England vs Belgium Betting Preview

Kick-off: Wednesday, 28th June @19:00 GMT

Venue: Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad

Head to head record

England vs Belgium 4-4 (1954 World Cup)

Belgium vs England 1-1 (1980 European Championship)

England vs Belgium 1-0 (1990 World Cup)

England vs Belgium 2-1 (1999 friendly)

England vs Belgium 1-0 (2012 friendly)

Apart from two matches in the World Cup, one in the Euros and one in King Hassan II Cup, all the other matches were friendlies. In total two sides met 21 times; England have won 15 times, Belgium twice and the remaining four were draws.

England vs Belgium predictions

While most pundits predicted England and Belgium to fight for the top spot in Group G, they probably didn’t think it would be this close. England have scored eight goals so far, and so has Belgium. England have conceded two and so have Belgium.

Since it might come down to how many yellow cards the teams have received in three games, England is in a better position with only two yellow cards conceded so far, to Belgium’s three. However, a win for either team will see them finish the group stage at the top.

A walk in the park

Reports say that Harry Kane is eager to score as many goals as possible in order to compete for the Golden Boot. Kane has scored five goals so far, and leads the list of top scorers in front of Lukaku and Ronaldo.
England have quality players on the bench. Rashford and Alli have only played in one game so far each, and would cherish the chance to play against Belgium.

England should feel confident coming into this match based on the performances so far, especially after thrashing Panama 6-1. The game should ba walk in the park, but it’s never that simple when England plays.

Will the Red Devils take a break?

Belgians are a team to be reckoned with. With such players like Hazard, De Bruyne, Fellaini and Lukaku, they are capable of beating any team. Lukaku has netted four goals so far will be looking to add to that. If both him and Harry Kane play in the match, this might be a straight up battle for the title of top scorer at the end of the group stage.

Question is will the Belgians rest players? Six players in the team have played two full games. It might be a good chance to play Vermaelen and Januzaj, or put Kompany in for one of the center backs.

A few interesting facts

• Since winning the World Cup in 1966 after s goal that is to this day still contested by some, England have only managed to be fourth once in the 1990 World Cup and third in 1968 Euros.
• England have the worst record in penalty shootouts out of all the countries. They have managed to lose out in six penalty shootouts out of seven.
• The nickname for the Belgians is “Red Devils”. A journalist gave them the nickname after they thrashed Holland 5:0 in 1906.
• In September 2015 Belgium jumped to No 1 in FIFA rankings and held the top spot for 215 days.

England vs Belgium betting pick

This game gives both teams a chance to rest players. While this might make the game a boring affair, it gives the potential substitutes a chance to play in the World Cup and show what they could do.

England are slightly more favored to win this game, but a draw is more than possible. Even a draw might not decide who will top the group. It might come to fair play rules and the team with more yellow cards will have to settle for second in the group.

Pick: England to win

Odds: 13/8