2018 World Cup Quarterfinals Betting Preview

2018 World Cup Quarterfinals Betting Preview

Twenty-four of the 32 teams who came to Russia to play for the 2018 World Cup have been eliminated. Six of the European teams remain, and two remain from South America, with the rest of the world’s confederations seeing their teams sent home. We will be posting individual game previews for each match tomorrow, but today we have television and live streaming options for each game, as well as three-way match World Cup odds and a brief sports betting insight for each outcome.

2018 World Cup Quarterfinals Preview

Friday, July 6

Uruguay vs France (10:00am ET, FOX/fuboTV)

2018 World Cup Odds: Uruguay -350 / Draw +225 / France +100 These are fascinating odds given the fact that you can find France at 4/1 to win the World Cup while Uruguay sits at 14/1. Uruguay does have the duo of Luis Suarez and Edison Cavani, but Cavani remains questionable due to a hamstring injury he suffered in the team’s win over Argentina — again, making these odds even more tenuous. France got a terrific brace from Mbappe in their win over Argentina, and with their speed up front, they should be able to find room to cause some havoc. I don’t know that I’d bet on this game with the uncertainty around Cavani, but if I had to choose right now, with him out, I’d lean toward France.

Brazil vs Belgium (2:00pm ET, FOX/fuboTV)

2018 World Cup Odds: Brazil +104 / Draw +241 / Belgium +290 Brazil makes their sixth consecutive quarterfinal appearance when they face Belgium on Friday, thanks to goals from Neymar and Roberto Firmino in their win over Mexico in the round of 16. Mexico won the battle of possession and physicality (committing 18 fouls), but Brazil kept applying pressure and got the goals. Brazil started the World Cup with some difficulties on offense but have two goals in five of their last six matches. They face a Belgium side that had to pour in three goals in less than 30 minutes to come back from a potentially devastating 2-0 deficit against Japan in the round of 16. It took those two goals to wake Belgium up; after that, they mounted relentless offensive pressure, producing quality shots on goal. When they are playing that aggressively, they are hard to beat, but do they have the discipline to hang with Brazil? At this point, I’m leaning toward Brazil.

Saturday, July 7

Sweden vs England (10:00am ET, FOX/fuboTV)

2018 World Cup Odds: Sweden +300 / Draw +230 / England -110 Sweden made a terrific shot from Emil Forsberg (RB Leipzig) stand up as the only score in a 1-0 win over Switzerland. Now they have a chance to reach the semifinals, a stage that no Swedish team has ever reached in a World Cup. Like Sweden, England relies heavily on one playmaker, in Harry Kane. He did convert a spot kick during regulation and nailed his penalty kick in the deciding moments against Colombia. However, England had a tough time generating offensive chances against a Colombia side that has decent defense. Sweden showed similar defensive prowess against Mexico in their group finale as well as against Switzerland. I don’t see England opening up many opportunities against Sweden, but I do see Sweden taking advantage of cracks in the opposition as they have in their past two matches. At this point, I’m taking the Swedes to advance.

Russia vs Croatia (2:00pm ET, FOX/fuboTV)

2018 World Cup Odds: Russia +240 / Draw +205 / Croatia +123 Russia pulled off an amazing upset by eliminating Spain in penalty kicks in the round of 16 — but remember that this is a Spanish side that conceded three goals to Portugal in a draw, as they could not defend Cristiano Ronaldo, and then drew Morocco in the group finale, surrendering two goals to a side that had not scored at all in their first two group games. So to say that there are communication issues might well be an understatement for Spain — which was not to be unexpected given that they fired their manager right before the World Cup opened. Russia beat the likes of Saudi Arabia and Egypt but took a 3-0 drubbing from Uruguay. Croatia swept group play with three wins and then were able to escape Denmark via penalty kicks. Croatia has the offensive talent to crack through Russia’s defense, and at that value moneyline Croatia is a natural pick here.