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Salvador will be the host of the last match in the first knockout stage, Belgium vs. Team USA. Match analysis below.
Belgium has a lot of stars and were viewed as a dark horse in the competition (still are) but even if they won first three matches, they did not play too well. All victories came in the last 10 minutes and Belgium struggled a lot with second tier opponents like South Korea, Algeria and Russia. Of course those teams were not bad, but neither is USA. On a bright note, Belgium defended very well and showed they have players who can decide any game by themselves at any time. Unfortunately for Belgium they have a lot of squad problems for this game: Vanden Borre is out, Defour is out, and the two central defenders Kompany and Vermaelen are questionable.
Belgium lineup: Courtois – Alderweireld, Van Buyten, Kompany, Vertonghen – Witsel, Fellaini, De Bruyne – Mertens, Mirallas, Origi
USA is one of the nicest surprises in the World Cup in my opinion, they got out from a very hard group with Germany, Portugal and Ghana and only lost against the Germans. An analysis of their game will reveal that the USA strengths are counter attacks, set pieces and pragmatism. They have a lot of options to score goals and can defend reasonably well. For sure USA will be a tough opponent for Belgium tonight, especially considering that Jurgen Klinsmann has no missing players and can field the best lineup. Also he gets back Altidore, great weapon for counters.
USA lineup: Howard – Johnson, Cameron, Besler, Beasley – Beckerman, Jones – Bedoya, Bradley, Altidore – Dempsey
Belgium will probably keep most of the ball again and pass it around hoping to find spaces in the USA defense. It won’t be easy for them to break down the Americans considering that Belgium did not show great chemistry up front. USA will have their chances on the breaks, where they excel, and with a little bit of luck they might have some clear cut chances. Dempsey is the main danger for Belgium, so the Europeans will probably double mark him, leaving spaces for Altidore or Bedoya to come in and create something. This game looks very evenly matched, USA will be a very hard team to beat in this stage of the World Cup and Belgium does not deserve odds under evens; so my tip will be USA +0,5 handicap. Correct score prediction: Belgium – USA 1-1 (2-1 extra time / penalties).
Pick: USA (+0,5 handicap)
Odds: 1.93 @ Bet365
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 7.44
Event date: 1 July
