Belgium v Morocco: Room for improvement from Group F rivals
Belgium v Morocco betting tips, predictions and odds
Belgium will hope for an improved performance as well as three more points when they face Morocco in the second round of group matches at the World Cup.
Roberto Martinez’s men managed to avoid an upset in their opener but a 1-0 win against Canada did not get pulses racing considering they are seen as potential champions, while Morocco held Croatia to a goalless draw.
Sunday’s Group F match at the Al Thumama Stadium kicks off at 1pm and is live on the BBC.
Belgium seek solutions
Belgium cannot be too dissatisfied with an opening win given the shock defeats suffered by the likes of Argentina and Germany.
The fact they only managed nine shots compared to Canada’s 21 though is a concern, and it could have been a different story had Thibaut Courtois not saved a first-half penalty.
Midfielder Kevin De Bruyne said: “I don’t think we played well enough as a team. We didn’t find any solutions. We started really badly, the momentum was with Canada and we didn’t find a way through their press. I don’t think we played a good game today, me included, but we found a way to win and that was it.”
Coral are offering Belgium winning odds of evens here while Morocco are 3/1, with a second draw for the north Africans priced at 23/10 in the World Cup betting.
A close contest looks likely and the Europeans to win by exactly one goal at 13/5 is one of our Belgium v Morocco betting tips.
Morocco out to make a point again
Morocco were happy for Croatia to dominate possession in their opening game and were rarely troubled in a 0-0 draw.
They forced second-half saves out of Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic through full-backs Noussair Mazraoui and Achraf Hakimi but remain without a World Cup win since 1998.
Manager Walid Regragui said: “We respect a lot Croatia, we know they are one of the best teams in the world. We were not able to win this match but the outcome was great.”
A draw would be another decent result with Canada to come in their final game so another defensive approach looks likely.
That suggests Draw HT/Belgium FT at 18/5 is a decent pick from the Belgium v Morocco odds, while a Belgium win to nil is 11/5 and another 1-0 victory is 11/2.
Batshuayi the main man again
Romelu Lukaku is not yet fit to feature for Belgium so that will mean Michy Batshuayi continues to lead the line.
The former Chelsea and Crystal Palace striker netted the only goal against Canada and had more shots (five) than the rest of the team combined.
Two of those were on target so for the last of our Belgium v Morocco betting tips, we like Coral’s #YourCall option of 29/10 for Belgium to win and Batshuayi to have at least two shots on target.
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All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
