France v Croatia Betting Tips: 1, World Cup 2018

France to lift the World Cup despite spirited Croatia challenge

World Cup Betting Tips

FRANCE v CROATIA

Sunday 15th July 2018 – Kickoff: 1600hrs

Football – World – World Cup 2018 Betting Tips

Welcome to my World Cup 2018 betting tips, and Sunday brings us the eagerly awaited World Cup final between France and Croatia in Russia at Luzhniki with the field of 32 teams now whittled down to two, with just ninety minutes left to decide the overall winner.

Winners of Group C, France, remained unbeaten throughout the group stages with wins accrued over Australia and Peru before being held by Denmark in their final group match, but by then Les Bleus had already qualified for the round of the last 16.

The knock-out rounds saw France edge out Argentina in a high-scoring 4-3 win which was one of the matches of the tournament, a 2-0 win over Uruguay in the quarter-finals and then a semi-final 1-0 win over neighbours, Belgium to send them into the final.

The powerhouse midfield of Pogba and Kante, have blended superbly with the attacking trio of Mbappe, Griezmann and Matuidi, while striker Giroud will once again make claims of a starting place for this massive encounter.

Forward, Griezmann (3 goals) will look to add to his goals tally here, but will find it difficult now to overhaul England’s Harry Kane for the Golden Boot.

Onto Croatia, and they recorded an epic 2-1 win over England as they once again dug deep to grind out an excellent result for the dark horses of this tournament.

The Croatians found themselves a goal down at half-time through an excellent free-kick from Trippier, but they dusted themselves down and struck back through Perisic to level, and then striker Mandzukic sent them into the final during extra time and broke English hearts in the process.

Croatia had earlier breezed through Group D as they recorded a 100% winning record with wins over Nigeria 2-0, Argentina 3-0 and Iceland 2-1, before a round of last 16 win over Denmark but had to endure the dreaded penalty shoot-out to progress.

Another penalty shoot-out against host nation, Russia, beckoned in the quarter-finals which they eventually won, which sent them through to a semi-final clash against England. Again, it was Modric who orchestrated most of Croatia’s attacking threats, and with the likes of ‘spoiler’ Rakitic screening the back four, this gives Modric licence to move further forward.

Perisic and Mandzukic will always carry threats whenever they play, but I do have a few doubts as to the solidity of Croatia’s back four, and in particular, their lack of pace at the back which could well be exploited by Mbappe and Griezmann.

This will no doubt be a very tight encounter, but I’m going to back France to win this one within ninety minutes.

Pick: France to win @ 1.93 Unibet

Side Pick: Anytime goalscorer – Antoine Griezmann @ 2.90 Coral