BELGIUM v JAPAN
Monday 2nd July 2018 – Kickoff: 1900hrs
Football – World – World Cup 2018 Betting Tips
Welcome to my World Cup 2018 betting tips, and Belgium take on Japan at the Rostov Arena in an east versus west encounter with the Belgians looking to reach the quarter-finals after accounting for England in their final group match.
It was a deserved win for Belgium over a lacklustre England outfit which resulted in Belgium topping Group G with a maximum nine points to their name having won all three of their group matches, along with scoring 9 goals and conceding just 2 in reply.
Belgium opened their account with a 3-0 win over Panama although their first half performance was decidedly sluggish, but they moved through the fears in their next group match against Tunisia where the Red Devils ran out easy 5-2 winners which just left a clash against England in their final group match.
With England having already qualified, this became a bit of a farcical encounter as the match was a dead rubber in terms of qualification, and the 1-0 win over England ensured a last 16 date with Japan.
Onto Japan, and they emerged from a difficult Group H thanks to a better disciplinary record than third placed Senegal who also finished up on four points – the first time ever in the history of the World Cup that qualification has been decided by a lower yellow card count.
Japan gained qualification to the last 16 by recording a surprising 2-1 win over Colombia but their cause was given a decisive boost by Colombia having a player sent off after just five minutes. Nevertheless, the Blue Samurai opened their account with a precious three points which gave them some much needed breathing space.
Japan then avoided defeat by drawing 2-2 with Senegal which also earned them a valuable additional point towards qualification, and although they lost 1-0 to a disappointing Poland outfit in their final group match, they went through thanks to Senegal losing to Colombia and having a worse disciplinary record.
However, a better yellow card count won’t help Japan against Belgium as the quality of a rested Eden Hazard along with Mertens, De Bruyne, Meunier, Lukaku and Januzaj – the latter hoping to get a starting place after scoring a beautiful curling effort against England.
My betting tips suggest a Belgium win here…
Pick: Belgium AH-1 @ 1.69 Bet Victor
