England v Croatia Betting Markets
The golden generation of Croatian players are now considerably older than average, with that explaining why England are odds-on to beat them on Wednesday night. The Three Lions are operating at around the 1.72 mark to claim a success in Arlington, with that implying a 58% chance of landing three Group L points for a team who are packed with quality players.
Harry Kane can lay claim to being the best centre forward in the world right now and comes into the tournament off the back of an incredible domestic campaign for Bayern Munich. He will be flanked by Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and potentially Anthony Gordon, with Declan Rice and Elliott Anderson central midfielders who will ensure that the defence are well protected.
There's a nice mix of experience and new players compared to previous tournaments, with England warming up with a comfortable win over Costa Rica and Tuchel will hope for an energetic attacking performance that sees them over the line. We think the odds are generous considering that this isn't a Croatia team who are getting any better.
Josko Gvardiol is the class act in central defence although Luka Modric is the princely age of 40, with the Milan midfielder playing in his final ever World Cup and he will be flanked by Mateo Kovacic who hasn't played an enormous amount for Manchester City this term. There are several players who are on the wrong side of 30 and it might just come down to overall fitness when you consider the younger average age of the England squad.
Croatia will be looking to earn a draw from this encounter and there's an argument that the value could be for the game to finish all square. The price is attractive enough and could go shorter in play, with the outsiders having the confident of beating England in a World Cup before. That was eight years ago however.
Goals Under/Over
The Under 2.5 Goals odds are trading slightly shorter than Over 2.5 Goals. If you offered Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic the chance to have a draw before kick-off, he would take it ahead of clashes against Panama and Ghana. Therefore, the approach is likely to be a pragmatic one. The manager has been at the helm since 2017 and has achieved plenty of success including steering the Blazers to the 2018 final.
He will know that England pin a lot of their scoring hopes on Kane and the outsiders have Gvardiol as someone who can provide a good foil against the Bayern Munich forward. Expect Croatia to operate a deep-lying press and this game could quickly descend into attack against defence. The Croats will be well-drilled, with England potentially having to be patient for the breakthrough.
The Three Lions defence looks fairly solid and we'd be happy enough to go for Under 2.5 Goals considering it covers the goalless draw, the 1-1 scoreline along with 1-0 or 2-0 wins for both teams. Any Croatia win might well end up by a single goal and a determination to defend for your lives.
BTTS
The BTTS market is fairly similar to Under and Over 2.5 Goals. We might be confident that England can find the net although it should be noted that they were thwarted by Japan fairly recently. On that occasion, the Blue Samurai came away from Wembley with a 1-0 victory. Perhaps we shouldn't read too much into this form and the plain fact that Harry Kane is on the pitch indicates a likely goal for England at the very least.
However, we're not confident that Croatia will score. There's no Marko Mandzukic anymore and the hopes are now pinned on veteran forward Andrej Kramaric who has scored a solid thirty-six international goals across 116 appearances. Ivan Perisic was the scorer of that extra-time winner in 2018 although the former Tottenham player may well operate in a wing-back position.
You could potentially combine an England win along with BTTS No considering that Rice and Anderson could end up being a solid defensive midfield pivot, with the former having steered Arsenal to a Premier League title success along with a spot in the Champions League final. There's Marc Guehi, John Stones and Jordan Pickford to try and beat and we're not sure that Croatia have the weaponry to succeed.
First Goalscorer
England's hopes rest on Harry Kane and the Bayern Munich forward has 79 goals for his country going into the tournament. That has been across 114 international appearances, with the former Tottenham player likely to prove a handful and the focal point of the attack will be someone who has shone in the Bundesliga for the past few years.
Kane is someone who has won a Golden Boot at a major tournament before, with the 32-year-old having hit a new level during his time in Germany, although he could potentially be heavily marked. There could be some bright performances from Jude Bellingham in the central attacking midfield role, with the Real Madrid man having scored six goals for the Three Lions.
Marcus Rashford and Anthony Gordon are going to be vying for the left-sided attacking position although we can be in little doubt that Bukayo Saka is the right winger who has scored fourteen goals across forty-nine appearances and the 24-year-old has featured heavily for England in big games over the past few years.