A classic between England and France highlights the World Cup quarterfinals in Qatar. These two European teams are bound to deliver a fantastic show and thrill the fans. Along with Brazil, these teams are the top favorites for the title, which only spices the overall situation. Mbappe is fantastic for the French unit, Giroud is still proving all the doubters wrong, while on the other hand, the English team is extremely confident, playing ultra-cautiously, yet perfectly using even the slightest mistake of the rivals.
Preview
England (+210) whopped Senegal in the round of 16, blitzing rivals in the finish of the first half and, afterward, routinely closing the event. The African champions were stunned at the break, and we can say that they had made peace with the elimination already then.
The Albion isn’t playing appealing football, but they for sure know how to reach a positive result. The reason for that is an extremely fast team with the quickest transition ever in the national team’s history. Southgate’s approach might be dull (and it really is) without creativity in the midfield, but as said, England is producing positive results.
This was the third consecutive event at the World Cup for them without a goal conceded, but on the other side, they’ve scored at least three goals in three of four World Cup performances. Take note that many of them were the product of blitzes and counter-attacks.
France (+130) is superb and defies the odds in terms of slowing down due to multiple injuries suffered. Pogba, Kante, Benzema, Nkunku, Lucas Hernandez, all these guys are out, which is a massive handicap. Just read those names from above and say if any of them are out of the top ten players in the world in their respective positions.
What can we say about Mbappe? He has five goals and three assists, and tons of missed chances. We aren’t kidding when saying that PSG’s striker could have scored at least five more goals. In one word, he is incredible.
France allowed a goal in all four games at the World Cup and has just one clean sheet in the past ten games overall. Just once, we repeat it again. But that’s easy to cover up with Mbappe and Giroud upfront.
Latest News
England is healthy and free of any suspensions.
Apart from Hernandez, who picked up an injury in the opening game against Australia, there aren’t injured players in France.
Head to Head Games
The most recent encounter between England and France was five years ago, and it was a friendly international before the World Cup in Russia. The Gauls were better, 3-2. Previously, in 2015 England won, 2-0, also in a friendly game, while the latest competitive event was at the 2012 EURO, in the group stage, 1-1.
Prediction
Our money here is in France. Deschamps is a clever head coach, much more experienced than Southgate, and he won’t make the same mistakes as England’s previous rivals, opening the midfield and leaving enough space in the back for counter-attacks. Also, Mbappe is in one hell of a shape, and he will create havoc in the English defense.
Pick: France +130
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Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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Email: nikola@wagerbop.com
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