The Volgograd Arena will be packed to capacity at 19:00 local time on Monday 18th June when Tunisia and England clash in their opening match of Group G.
Tunisia are unlikely to scrape even a point in this game as is evident by their +850 odds on winning and the +400 on the game ending in a draw. An England win, for those of you wanting to take a punt, is priced at -290. England will be hoping to get their World Cup campaign off to a flying start after a dreadful 2014 World Cup where they failed to progress from the group.
Manager Gareth Southgate has picked a youthful squad, one of England’s youngest ever, in a bid to buck the trend of England qualifying for the finals with ease then disappointing at the tournament. Bovada have England with a -1.5 spread at +110 and this should be a great bet to make.
We say should because England have, on paper at least, got more than enough talent in their squad to beat Tunisia comfortably but they are notoriously slow starter so a 1-0 win at +500 could be a safer option; 2-0 is +450. Look for Harry Kane to be the first goalscorer as he is England’s main striker and the tem do everything to try set Kane up to score. It is also worth noting that Kane is England’s designated penalty kick taker.
Tunisia vs England Key Bites
England finished bottom of their group in 2014 and failed to in any of their three games. They also drew their opening two matches at the 2010 World Cup and only progressed thanks to beating Slovenia 1-0 in their final game.
Fans of England are confident this team can progress to at least the quarter-final stage and what better way to do that than by securing three points against Tunisia? Tunisia’s only World Cup finals victory came in 1978 when they defeated Mexico 3-1. Do not expect a similar result in Russia.
Many believe that Tunisia would not have qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia had they been drawn in a tougher qualifying group; their most difficult opponent was DR Congo.
Coach Nabil Maaloul lost his best player, Youssef Mskani, to injury and has had to call up several youngsters in other positions as he saw his original squad ravaged by injuries. The Tunisians do not have a large pool of players to choose from, although the likes of Yohan Benlouane and Wahbi Khazri both have experience in English league, the former being a Leicester City player.
Tunisia prefer to line up in a 4-3-3 formation but will likely adopt a 4-2-3-1 formation when they face England in their opening match. This will make Tunisia ultra-reliant on Taha Yassine Khenissi as their front man. He is a legitimate out-and-out striker who has plenty of ability.
Sunderland’s Wahbi Khazri will play as a false nine in this scenario. His flair and dribbling ability make him a potential match winner and the England defenders will definitely be wary of his skills.
England won the World Cup back in 1966 and have never really looked like challenging for the trophy since. The Three Lions tend to qualify for the World Cup with relative ease and then serious falter when the tournament kicks off. History looks set to repeat itself and England topped their qualifying group and never looked like finishing off of top spot.
Gareth Southgate has opted for youth in his squad and it is a major gamble to say the least. While more than a dozen of his players are inexperienced at this level, they do have Premier League experience and some even played in the Champions League last season.
A major plus about this being a new, young side is that they will not be carrying the burden of failure from previous tournaments. This should allow them to enter each game completely fearless and be able to play to the best of their ability.
Harry Kane needs to be firing on all cylinders if England have any chance of progressing from the group and beyond the Round of 16. Kane has 13 goals in 24 appearances in an England shirt yet has never put the ball in the net during the finals of a major tournament. The Tottenham striker and England captain scored 46 goals in 53 appearances last season and has bagged seven goals in his previous nine outings.
With Kane supported by Raheem Sterling, who enjoyed the season of his life for Manchester City in 2017/18, and either Dele Alli England have plenty of attacking options. They also have the lightning fast Jamie Vardy to come off the bench and the talented youngster Marcus Rashford, if he recovers from a knock to the knee, if they need to change things in attack.
You may believe this could be a high scoring affair because, on paper at least, England are far too strong for Tunisia. However, only 10 goals have been scored in England’s previous eight matches so under 2 goals at +145 could be the way to bet in this fixture.
That said, if England click and start well with an early goal, we could see a rout. Tunisia will not be pushovers though. They limited Spain to eight shots when they lost 1-0 thanks to an 84th minute goal and they fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Portugal.
We believe England will win this, although there will be some nervy moments. A 1-0 England win looks a good bet at odds of +400 with Bovada.
Category : Betting Picks
Tag : FIFA World Cup , Soccer
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