CROATIA and Belgium will do battle at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in World Cup Group F on Thursday afternoon, with the winner guaranteed a spot in the last-16 of the 2022 World Cup.
After playing out a 0-0 draw with Morocco in their section opener, Croatia followed up with a 4-1 crushing of Canada on Sunday, a result that means the Canucks have crashed out of the competition with a game to spare.
More importantly, Zlatko Dalić's side are firmly in the Group F driving seat as they sit at the top of the pool heading into the final round of fixtures this midweek.
In fact, the 2018 runners-up are guaranteed to qualify for the round of 16 if they manage to avoid defeat against third-placed Belgium on Thursday.
Roberto Martinez's side looked laboured in their Group F curtain-raiser with Canada but still came out on top as Michy Batshuayi scored the only goal of the game
However, the Red Devils' prospects of qualifying for the knockout phase of the World Cup now hangs on a knife edge after their 2-0 defeat against Morocco on Sunday.
Outright Betting
The bookies are finding it hard to separate the teams with Croatia narrow outsiders at 33/20 (Highbet) while a share of the spoils has been priced up at 9/4 (Highbet).
Belgium, who have avoided defeat in four of the last five meetings between the pair, head into this crunch clash as marginal 3/2 (Highbet) favourites.
Betting Angles
This feels like a tricky fixture to tackle from a 1×2 perspective so I'm going to steer clear of the outright market and instead back Belgium to hit over four corners at 11/10 (Bet 365).
As already alluded to, the Red Devils have been let down by some lacklustre displays thus far and as a result they now find themselves in must-win territory.
While Belgium are undoubtedly in greater need of the points here, they aren't likely to be too gung-ho here given they'll be wary of the threat that Croatia carry.
Therefore, Roberto Martinez's side may need to adopt a patient approach in their bid to salvage their World Cup campaign, and I suspect that they could clock up a few corners in the process.
The Belgians racked up no fewer than nine flag kicks during their aforementioned defeat against Morocco, so 5+ in their final fixture doesn't look like too much to ask given their necessity to go for it here at some point.
What's more, Croatia don't have to force the issue given that a draw would would guarantee them progress to the round of 16, so they will most likely look to keep this as tight as possible, and that only adds to the appeal of siding with over four Belgium corners at 11/10 (Bet 365).
Given what's at stake, I'll also head to the player card market and have a small play on Croatia's Mateo Kovacic to be carded at 9/2.
The combative Croatian midfielder has never been one to shy away from a tackle and he looks worthy of interest to have his name taken here at a lovely price given that this fixture is loaded with jeopardy.
This World Cup match between Croatia and Belgium will be played on Dec 1, 2022 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Croatia vs Belgium prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
