France v Australia

Saturday 16th June – 11am

Match Odds: France 3/10, Draw 11/2, Australia 14/1

Confirmed Penalty Takers: France – Antoine Griezmann, Australia – Mile Jedinak

This is a massive mis-match, make no mistake. Ranked 7th in the World according to FIFA, France are 33 places above Australia in the rankings, and we also know that only six sides coming into previous World Cups from the Asian/Oceanic route have made it out of their Groups from 24 attempts in the last 25 years. Over time they have got worse in fact, with all four representatives finishing bottom of their groups last time out.

Australia scarped through this time, finishing third in the final qualifying group, a point behind Japan and level with Saudi Arabia, and a +5 goal difference was poor to say the least. In Tim Cahill they continue to look to a 38 striker whose best days are well behind him – he failed to score for Millwall last season and was nothing better than mediocre in his season at Melbourne.

It’s hard to argue with the bookies making France 2/7 favourites therefore, but it’s also hard to see a side who scored just 18 in qualifying running riot either. They have a superb squad – man to man at any rate, but Didier Deschamps has struggled to get them playing as a steady unit and continues to tinker regularly - even the system appears undecided on the eve of the action. With Australia conceding almost a goal a game against significantly lower class sides, there is always a chance though.

Instead it could pay to head to the bookings markets in this one, where a couple of names stand out as potential names for the notebook. Paul Pogba collected four yellows in qualifying and certainly gets stuck in for France, while Mark Milligan collected five in 18 matches in qualifying for the Australians, and will have to cope with Olivier Giroud and Antonie Griezmann in this one. Both looks decent odds to collect a card at 4/1 and 2/1 respectively.

Bets

0.5pts Pogba to be shown a card at 4/1

1pt Mark Milligan to be shown a card at 2/1 (Check team news before betting is the advice)

*check prices nearer the time, as most bookies are rather slow to put their heads up on this market at time of writing.

#Football