It’s hard to believe that we are into the tenth day of the World Cup but it’s fair to say that we’ve been richly rewarded so far. There have been tears of joy, heartbreak, wondergoals and penalties aplenty – and there is a lot more of all the above to come.
We are getting down to the nitty-gritty here as nations battle to make it into the last 16 and our football betting expert has run through the best bets for the matches taking place today.
Saturday will see the Group F fixtures of South Korea v Mexico and Germany v Sweden, but the day kicks off with Group G’s Belgium v Tunisia.
Belgium v Tunisia
Otkrytiye Arena in Moscow is the venue for this showdown, as Tunisia look to turn their fortunes around after Harry Kane shattered their hopes in added time on Monday evening.
The African nation are the very much on the back foot as they come up against a Belgium side who sit top of Group G and are the heavy 3/10 favourites to take the three points here.
A Belgium win would send Tunisia crashing out of the competition, which looks likely considering they are winless in twelve World Cup matches going into this fixture, contributing to their outside 9/1 chance to take the win with Grosvenor Sport.
The goalscorer market could prove the fruitful one, with Dries Mertens’ opener against Panama paving the way for a Romelu Lukaku brace after the break. We saw that the Belgians aren’t shy in front of goal once they get going and Mertens is 11/2 to bag the first one again here and Lukaku is 5/2 to net the last.
South Korea v Mexico
The El Tri are at their seventh consecutive World Cup and a win here would see them reach the knockout stages for as many times in a row.
They are the favourites at 6/4 after their unlikely, but incredible, win against Germany and could cause South Korea to go out at the group stage for the seventh time in their last nine attempts to make it to the knock-outs.
Korea are too defensive and transparent in their attack, so I think they could concede a few here. The last meeting between the sides came four years ago and produced a 4-0 score line in favour of the Mexicans who are 28/1 to enjoy the same result on Saturday.
If you’re feeling a bit more conservative then plump for the 7/2 on Mexico scoring over 2.5 goals.
Germany v Sweden
Germany’s defeat to Mexico has to be the biggest shock of the tournament so far and they will surely now be out for blood with a point to prove and a deficit to make up if they are to progress.
Sweden took the three points against South Korea the day after Germany were felled, so this game will be a crucial one, with Joachim Low’s men the 4/9 favourites, based presumably on their squad more so than their current form.
We saw their susceptibility to the Mexican counter attack though and, with Sweden World Cup debutant Marcus Berg having scored eight in qualifying, he could get a dream start for the Swedes as Grosvenor Sport go 11/1 for him to score first.
Ultimately, I think Germany will get over their Matchday 1 shock and turn things around, with a 2-1 win at 15/2 looking an attractive proposition.
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