World Cup Soccer – Belgium vs Argentina
By Charles Jay
Let’s face it – any team that wants to win the World Cup has to get the job done on both ends of the field. That’s just the way the game is. But some teams like to emphasize one thing above the other. It is the general consensus among World Cup bettors at Vietbet that Belgium has gotten this far in the tournament by being able to prevent other teams from scoring, rather than through offensive explosiveness itself.
Empirical evidence has demonstrated that to be the case, and it won’t come in any handier than on Saturday, when the Belgians go up against Argentina with a berth in the semi-finals on the line. Game time for soccer betting action is Noon ET at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia.
Neither of these teams has lost yet, which makes it even more intriguing. But the thing that most people are probably most curious about is how the Belgian team is going to deal with the player who presents the most immediate danger to them. Of course, that’s Lionel Messi, hailed by many as the greatest player in the world. Since some of the other Argentinean weapons have not performed as expected, Messi can expect quite a bit of attention
Total Goals:
Under 2.5 Goals -156
Over 2.5 Goals +141
(Above odds include only 90 minutes and stoppage time)
* Odds including extra time and penalties)
Argentina advances -175
Belgium advances +160
Messi is at last having a great World Cup tournament. He scored in each of the group games, and then in the Round of 16 matchup against Switzerland, he fed Angel Di Maria for a goal that broke a scoreless tie in the 118th minute. But if you are a critic by nature, you may be wondering why Argentina had to let it get to that point against a Swiss squad that has talent, not to mention a Top 10 FIFA ranking, but had been soundly thrashed (5-2) by France in their group.
When you look at Di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain, you figure that Messi should have plenty of firepower to draw the attention away form him. But Higuain hasn’t put one in the net yet, and that was Di Maria’s first goal of the tournament. The injury to Sergio Aguero, the star forward for Manchester City, was felt against the Swiss. And so the Belgian game plan is to just make anything and everything a chore for Messi. Those Vietbet customers who followed the journey of the United States into the elimination phase may recall that the Americans did a good job of smothering Christiano Ronaldo and making him a non-factor for the most part.
That is what Belgium would like to accomplish against Messi. The Red Devils would like to impose it upon somebody else to beat them. Coach Marc Wilmots has expressed some skepticism that Argentina has enough weaponry to do it against airtight defense, which has permitted just two goals in this event, and has made some comments about his club’s opponent having a relative lack of balance.
Lest anyone believe that all they do is sit back, Belgium can unleash an offensive attack of its own. And Wilmots believes that it can come from anywhere, although the acknowledged leader of this team is Eden Hazard. They got off 38 shots against the United States in the Round of 16, and the majority opinion among World Cup bettors is that Argentina’s Sergio Romero (just +1400 to win the Golden Glove at Vietbet) is not the equal of the Americans’ Tim Howard,.
The Belgians, extra-hungry after qualifying for the first time since 2002, might just be well-equipped enough to end Argentina’s World Cup quest the same way it ended in the last two Cups – in the quarter-final stage.
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