Are France Still the Best Team in the World?
It’s been over two years since France were crowned champions of the world, with Les Bleus winning the 2018 World Cup in Russia and largely demonstrating that they were stronger than the other leading nations in the game, with Didier Deschamps retaining the majority of the personnel who claimed that illustrious piece of silverware.
There is still plenty to like about the French who recently claimed a 1-0 win away to Sweden before a relatively facile victory over Croatia where Les Bleus ran out 4-2 winners. Kylian Mbappe continues to be the team’s superstar, although Deschamps can call upon many talented players.
Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud are experienced generals in attack who continue to be trusted, while we’ve seen some young players breaking through in the form of Dayot Upamecano and the 17-year-old Eduardo Camavinga who has only played a handful of matches for club side Rennes.
Portugal Off to a Flying Start in the Nations League
The Portuguese are among the outsiders to win Euro 2020 and that’s partly due to the fact that they have France and Germany in their qualifying group although they look like a dangerous team and still have the evergreen Cristiano Ronaldo driving the team forward and causing a threat.
CR7 was at the double when scoring a brace away to Sweden after the team had claimed a comfortable 4-1 win over Croatia and some of the most exciting European players are now Portuguese including Joao Felix and Diogo Jota, the latter of whom has just signed for Liverpool.
Fernando Santos is a wily operator who has been the Portuguese manager on a long-term basis, with Bruno Fernandes offering another option in midfield along with the likes of Joao Moutinho, Ruben Neves and Bernardo Silva.
What Do The Bookies Expect to Happen?
France are favourites to win this Nations League clash at the Stade de France on 11 October and we don’t tend to see many teams claiming a victory against these opponents, home or away.
Les Bleus are no bigger than 6/5 to win against Portugal and many will fancy them to make home advantage count, although we’re not entirely sure how much they will benefit from playing in front of no fans at Saint-Denis.
The Portuguese look like a better team than the side that actually smashed and grabbed their way through Euro 2016, with Cristiano Ronaldo no longer needing to carry the side and some will think that the 3/1 about the visitors isn’t too bad a shout considering that Santos’ side are now a serious proposition.
The bookies are anticipating a potentially tight encounter and the “No” option is favourite on the Both Teams to Score betting market, while the layers also think that there’s a stronger chance of being Under 2.5 Goals rather than Over 2.5 Goals.
What Are the Best Bets for This Match?
We think that Portugal can get at least a draw from this contest based on their recent form and victories over the other teams in the Nations League and there’s an argument that they are the better side than France.
No longer do the Portuguese have to rely on Cristiano Ronaldo for inspiration and it appears that Fernando Santos has made plans for life after CR7, with France potentially getting a little stale and relying on their own superstar in the form of Kylian Mbappe.
We’re surprised that the bookies think this could be low-scoring considering that Portugal are no longer as defensive as previously and there’s everything to be gained from playing positive football.