Group G provides a fascinating series of odds and possibilities in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Bookmakers have Belgium and England with the best odds to win the group, while Panama and Tunisia are both long-shots.
Group G provides a fascinating series of odds and possibilities in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Bookmakers have Belgium and England with the best odds to win the group, while Panama and Tunisia are both long-shots.
Group G provides a fascinating series of odds and possibilities in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia
Bookmakers have Belgium and England with the best odds to win the group, while Panama and Tunisia are both long-shots.
But if history has taught us anything, it’s that England has a habit of choking on the biggest stage. Could there be some value with the underdogs here?
Let’s take a look at the betting.
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Belgium has been in the midst of their golden generation for a while, but it has not translated to major success in international tournaments. They have a ton of great talent on the squad playing in big clubs such as Vincent Kompany, Eden Hazard, Moussa Dembele, Thomas Vermaelen, Kevin De Bruyne, and Romelu Lukaku. Thety are legit up and down the pitch and have a great midfield. Hazard and Manchester City’s De Bruyne fgorm a formidable attacking midfield duo, but can they coexist and drop back to help the defense as well? While looking good in recent friendlies they have not faced any major powerhouses and while England has not been that in a long time their last match facing them may determine the winner of Group D.
It has been a long time since England enjoyed success on the international stage. They were pretty good in qualifying while they have also been pretty good in recent friendlies there are some issues on both sides of the pitch. Tottenham’s Harry Kane’s and Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling are a good attacking duo up front and while the defense has been playing well as of late in friendlies they have issues in the midfield and especially in goal. Coming up on the first match in Russia a clear #1 GK has not been selected and that is a worry. Still, the English have a good squad and it is key they get off to a good start in group play facing Tunisia ion their opening match where they are major favorites.
Tunisia has a pretty good club system and they have fared well in the Africa Cup of Nations, but they had one of the easiest qualifying groups in Africa and they do not feature much world class talent. However, they play great as a team and they can’t be overlooked especially since they recently played to a couple of 2-2 draws facing Turkey and Portugal and beating Costa Rica, who are in the World Cup finals. Youssef Msakni may not be a big name playing in Qatar, but he is a creative player, which the squad will need since they will likely not fare well when it comes to time of possession. In qualifying he had three goals and two assists and his play will be vital to the major underdogs in this tournament.
Panama has the lowest odds to win Group G, but they are one of the teams that kept the USA out of the World Cup and they have a veteran laden squad. Most of their players do not play in the bigger leagues in Europe and in one friendly facing Switzerland this year they lost 6-0. Panama has to rely on their defense and counter attack, as they do not have much firepower up front. Midfielder Armando Cooper can do it all on the pitch from playing defense to setting up and attacking and he and the Panamanians as a whole have to do it all to have any chance to advance to the knockout stage. They have a tall task facing Belgium in their first match of the World Cup.