{"id":20012,"date":"2018-06-27T15:50:23","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T14:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/?p=20012"},"modified":"2019-04-05T16:59:43","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T15:59:43","slug":"england-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/","title":{"rendered":"England vs Belgium preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over \u00a350 Million of prizes across Russia 2018. 18+<\/a><\/p>\n

When the draw was made for the World Cup, it was always likely that England and Belgium would go into the final Group G game already assured of their places in the last 16.<\/p>\n

And so it\u2019s proved. England left it late to get past Tunisia 2-1 but, riding that wave of positivity, came out and thrashed Panama 6-1.<\/p>\n

Belgium started sluggishly against the Panamanians before turning on the style to win 3-0 and then showed their obvious class in a wide-open game against Tunisia and cruised to a 5-2 success.<\/p>\n

Despite the flurry of goals, somehow it emerged that both England and Belgium ended up scoring eight and conceding two.<\/p>\n

Same points, same goal difference, same amount of goals scored. The fact that England go into their clash in Kaliningrad on Thursday as group leaders is due to Gareth Southgate\u2019s men having a slightly better disciplinary record. They\u2019ve picked up just two yellows to Belgium\u2019s three.<\/p>\n

Had this been a last 16 game or quarter-final, we\u2019d have had a fascinating duel between two sides boasting juggernaut strikeforces. In the race for the Golden Boot, Harry Kane leads the way with five, while Belgium\u2019s Romelu Lukaku is second alongside Cristiano Ronaldo with four. Eden Hazard has also chipped in with two.<\/p>\n

And yet, if all the hints coming out of the Belgium camp are true, Lukaku and Hazard will be rested for the more important tests ahead while Kevin De Bruyne, who is on a yellow card, is likely to be protected too.<\/p>\n

England are expected to make less changes but leaving Kane on the bench could be one of them. Don\u2019t be surprised if the heavyweight encounter between Kane and Lukaku is substituted for the more cruiserweight contest of Vardy v Batshuayi.<\/p>\n

And, of course, there\u2019s all the conspiracy theories about England trying to manipulate the draw by deliberately finishing second and supposedly finding an easier route to the last four.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d need to lose for that to happen and, as Southgate says, that\u2019s a dangerous path to tread given that a tournament is about building momentum. Defeat, in whatever circumstances, sends out the wrong message.<\/p>\n

So the conundrum is this? Does a weakened England team beat a very weakened Belgium team (presuming the team news hints are correct)?<\/p>\n

The betting has flipped in anticipation of the likely starting XIs, with England now very marginal favourites.<\/p>\n

Multiple changes can lead to a disruption of rhythm and I\u2019m leaning towards a low-scoring draw, a result that would mean England top the group providing they don\u2019t pick up more yellows than Belgium.<\/p>\n

Then again, six of England\u2019s goals at this World Cup have come from set-pieces while seven of Belgium\u2019s were created from open play.<\/p>\n

Perhaps one of our big lads will head one in from a corner and settle it that way!<\/p>\n

