Belgium V Tunisia World Cup 2018

Belgium V Tunisia

(Synopsis in red)

Pregame bets:

Belgium barely broke into a sweat while dismantling a poor Panama team. This will be more of the same, albeit might be until the second half till we see the Tunisian defence crumble, but it will.

€1.00 Single
Belgium v Tunisia – Correct Score 4-1 22/1

Against England the Tunisians were quite dirty and physical, and they are the type of team that will offer up loads of frees. Step forward De Bruyne, a man who knows how to hit them. he was so close in the first game, I expect him to get it right this time.

€2.00 Single
Belgium v Tunisia – To Score a Direct Free Kick K De Bruyne 16/1
Stake:

€4.00 Single
Belgium v Tunisia – Anytime Goalscorer Kevin De Bruyne 7/2

€5.00 Single
Belgium v Tunisia – Red Card Markets Tunisia to have a red card 15/2

Full betting review here>https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-of-the-world-cup-2018/

Beers: Group G of Beer World Cup:

World Cup of Beer Group G

Belgian entry, Kamil, based not too far from the beautiful medieval city of Antwerp, will be up against Tunisia who have no beer to represent them. No beer no fun!

No competition for the interesting Blonde Ale from the Bieren Van Begeerte brewery. Was enjoyable, one nil to the Belgians.

PreGame:

In the opening game it was so easy for Belgium against Panama as they ran out of legs and energy. It was 3-0 but could have been more.

In the first half Belgium didn’t do a whole lot, for sure they had good tempo and made some incisive forward play but there was no real bite to their attack. But it took a moment of magic from Mertens just after half time, with a cracking volley, to wake the team up. He had a good game too wee Mertens.

After the first goal went in Belgium started to play a bit more freely and with more confidence, as the heads dipped a bit for Panama.

But against the run of play Panama had a great chance to equalise when Michael Murillo was one v one with the goalkeeper but Courtois spreadeagled prevented a goal. Courtois had a good solid game throughout, what a great goalkeeper to have who inspires confidence in his back line.

Not long after Hazard someone manages to pass a ball (was difficult for him today) and sets up Lukaku with a chance to score, which he does with a lovely deft little chip over the goalie. A well worked goal.

Lukaku got another goal when De Bruyne with a lovely flick with the outside of his foot set him up for a free header to power home for the third goal of the game. About the only thing De Bruyne did really, a sub below par game for him today. Was another great counterattack goal from the Belgians, their trademark.

Three nil is all good and well for Belgium but I saw a lot of flaws in this game today that would make me very concerned if I was a Belgian fan. One thing that can’t be excused was that Eden Hazard couldn’t give a simple pass all game, well apart from setting up the one goal, he must have lost the ball a million times in the game. He can afford to do that against Panama but will be severely punished if he does that shit v Spain or Portugal for example. And you wonder on why the manager didn’t take him off. I would begin to wonder about Martinez there.

Belgium got three points on the board and, today, up against Tunisia, should get the win to put them through to the last 16.

Against England, Tunisia played puke football all match and were lucky to even get one goal never mind a draw. (thanks to the ref)

It was a very cynical and dirty Tunisian team who tried to disrupt the play of England all game. They slowed down the game, took their time over frees and throw ins, and players had severe cramp a couple of times. Also for corners they wrestled Kane to the ground time and time again. I will be amazed if they escape the World Cup without a red card! Tunisia might be lucky to get a draw with a similar performance against Belgium today, perhaps, but I doubt it!

A more detailed review on Belgium here and on Tunisia here

Was too easy for Belgian, as I had predicted there would be a hammering, and that Belgium would be too strong for a severely limited Tunisian team.

Belgium started with much more intensity, and I guess after looking at the England game, they knew that if they get at Tunisia from the get go they might crumble early. And so they did, very early in fact, after about 6 minutes, with Hazard getting and scoring a penalty. We didn’t have to wait long for the next one, ten minutes in fact, for Lukaku to score a nice goal that was well set up.

Rather than crumble Tunisia did somehow manage to pull one quick goal back, Bronn scored from a glancing header, unmarked, back of the net. Great response, and exactly what his team needed. Game on.

Or so we thought, but Tunisia continued to gift Belgium simple chances, and with De Bruyne and Witsel pulling the strings in midfield it wasn’t long before Lukaku got his second goal of the afternoon. Put on a plate for him from De Bruyne, 3-1, just before half time.

Straight into the second half normal service resumed as in the 51st minute hazard got his seond and Belgium’s fourth. Another great ball from De Bruyne, and nice control by hazard to hit it easily past the hapless Tunisian goalkeeper.

As a contest it was over, and still we had so many minutes of the game to go. Subs came and went, and Batshuayi who was only on the pitch a short while, managed to have about 5 simple goal scoring chances, hitting one of the post when it was easier to score, rounding the glk in another and tamely hitting it when he should have blasted it into the empty net, but he did get the one nice goal, a well taken effort to make it 5-1.

Tunisia got one back, but they were never at the races today. Belgium looked good, particularly De Bruyne quietly going about his business behind the forwards, making most of the build up play and assisting in a few of the goals for today. Also for me, Vertonghen in central defence has had a good world cup so far, marshaling his back four very well, a good rock at the back. Belgium got their goal ratio way up today and knowing that a draw against England should be enough to qualify as leaders of the Group.