CROATIA v ENGLAND
Wednesday 11th July 2018 – Kickoff: 1900hrs
Football – World – World Cup 2018 Betting Tips
Welcome to my World Cup 2018 betting tips, and the final two places in the semi-finals have now been confirmed with Croatia taking on England at Luzhniki on Wednesday night in another European clash with a place in the World Cup final at stake.
Croatia were impressive during the group stages of the tournament as they finished top of a tough looking Group D which also contained the likes of runners-up, Argentina, as well as Nigeria and European Championship revelations, Iceland. The Croats recorded a perfect three wins out of three with wins over Nigeria 2-0, Argentina 3-0 and Iceland 2-1 to finish top of the pile.
The round of last 16 saw them win a penalty shoot-out against Denmark which would have been a huge relief to Luka Modric who missed a penalty in extra-time, but they eventually edged out the Danes 3-2. Croatia then accounted for host nation, Russia, in another dramatic penalty shoot-out after the scores were level at 2-2 after extra time.
Croatia are one of the dark horses to lift this World Cup but although they possess dangerous personnel such as Rakitic, Perisic, Mandzukic and influential playmaker, Modric, they’ve also shown signs of vulnerability in defence too, which was evident against Denmark and Russia in recent matches.
Onto England, and they will appear in a World Cup semi-final for the first time in 28 years after seeing off Sweden in a 2-0 win in the quarter-finals thanks to goals from Harry Maguire and Dele Alli to send the English into raptures.
England had earlier finished runners-up to Belgium in Group G having beaten Tunisia 2-1 and Panama 6-1 before a 1-0 defeat to Belgium in what was a dead rubber encounter as both teams had already qualified for the round of last 16 by then anyway.
Striker Harry Kane (6 goals) is in line to lift the Golden Boot, but perhaps the most dangerous aspect of England’s attacking make-up is their threat from set pieces as they’ve scored 4 goals from either free-kicks or corners with defenders Stones and Maguire in particular, cashing in.
To summarise, Croatia’s goal threat is most likely to come from open play with Modric threading dangerous through-balls behind the England defence, while England are quite likely to strike from a set-piece.
My betting tips system therefore suggests that both teams will score here in their bid to reach the final.
Pick: Both teams to score @ 2.12 Unibet
