Saturday at the World Cup: Eight teams, four matches and two channels
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The World Cup ramps up a notch with no fewer than FOUR matches on super Saturday in Russia.
France and Australia kick-off the action before Argentina take on Iceland in a tasty encounter live on ITV. We’ve previewed that one here.
Then it’s into the evening with a World Cup classic as Peru face Denmark before it all comes to a close with Croatia v Nigeria.
Grab the TV remote and watch it all unfold from morning until night. But before you do that, check out our guide to three of the day’s four encounters…
France v Australia (11:00am, BBC1)
France are among the favourites to win the entire tournament. And they couldn’t have asked for a much kinder opener than Australia. The Aussies have only ever won two World Cup matches and struggled past Syria to reach this year’s finals. Les Bleus boast an envying array of attacking talent and are odds-on at 2/9 to start off with a win.
Atletico Madrid ace Antoine Griezmann is the key for France. The 27-year-old top-scored with six goals at Euro 2016 and found the back of the net 32 times in 56 appearances last term.
The Socceroos have also shipped three or more goals in four of their last six finals appearances. We go 15/8 for there to be Over 3.5 Goals and 11/5 about France and Over 3.5 Goals.
Peru v Denmark (5:00pm, BBC1)
Does anything say World Cup better than Peru v Denmark? Los Incas are making their bow for the first time since 1984, while the Danes are back after missing out in 2014.
The two nations may not have met competitively but our traders can barely separate them in the market. Denmark are the slight favourites at 11/8. You can back Peru at 11/5, with the draw a 21/20 shot.
There’s not a great deal of familiar names on show in this match. But one player who is guaranteed to catch the eye is Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Eriksen.
The 26-year-old netted 11 goals in the qualifiers and put Republic of Ireland to the sword in the play-offs with a devastating hat-trick. He’s the standout player in this teatime encounter and is available at 6/1 to Score First.
Peru will be relying on the veteran Paolo Guerrero, who is 15/8 to bag Anytime.
Croatia v Nigeria (8:00pm, ITV)
It’s off to Kaliningrad for the final match of the day as Croatia take on Nigeria. These sides are both well-versed at the finals having only missed one tournament each since 1998.
Luka Modric and co. are the odds-on favourite for the tie at 7/10 against 17/4 for Nigeria side which has only won one of their last 12 World Cup matches. You can get 12/5 about the draw.
Valtreni have quality running throughout the side and will be hoping Mario Mandzukic (4/1 First Goalscorer) can improve on his 10 goals at club level last term.
Ivan Perisic often comes alive at these tournaments and is 23/10 Anytime.
Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi netted against England in a warm-up friendly and is taken to impress at his first World Cup. You can back the Arsenal youngster at 7/2 Anytime.
This is a match that promises end-to-end action. There have been exactly four goals scored in each of Croatia’s last four World Cup matches. Over 3.5 Goals is 10/3 and Both Teams to Score is 6/5.
Click here for the latest World Cup odds.
All Odds and Markets correct as of date of publication
