England v Belgium
It’s the game no one wants to be involved in, but England and Belgium will play each other in a second meaningless encounter in as many weeks on Saturday in the 3rd/4th playoff. Nobody remembers these games (go on, try and name the last three 3rd/4th place games over the last three World Cups…..)
It could be an opportunity for Southgate and Martinez to give a couple of their squad players a run out, but Southgate particularly has spoken about wanting to make as few changes as possible for this one. Romelu Lukaku, just a couple of goals behind Kane for the Golden Boot will also be eager for a start as well.
These games do tend to produce goals. You have to go all the way back to 1974 to find a 3rd/4th play-off match with fewer than three goals, and plenty have produced more. The full list of scores in that period reads:
3-0, 3-2, 3-1, 3-2, 2-1, 4-0, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 2-1, 1-0
Over 2.5 Goals looks tempting at 4/7, but strong odds-on bets aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, and we’d probably lean towards the 6/4 available on Over 3.5 instead here, while those a little braver could back Over 4.5 at 18/5. The Over 3.5 Goals would have landed in six of the past ten renewals. .
For fans of Both Teams to Score, it would have landed in eight of the last ten as well, and is on offer at 1/2
2pts Over 3.5 Goals at 6/4 (UniBet)
1pt Over 4.5 Goals at 18/5 (UniBet)