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The clash between England and Belgium will be played at the Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad on June 28th. Both Three Lions and Red Devils impressed in the first two matches and deserved to finish in the first place in the group, but it can only be one, so in case it ends with a draw, whoever has fewer cards will be the first, which is England at the moment.
England vs. Belgium
Three-Way: 1: England +162; X: +200 Draw; 2: Belgium +220 (Odds provided by Delaware Park Sportsbook)
Spread 0: England -133; Belgium +120
Total 2.5 goals: Over +129; Under -167
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England wanted to score as much as they can in order to improve goal difference in a fight for the first place in the group and they managed with a massive 6-1 victory over Panama. John Stones opened up the scoring in the 8th minute before Harry Kane converted a penalty in the 22nd to make it 2-0, while in the 36th minute, Jesse Lingard scored a great goal from outside the box to complete the over 2.5 goals at -125.
Stones and Kane with their second goals of the game in the 40th and 45th minute gave the Three Lions a huge 5-0 lead at halftime, while Kane scored the hat-trick in the 62nd minute thanks to a lucky flick, which was the second hat-trick at the World Cup after Cristiano Ronaldo’s against Spain. England didn’t want to risk anything at that point and they allowed the Canal men to attack them, so in the 78th minute, the captain Felipe Baloy scored the most important goal of his career and Panama’s first-ever at the World Cup to set the final score, 6-1, and make all the punters who backed BTTS at +190 very happy.
On the other hand, Belgium also produced an excellent display in a 5-2 thrashing of Tunisia, mostly thanks to Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku who scored a brace apiece. Hazard scored from the penalty spot in the 6th minute, and only ten minutes later, Lukaku doubled the Red Devils’ lead, but Dylan Bronn cut the deficit to half with a header in the 18th minute, so if you backed BTTS at +110 and over 2.5 goals at -125, you made a solid profit.
Lukaku restored Belgium’s two-goal lead in the last moments of the first half, while Hazard completed his brace in the 51st. The Red Devils slowed down a bit and we waited for 40 minutes to see the next goal when the substitute Michy Batshuayi scored in the 90th minute, but that was not all as the Tunisian captain Wahbi Khazri set the final result in the 93rd minute with a close-range strike to make it 5-2.
Players to watch
Harry Kane is currently the top scorer at the World Cup with five goals, while Ronaldo and Lukaku added four apiece, but Lukaku will not feature on this one due to a slight injury, which is a great chance for Tottenham’s striker to improve his record.
Eden Hazard will be the go-to guy in the absence of Lukaku and the speedy winger has the ability to hurt England’s 3-5-2 formation, especially on the counters. He and Mertens will probably create the most danger to Jordan Pickford and the Three Lion’s defense.
Probable Lineups:
England: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Henderson, Trippier, Lingard, Loftus-Cheek, Young; Sterling, Kane.
Belgium: Courtois; Alderweireld, Boyata, Vertonghen; Meunier, De Bruyne, Witsel, Carrasco; Mertens, Hazard, Batshuayi.
Betting Prediction
England’s chances to win the World Cup are now +800, while the Three Lions are -250 to reach the quarter-finals. Belgium’s chances to win the World Cup are now +650, while the Red Devils are -303 to reach the quarter-finals.
England is a slight favorite here but only because of the fact that Lukaku will not feature; however, I still think that there are plenty of other players in Belgium squad who can hurt the Three Lions, so I am backing goals on both ends here.
The Pick: Both teams to score YES (-110)