We miss out Group F and head straight for Group G for the opening match in the World Cup on Saturday when Belgium take on Tunisia. England fans will have more than half an eye on this one as this result will affect their team.
Belgium won their first match so they go into this contest knowing that they are through to the second round with a win while Tunisia were denied at the death against England so they need to avoid defeat to stay in with a chance of progressing.
Belgium
In the end Belgium won with a fair bit in hand but for the most part there was little pretty about Belgium’s performance in their first match against Panama. Ultimately it is all about winning in this tournament and a side should never be criticised for doing that but the impression is they will need to crank it up a level or two to be competitive deep into the event.
I guess the expectation that was placed on Belgium going into the tournament meant that they were always unlikely to come out of a match with Panama with too much credit. They got the job done, their star striker scored twice to give his confidence a boost and they were largely on easy street in terms of taking nothing out of themselves so internally I’m sure they are happy enough.
Tunisia
We saw both sides of Tunisia in their opening match of the tournament. In the first half, particularly when they were trailing England, they looked good on the ball and you felt they might cause problems but once they levelled up their returned to their shell and defended deep and ultimately paid the price for their lack of ambition.
The one thing we did see in that first game was they were all over the place defensively. They weren’t great defending in open play but when defending set pieces they were atrocious and that will need to improve if they are to get anything from this match. We saw them get back into the game with England from behind but whether they can do that again would be a concern.
Team News
Belgium will once again be without their centre-backs Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen which means that Dedryck Boyata is expected to feature once again. That means Belgium could be unchanged.
Tunisia will be forced into one change with goalkeeper Mouez Hassen ruled out of the tournament with the injury he sustained against England. They may also feel a change is needed at left-back where Ali Maaloul was caught out time and again.
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Betting
Having seen Tunisia struggle defensively against England I’m expecting Belgium to get the better off them. Belgium should be able to work the ball around this Tunisian defence but if they can’t they will most likely get the better of them physically. I’m expecting a fairly open match with Tunisia having to get something out of it but that should only give the likes of Hazard and Mertens more space to do their thing which should see Belgium to a few goals which can cover a -1.25 Asian line.
Seeing how horrendous Tunisia were at defending set pieces on Monday night I can’t resist a couple of anytime scorer bets. Marouane Fellaini may not play in this match but if he does he could easily get himself on the end of a delivery and of course he’ll get into the box in open play too so at 7/2 he’s an obvious pick and given that Harry Maguire and John Stones dominated aerially for England I’ll cover Toby Alderweireld too. He knows how to attack a ball in the box and with the quality Hazard, Mertens and de Bruyne put in I wouldn’t be surprised if he finds himself on the scoresheet.
Tips
WON – Back Belgium (-1.25AH) to beat Tunisia for a 5/10 stake at 1.93 with TLCBet
Back them here:
Back M.Fellaini Anytime Goalscorer for a 1/10 stake at 4.50 with NetBet
Back him here:
Back T.Alderweireld Anytime Goalscorer for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
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