France v Nigeria World Cup 2014, 30th June Betting Preview
France head into this one as strong favourites and it is hard to see an upset happening in the match. Les Bleus, on the back of some strong performances so far have been moved into 10/1 shots to win the title in Brazil. The winner of this match will move ahead to play the winner of Germany and Algeria.
France v Nigeria Betting Tips
France are odds on favourites to win this match. They looked more than comfortable in their group, taking convincing wins over Honduras and Switzerland, before rounding off with a draw against Ecuador. The two sides have met just twice before, and that was back in 2009 with the Super Eagles taking a 1-0 win in the match. France have suffered defeats in two of their last three encounters against African sides at the World Cup. Those were against Senegal in 2002 and four years ago against South Africa. Sandwiched in between that was a win over Togo.
France are running hot going forward, as no side produced more attempts at goal in the group stage than Les Bleus did. Karim Benzema now has nine goals in his last nine international appearances and can be backed at 10/11 in the anytime goalscorer market. Olivier Giroud looks in good back up stage and is 5/4 to net at any time. They have an offensive threat, and they have also won all three of their previous second round ties at the World Cup. So history is on their side and they are worth backing to get through. They have gone on to make it to the semi finals on each of the last five occasions that they have made it out of the group stage.
In the group stage, Nigeria opened with a disappointing draw against Iran, and then pulled off a shock win over Bosnia, and rounded off with a defeat against Argentina. Thanks to Iran not beating Bosnia in their final match, the Super Eagles scraped through to the knockout stage of the competition. They have lost on their last two appearances at this stage of the competition, and both were against European opposition. There isn’t a lot of forward power to bank on for Nigeria, but they have scored in all but one of their last 10 World Cup matches against UEFA sides. But their form at the World Cup is poor having won just one of their last 11 matches in the tournament. Their current form is poor too, having won just one of their last six.
France v Nigeria Betting Odds
France 1/2, Draw 1/2, Nigeria 5/1
Online betting site Sky Bet are offering a money back special for this one. If France fail to win this game inside 90 minutes, then you will get your money back on selected markets, up to the maximum of £25. A £5 minimum stake is needed for the qualifying bet.
France v Nigeria Predictions
Would not look any further than France for this one. There appears to be a clear division between the two nations and Les Bleus have far more to offer as an offensive unit. The strengths for Nigeria are in digging in, but you would expect France to break them down and progress.
