The Acca Scout from oddschecker finds value bets for today's quarter-final World Cup fixtures, featuring key stats, tactics and best of the boosts.
Numbers View – Key Stats
Louis van Gaal has a reputation for setting his sides up in a way that makes them tough to beat. In his previous stint as Netherlands coach, he drew criticism for banishing the country’s favoured 4-3-3 formation for a more rigid 3-4-3 – something he’s carried into his latest (third) spell in charge.
In the 2014 World Cup, both the Netherlands’ quarter-final (famous for goalkeeper Tim Krul’s late introduction) and semi-final (against Argentina) went to penalties, while their last 16 match against Mexico was heading for extra time until Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s 92nd minute winner.
Netherlands vs Argentina to be decided in extra time is a value bet at 11/2.
No opposition player has scored against Morocco in the 2022 World Cup. The only goal they have conceded was an own goal, which tells you how difficult Walid Regragui’s side have been to play against. Something to highlight from the stats is that Morocco have conceded the most fouls of all teams in the tournament with 59, but have only collected three yellow cards.
Whether or not you believe the cards will start coming against Portugal, that’s a foul rate of 17.72 per 90 minutes so over 14.5 fouls for Morocco at 11/10 is an eye-catching bet.
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And finally, if you want a punt to close out the quarter-final action, and you’re not buying into the hype around Gareth Southgate’s England, we’ve picked out this 12/1 selection from our Bet Builder page – Antoine Griezmann to assist one or more goals and to have one or more shots on target from outside the box.
No player has registered more key passes than Griezmann (15) at the World Cup so far, with big Golden Boot favourite Mbappe the most frequent beneficiary. A goal for Mbappe in Saturday's quarter-final against England would take him to six in the tournament - only the Brazilian Ronaldo in 2002 (eight) has gone past six since Grzegorz Lato in 1974.
Pitch View – Analysis from Sam McGuire
Gareth Southgate has the biggest decision of his managerial career to make on Saturday as England take on France for a place in the World Cup semi-finals.
As explained by Twitter favourite Sam McGuire, England have moved away from the double pivot system that Southgate was married to in previous tournaments.
The formation may have shifted from a 3-4-3 to a 4-2-3-1 on occasion but the one constant was the two-man midfield. It was a base to build from and extra security for the defence.
In Qatar, however, the 4-3-3 (which becomes 2-3-5 in possession) has helped the Three Lions to a tournament-high 12 goals, conceding just twice in their four outings. So, will Southgate stick or twist when faced with Mbappe?
Bookie View – Best of the Boosts
The Best of the Boosts through oddschecker is a dynamic page updating automatically with the best offers from our bookmakers. At the time of writing, have a look at these three.
- Brazil and England both to reach the final @ 6/1 (Was 9/2)
- Neymar (vs Croatia) and Messi (vs Netherlands) both to score @ 5/1
