Qatar 2022 World Cup has served all the dishes patrons would have hoped for including stunning upsets, brutal beatings, and some irrepressible displays.

The competition is now at the quarter-finals stage with some highly anticipated matchups lined up. Favourites Brazil will face Croatia today Friday (December 9), then on Saturday, December 10, current champions France and England collide in an eagerly anticipated clash.

Event # 1 – W/Cup – Croatia vs Brazil – 2:00 pm

Favourites Brazil will look to shake their recent World Cup quarter-finals hoodoo when they square off against Croatia at the 2022 edition today, Friday, December 9.

Brazil have lost three of their last four World Cup quarter-finals matches, including in 2018 when they fell to Belgium, suffering early elimination. Indeed, the Brazilians were professional in winning their first two matches in the group against Serbia and Switzerland, before suffering a surprise last-minute loss to Cameroon. However, with the big guns back in their starting 11, Brazil were brutal in their beating of South Korea, brushing them aside 4-1, where they displayed their ‘Samba Football’ for the first time at the World Cup.

The Neymar-led Brazilians will enter this match confident of continuing their dominance over the Croatians having beaten them in three of their last four meetings.

Croatia, the 2018 World Cup runners-up, haven’t been as impressive as Brazil in the tournament so far, but have grind out results, with just one win in 90 minutes and three draws from their four matches so far. They qualified for the quarter-finals by beating Japan on penalties and now face the daunting task of getting by Brazil to secure a semi-final spot. With that said, the Croatians have not always been the most impressive during the group stages of World Cups, having made it all the way to the final in Russia four years ago, despite not winning any of their three knockout games in 90 minutes.

KEY STATS

• Croatia – have lost four of their five World Cup games against South American sides, with the exception being a 3-0 win over Argentina in 2018. Two of those four defeats have been against Brazil – 1-0 in 2006 and 3-1 in 2014 (both group stages).

• Brazil – since beating Germany 2-0 in the final in 2002, Brazil have lost each of their last five World Cup knockout stage games against European nations, including three quarter-final ties in that run (France in 2006, Netherlands in 2010 and Belgium in 2018).

• Both sides – Brazil have never lost in four previous meetings with Croatia in all competitions (W3 D1), with this their first meeting since a 2-0 friendly win in June 2018.

The betting tip. Brazil win

Event # 2 W/Cup – England vs France – 2:00 pm

England meet current World Cup champions France in the blockbuster blue-ribbon clash of the quarter-finals round, tomorrow Saturday, December 10, for a place in the Qatar 2022 semi-finals. Matches don’t get any bigger than this as it’s an encounter that is potentially big enough for a World Cup final itself, let alone a last-eight showdown. This tie should deliver plenty of action for fans, as these are two of the free-scoring sides in Qatar.

England were ultra-impressive in reaching the World Cup quarter-finals brushing aside current African Champions Senegal 3-0 and barely broke a sweat in doing so. Indeed, England will be aiming to lift the World Cup for the second time in their history, and the first since 1966, having left behind them their disappointing Nations League campaign and are now unbeaten in their last five matches.

Indeed, Italy and Brazil are the only nations who have managed to successfully defend the World Cup with the latter being the last side to achieve that feat way back in 1962, but this France team appear as if they may be capable of joining this elite group.

France won their first two group stage matches fairly comfortably before a much-changed side lost to Tunisia, they then hammered Poland 3-1 to book this quarter-final date with England. Having entered Qatar 2022 in poor form, France have progressed at the perfect time with star player Kylian Mbappe looking unstoppable and the nation’s leading goal scorer Olivier Giroud scoring goals at will.

Before 2022, the last three defending champions had failed to make it out of the group stage, while this current French team are looking to become the first defending champions to reach the semi-final since Brazil in 1998. Worryingly for England is the fact that Mbappe, who had an excellent 2018 World Cup, is taking this edition by storm even more so than the one in Russia – he has already scored five goals so far at the tournament.

KEY STATS

• England – have been eliminated from six of their last eight World Cup knockout matches against European nations. By contrast, France have progressed from eight of their last 10 World Cup knockout matches against European opposition (including third-place play-off and final).

• France – have only lost one of their last eight meetings with England across all competitions (W5 D2), a 2-0 defeat in a friendly in November 2015. This is the two nations’ first encounter since June 2017, when Les Bleus won a friendly 3-2.

• Both sides – this will be the third World Cup meeting between England and France, with the Three Lions, England, winning both of the previous two, a 2-0 victory in 1966 and 3-1 in 1982, both in the group stage.

The betting tip. France win.

JUSTBET ODDS – Croatia vs Brazil

Friday, December 9, 2022

PredictionOdds on PredictionOdds Calculation

CROATIA TO WIN$8.50which means a $1000 bet would pay $8,500

BRAZIL TO WIN$1.36which means a $1000 bet would pay $1,360

MATCH TO DRAW$4.75which means a $1000 bet would pay $4,750

Odds on the Home Team (Croatia) winning the game 2-1 at full time$26.00which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $26,000

Odds on the Away Team (Brazil) winning the game 1-4 at full time$21.00which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $21,000

Odds on the game drawing 1-1 at full time$9.00which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $9,000.

JUSTBET ODDS – England vs France

Saturday, December 10, 2022

PredictionOdds on PredictionOdds Calculation

ENGLAND TO WIN$3.05which means a $1000 bet would pay $3,050

FRANCE TO WIN$2.40which means a $1000 bet would pay $2,400

MATCH TO DRAW$3.30which means a $1000 bet would pay $3,300

Odds on the Home Team (England) winning the game 3-1 at full time$26.00which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $26,000

Odds on the Away Team (France) winning the game 2-4 at full time$101.00which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $101,000

Odds on the game drawing 3-3 at full time$81.00which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $81,000.