Over \u00a350 Million of prizes across Russia 2018. 18+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over \u00a350 Million of prizes across Russia 2018. 18+ When the draw was made for the World Cup, it was always likely that England and Belgium would go into the final Group G game already assured of their places in the last 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[166,272,361,291],"class_list":["post-20012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-england","tag-featurehome","tag-russia-2018","tag-world-cup"],"yoast_head":"\nDave Tindall previews England vs Belgium for Colossus Bets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Will England try to lose the game against Belgium to finish 2nd and give themselves an easier route in the knockout stages? England vs Belgium preview.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"England vs Belgium preview\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Will England try to lose the game against Belgium to finish 2nd and give themselves an easier route in the knockout stages? England vs Belgium preview.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colossus Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-27T14:50:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-05T15:59:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/eng.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Tindall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/DaveTindallgolf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ColossusBets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Tindall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/england-belgium\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/england-belgium\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Tindall\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/15ebf4cef0b40c9f26a6e9adea56c1f6\"},\"headline\":\"England vs Belgium preview\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-27T14:50:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-05T15:59:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/england-belgium\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":501,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"england\",\"FeatureHome\",\"Russia 2018\",\"World Cup\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/england-belgium\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/england-belgium\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dave Tindall previews England vs Belgium for Colossus Bets\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-27T14:50:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-05T15:59:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"Will England try to lose the game against Belgium to finish 2nd and give themselves an easier route in the knockout stages? England vs Belgium preview.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/england-belgium\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/england-belgium\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/england-belgium\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"England vs Belgium preview\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Colossus Blog\",\"description\":\"Colossus Blog\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Colossus Bets\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Colossus Bets\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SportsBigger\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/ColossusBets\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/colossusbets_\\\/?hl=en\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/colossus-bets\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ColossusBets\\\/featured\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/15ebf4cef0b40c9f26a6e9adea56c1f6\",\"name\":\"David Tindall\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6ab0160a88bd7084f334718261d5736cafb85a8e3c58827f7b2390b2b40e80a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6ab0160a88bd7084f334718261d5736cafb85a8e3c58827f7b2390b2b40e80a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6ab0160a88bd7084f334718261d5736cafb85a8e3c58827f7b2390b2b40e80a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Tindall\"},\"description\":\"Dave has been tipping on golf since 1997 when The Sporting Life newspaper first went digital. He was their main golf tipster for 10 years before running Golf365.com and later becoming golf editor at SkySports.com. He's attended every Open Championship since 1997, a hatful of Ryder Cups and the last four Masters at Augusta. Away from golf, Dave is a lifelong Liverpool FC fan and a lover of music (60s, Mod, Northern Soul and indie). He also plays an annual Mods v Rockers golf match against KK Downing from heavy metal legends Judas Priest.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/https:\\\/\\\/twitter.com\\\/DaveTindallgolf\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/daveytin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dave Tindall previews England vs Belgium for Colossus Bets","description":"Will England try to lose the game against Belgium to finish 2nd and give themselves an easier route in the knockout stages? England vs Belgium preview.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"England vs Belgium preview","og_description":"Will England try to lose the game against Belgium to finish 2nd and give themselves an easier route in the knockout stages? England vs Belgium preview.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/","og_site_name":"Colossus Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/","article_published_time":"2018-06-27T14:50:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-04-05T15:59:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/eng.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Tindall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/DaveTindallgolf","twitter_site":"@ColossusBets","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Tindall","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/"},"author":{"name":"David Tindall","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/15ebf4cef0b40c9f26a6e9adea56c1f6"},"headline":"England vs Belgium preview","datePublished":"2018-06-27T14:50:23+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-05T15:59:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/"},"wordCount":501,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["england","FeatureHome","Russia 2018","World Cup"],"articleSection":["Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2018","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/","name":"Dave Tindall previews England vs Belgium for Colossus Bets","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-06-27T14:50:23+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-05T15:59:43+00:00","description":"Will England try to lose the game against Belgium to finish 2nd and give themselves an easier route in the knockout stages? England vs Belgium preview.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/england-belgium\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"England vs Belgium preview"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/","name":"Colossus Blog","description":"Colossus Blog","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Colossus Bets","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Colossus Bets"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ColossusBets","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/colossusbets_\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/colossus-bets\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ColossusBets\/featured"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/15ebf4cef0b40c9f26a6e9adea56c1f6","name":"David Tindall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ab0160a88bd7084f334718261d5736cafb85a8e3c58827f7b2390b2b40e80a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ab0160a88bd7084f334718261d5736cafb85a8e3c58827f7b2390b2b40e80a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ab0160a88bd7084f334718261d5736cafb85a8e3c58827f7b2390b2b40e80a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Tindall"},"description":"Dave has been tipping on golf since 1997 when The Sporting Life newspaper first went digital. He was their main golf tipster for 10 years before running Golf365.com and later becoming golf editor at SkySports.com. He's attended every Open Championship since 1997, a hatful of Ryder Cups and the last four Masters at Augusta. Away from golf, Dave is a lifelong Liverpool FC fan and a lover of music (60s, Mod, Northern Soul and indie). He also plays an annual Mods v Rockers golf match against KK Downing from heavy metal legends Judas Priest.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/DaveTindallgolf"],"url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/author\/daveytin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}