France vs Argentina Odds

France vs Argentina World Cup Odds

The first Round of 16 game at the 2018 FIFA World Cup sees France take on Argentina at the Kazan Arena at 17:00 local time on Saturday 30th June. France are favorites with bookmakers, but Argentina have vastly more experience of tournament football.

France vs Argentina Prediction

Now that the 2018 FIFA World Cup has reached the knockout stages, another betting market becomes available. The standard win, lose and draw market is based on what happens over the standard 90 minutes, with the "To qualify" market including extra time and penaties, if those are required.

These two sides are relatively evenly matched when it comes to their starting XI and we think this could be a fixture that needs at least extra time. With this in mind, we have looked at the Argentina to qualify market, which Bovada price at +115 compared to Argentina to win in 90 minutes at +240.

Argentina are more experienced in tournament football and that experience could be vital to winning this match and progressing to the quarter-final stage. Argentina have kept three clean sheets in their previous four clashes with France and that defensive setup could thwart the French again, allowing the cool Argentinian heads to excel in extra time and beyond.

France vs Argentina Key Bites

• Argentina have failed to score twice in their previous 12 games 
• France's likely starting XI will feature no fewer than five players from Paris Saint-Germain
• France have progressed from the Round of 16 at every attempt since FIFA introduced it at the 1986 World Cup
• France have kept seven clean sheets in their previous 14 games, including two in their last two matches
• Lionel Messi's goal in the 2-1 win over Nigeria was his first at the World Cup for 662 minutes

France vs Argentina Betting Trends

France

• France are +850 fifth favorites to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
• This will be Didier Dechamps' 80th game in charge of France, the most of any other French coach.
• France have lost all four of their previous games against Argentina.
• France's 0-0 draw with Denmark was the first of the 2018 World Cup. It took 36 games for it to happen.
• Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud did not link up well against Denmark with Griezmann failing to find his strike partner with a single pass.

Argentina

• Argentina are +1200 to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
• Lionel Messi became the third Argentinian player to score in three different World Cup when he found the back of the net against Nigeria. The other two are Diego Maradona and Gabriel Batistuta.
• Argentina have won the World Cup twice. Once in 1978 and again in 1986.
• Argentina's opening goal against Nigeria was the 100th goal of the tournament.
• This is likely to be Lionel Messi's final World Cup, will he bow out in style?

France vs Argentina World Cup Preview

Many pundits around the world believe this is the strongest crop of French players since France won the 1998 World Cup on home soil. The French squad looks exciting, on paper at least, thanks to a youthful squad that has a wealth of attacking talent.

Didier Deschamps can choose from Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele, Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappe in attack, the latter being the youngest-ever French player to score at a major international tournament.

France are also solid defensively. They have only conceded 10 goals in their previous 14 matchs and have kept seven clean sheets in those games.

What is worrying for fans of the French national side is they seemed to lack enough creativity to break down defenses who stacked men behind the ball. They only managed three goals in the Group Stage and two of those came against Australia, with one being an own goal. Argentina's defense is much better than any of the teams France faced in the Group Stage, are the French good enough to create chances for their star forwards?

Argentina's squad has tons of experience of tournament football and that should stand them in good stead now the 2018 FIFA World Cup has progressed to the knockout stages. Disappointing in their opening two Group Stage games, Argentina pulled a result out of the bag to beat Nigeria 2-1 and seal their place in the Round of 16.

That is one of Argentina's greatest strengths: they have an almost unnatural ability to get a result when they need it the most. There was talk of a player revolt in the Argentina camp and that the players were not keen on playing for their coach, but there was definitely a togetherness when they beat Nigeria so those rumors have now been quashed.

Two things could hinder Argentina at this World Cup. The first is the over reliance on Lionel Messi. Everything positive about Argentina's play flows through Messi despite having half a dozen creative players. If France manage to stop Messi, they could stop Argentina.

The second is that this is likely to be the final World Cup six or seven of Argentina's players compete in. This could add more pressure to them. If they cannot handle that pressure, it will play into France's hands.

Category : Betting Picks

Tag : FIFA World Cup , Soccer