The pinnacle of international football is about to arrive, and there will be no shortage of games in the opening stages of the tournament, with up to four contests a day taking place.
It all gets going with hosts Qatar playing Ecuador on Sunday, before three more games are held on Monday, with England and the Netherlands among the teams getting their campaign underway.
You can get all the best insight, form analysis, odds and tips with Bet9ja. Here, we look ahead to the four games on the opening two days of the tournament.
Group B: England vs Iran
Monday 21st November, 14:00
England go into this World Cup looking to shake off the ‘nearly men’ tag, but their form leading up to their Group B opener against Iran has been underwhelming to say the least.
Gareth Southgate is renowned for being England’s most successful manager since Alf Ramsey’s World Cup triumph in 1966, with his team reaching the semi-finals of the last World Cup in Russia in 2018 and the final of the European Championship last year.
The lavish praise heaped on the team after those runs has died down lately though, after a disappointing Nations League campaign where England were relegated from League A with no wins, three draws and three defeats from their six games; they also failed to score in four of those six games.
Their opponents for the opener come into the tournament on strong form, having topped their qualifying group with eight wins from 10 and just four goals conceded. Iran manager Carlos Queiroz is now in his second spell in charge after leading them at the last two World Cups. This will be his first competitive match since returning to the job in July.
England’s recent games, which have been against teams closer to their own level, may not tell us much about how they will perform in a game where they will be strong favourites, but they have tended to ease their way into tournaments under Southgate. Their first game in the 2018 World Cup ended in a narrow 2-1 success against Tunisia courtesy of a late winner from Harry Kane, and they edged past Croatia 1-0 in their first Euro 2020 game. They then followed that up with a 0-0 draw against Scotland.
Meanwhile, Iran have become known for making themselves difficult to beat and making life hard for teams who are expected to beat them. At the last World Cup, they were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Spain and drew 1-1 with Portugal.
England’s laboured start to tournaments and Iran’s robustness may point to a single-goal win for England, and Bet9ja is offering odds of 3.30. You can also bet on England to win by two at odds of 4.15.
Kane claimed the Golden Boot in Russia four years ago with six goals. He is priced at 4.05 to be first goalscorer on Monday.
Bet9ja odds (at time of writing): England win: 1.37, Draw: 4.50, Iran win: 10.75
Group A: Qatar vs Ecuador
Sunday 20th November, 17:00
The hosts will kick off the tournament playing in their first ever World Cup match. They go into the tournament in strong form, with just one defeat from their last 10 games. Nine of those 10 games were friendlies, but Qatar did previously get to play in a European qualifying group for better practice ahead of the tournament. They secured nine points from those 10 matches, but seven of those points came from the first three games.
Ecuador meanwhile, have kept clean sheets in all six friendlies they have played since qualifying, but only scored two goals in those games. We can look at this as essentially an away game for Ecuador, and their eight away qualifiers produced just one win.
We’re looking at the draw, priced at 3.05.
Bet9ja odds (at time of writing): Qatar win: 3.15, Draw: 3.05, Ecuador win: 2.50
Group A: Senegal vs Netherlands
Monday 21st November, 17:00
African champions Senegal will have realistic ambitions of reaching the knockout stages for the first time since 2002, but Sadio Mané missing the tournament through injury is significantly damaging. Their recent form has been slightly inconsistent, but they have only failed to score in one of their last 12 games.
Louis van Gaal’s Netherlands team are in good shape, having recently reached the semi-finals of the Nations League, topping their group with five wins, a draw and 14 goals scored.
We’re expecting goals in this one, so both teams to score at 2.06 and over 2.5 goals at 2.10 are odds to look out for.
Bet9ja odds (at time of writing): Senegal win: 6.20, Draw: 3.80, Netherlands win: 1.62
Group B: USA vs Wales
Monday 21st November, 20:00
USA return to the World Cup after missing out on qualifying for the 2018 tournament. Their form has been mixed since the end of qualifying, as the last three games have brought just one USA goal, but that followed clean sheets in all of the three games prior.
Wales have had a much longer break from the World Cup, as this will be their first tournament finals since 1958. Aside from the euphoria that came with beating Ukraine in a qualification play-off in June, they have not been in good form, as they were relegated from League A in the Nations League with no wins, one draw and five defeats.
The lack of form for both teams means we could see them ease their way into the tournament without pushing too hard for a winner. Odds for a draw are 3.00.
Bet9ja odds (at time of writing): USA win: 2.54, Draw: 3.00, Wales win: 3.15
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