: 8-7-1, + 1.09 Units (31 Units Staked, + 3.52% Yield)
Group Stage Round Robin One Final: 8-8, + 5.24 Units (28 Units Staked, + 18.71% Yield)
No comments:
Post a Comment