Friday’s World Cup Top Tips: Fiery Fixture Forecast for Familiar Foes

Here we go! We've reached the business end of the 2022 World Cup and we've some cracking ties to look forward to over the next 48 hours.

First up we've got the 2018 runners-up, Croatia, versus the most succesful nation in the competition's history, Brazil.

The Brazilians looked on another level when racing in to a four-goal first half lead over South Korea on Monday. It was the Brazil we've been waiting to see and no co-incidence that Neymar was back in the ranks, ably assisted by an all-star cast which includes the likes of Raphinha, Vinicius Jnr and Richarlison.

For Croatia it was ‘keeper Dominik Livakovic who was the hero on Monday as he thwarted Japan in the penalty shoot-out. The Croats probably just about deserved to squeeze past the industrious Blue Samurai but they don't quite look the same force they were four years ago.

At 8/1, Croatia are the biggest priced nation across the four fixtures and it's easy to see why. This looks like it could be a step too far for an ageing squad against a dynamic Brazilian squad who are just 17/10 to lift the trophy.

At 4/11 it's hard to find much value on Brazil in this one. It's unlikely Croatia will allow them to get off to the kind of start they did against South Korea and it's worth noting Zlatko Dalić's side have only condede one goal to date so doubling up a Brazil win with most goals to be scoreed in the second half pays 6/4.

The portents aren't good for an entertaining clash tonight between the Netherlands and Argentina. The nations met in 2006 and then again in 2014 and both games finished 0-0 with the latter described in one BBC resport as being tedious! The South Americans eventually won that one on penalties to claim a place in the final.

However, we'd much prefer a re-run of the 1998 clash when Dennis Bergkamp scored a worldie in the 90th minute to secure a 2-1 win or indeed the tickertape final of 1978 when Mario Kempes inspired Argentina to a 3-1 win in the final.

All eyes will be on Lionel Messi as he attempts to cement his legendary status with the most elusive title of all. He's been instrumental in Argentina's progress so far and it'll be interesting to see how Louis Van Gaal approaches the task to nullify his magical talent.

The Dutch haven't been shy to take one for the team in order to stop opponents in the past and Argentina are no shrinking violets either.

Spaniard, Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz has been appointed to referee the match and it could be a bit tasty. In general the card count has been pretty low at the tournament which means we're getting a very reasonable even money on there being Over 3.5 cards which looks well worth taking a chance on.

Super Single

• Netherlands v Argentina – Over 3.5 Cards 1/1 Bet365
• Brazil win & Most goals score in second half 6/4 Bet365

Upcoming Match Previews & Tip

• Fri 15:00 Croatia vs Brazil
• Fri 19:00 Netherlands vs Argentina
• Sat 15:00 Morocco vs Portugal
• Sat 19:00 England vs France

Racing Tips

Cheltenham returns on Friday (if passing an inspection), we have some nice racing there as well as Doncaster. Rizzel has picked one selection at each track for today's racing.

• Racing tips: Commodore has the attributes to jump them silly off top-weight

As always, let us know your best betting tips and predictions for today in the comments section below and good luck with all your bets!

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