Argentina v Croatia Betting Tips
- Argentina to Score 1+ Goals, Argentina 5+ Corners & Croatia 2+ Cards
- Both Teams to Score, 3+ Corners Each Team, 2+ Cards Each Team
- Argentina to Win, BTTS, 3+ Corners for Each Team & 2+ Cards for Each Team
- Julian Alvarez, Andrej Kramaric & Ivan Perisic 1+ SOT, Each Team 4+ Corners & Each Team 2+Cards
- Lionel Messi & Andrej Kramaric 2+ Shots on Target Each, 4+ Corners for Each Team & 2+ Cards for Each Team
Argentina v Croatia has the makings of an absolute classic. The former have really grown over the tournament, and that’s just as well after their shock defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia in the opener. Since then they’ve dismissed Mexico, Poland and Australia and overcame the Netherlands on penalties last Friday.
Tuesday, December 13: 19:00 – Argentina v Croatia
TV: BBC1, BBC iPlayer, RTE Two
Croatia have actually only won one of their five games so far, beating Canada 4-1 and drawing with Morocco and Belgium in their group before advancing on penalties against Japan in the Last 16 and conquering Brazil in the quarter-finals in yet another exciting shootout. We’ve gone through all of the #WhatOddsPaddy offers and found the five we fancy to land.
WELCOME TO PADDY POWER NEWS!
Argentina to Score 1+ Goals, Argentina 5+ Corners & Croatia 2+ Cards
Over their last 13 matches, Argentina have scored at least one goal in all of them. They scored at least two in 10 of those 13 and with Leo Messi being in such scintillating form in the tournament we can certainly see La Seleccion getting at least one.
Argentina’s corner stats read as 9, 4, 9, 1, 8 so they should be good for five here while Croatia’s are 5, 5, 2, 5 and 3.
The way we see this game going Croatia are, at some point, going to be chasing a goal to draw level, meaning pressure on the Argentinian goal which should result in at least five corners for them.
We imagine we’ll also see at least two cards for the Croatians here too, they’re facing the guile of Messi along with the speed of Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez and Alexis Mac Allister and no doubt they’re going to have to bring a few players to ground over the 90 minutes to break up play.
Both Teams to Score, 3+ Corners Each Team, 2+ Cards Each Team
Argentina’s goal-scoring stats above speak for themselves but it’s worth mentioning too that they’ve conceded in four of their last six competitive games. Croatia should score based on that and indeed have scored at least one in nine of their last 11 fixtures.
We’ve mentioned Croatia and Argentina’s corner stats above, and you’d have to expect them to chalk up at least three each. Both teams should really chalk up two cards as well as both will simply have to bring others to ground over the 90 minutes – particuarly with all cards in the tournament to this point being annulled, so there’s no risk of missing the final.
Argentina to Win, BTTS, 3+ Corners for Each Team & 2+ Cards for Each Team
Time to pick a winner isn’t it? Argentina were served up two very valuable lessons from their penalty win over the Netherlands on Friday and have to learn from their mistakes. They have to manage the game when in the lead and their tempers better to progress to the Final too.
Croatia will be very aware of this and indeed when Brazil kept on attacking in the dying stages in the previous round, rather than just playing keep-ball, the Croats took their chance when it finally fell to them.
Their goalkeeper, Dominik Livakovic, had the game of his life against Brazil too, stopping 10 of their 11 shots on target. Do Argentina have better forwards than Brazil? Quite possibly, and it’s hard to see Livakovic pulling off so many saves again.
Regarding corners and cards, it’s as above, Argentina have averaged 6.2 corners per game so far with Croatia averaging four so they should cover this corners line and we rarely see a World Cup semi-final without a few cards and both teams should be good for at least two apiece.
Julian Alvarez, Andrej Kramaric & Ivan Perisic 1+ SOT, Each Team 4+ Corners & Each Team 2+Cards
Premier League fans are certainly looking forward to seeing more of Julian Alvarez when the action returns. He’s only made three starts in the league under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, making the odd cameo from the bench, but after his performances in Qatar he’ll surely be in his managers’ plans soon enough. He’s averaging 1.6 shots per game so far at the World Cup and should land at least one on Livakovic over the 90 here.
Andrej Kramaric has two goals so far, from five shots in total, three of which were on target. He’s going to be leading the line for the Croatians and should see a good deal of the ball when Croatia attack.
Ivan Perisic has a goal and two assists over the tournament and has taken 10 shots, three of which were on the mark. While Kramaric should see plenty of the ball should the game remain 0-0 for a decent chunk of the time, if the Croatians fall behind then we’re going to see some of their midfielders taking on the responsibility for drawing level. The Spurs man isn’t afraid of having a pop and we like the looks of this one landing.
Cards and Corners are as above.
Lionel Messi & Andrej Kramaric 2+ Shots on Target Each, 4+ Corners for Each Team & 2+ Cards for Each Team
Now, for a long shot that seems to have a decent chance of landing. Messi has, so far, had 23 shots, of which 13 were on target, scoring four and creating two. He’s going to have plenty of the ball here, especially if we’re level going into the last 30 minutes and we could very well see him landing at least two shots on target.
Kramaric, we’ve written about above, and our thinking here is that should the game be 0-0 for at least 60 minutes he’s going to be Croatia’s main goal-scoring threat because they’re not going to go all-out in attack and leave themselves open for counters. As such they’ll be getting the ball to the Hoffenheim man in and around the box for goal-scoring opportunities.
The longer the game remains 0-0 the better chances we have of this one landing and we reckon it’s going to go until at least after half-time. It’s as above again for corners and cards, as time ticks down we’re going to see teams having to push for a winning goal, or one to draw level, meaning more pressure on goalkeepers and defences which always leads to more corners.
Most of this game is going to be played in the centre of the park -Argentina need to get the ball up the field into the likes of Messi and Alvarez, while Croatia will be looking to get the ball to Luka Modric and Perisic to set up chances for Kramaric. As such the team on the backfoot will, no doubt, have to bring the odd player to ground over the 90 minutes.
Argentina v Croatia Tips
- Argentina to Score 1+ Goals, Argentina 5+ Corners & Croatia 2+ Cards
- Both Teams to Score, 3+ Corners Each Team, 2+ Cards Each Team
- Argentina to Win, BTTS, 3+ Corners for Each Team & 2+ Cards for Each Team
- Julian Alvarez, Andrej Kramaric & Ivan Perisic 1+ SOT, Each Team 4+ Corners & Each Team 2+Cards
- Lionel Messi & Andrej Kramaric 2+ Shots on Target Each, 4+ Corners for Each Team & 2+ Cards for Each Team
All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
World Cup Tips Today
- PHIL THOMPSON: My 13/1 Argentina v Croatia Bet Builder tips
Wednesday World Cup Tips
- There’s a 19/1 pick in these France v Morocco World Cup tips
- Thommo’s backing Mbappe in his 5/1 France v Morocco Bet Builder tips
THE PADDY POWER GUIDE TO SAFER GAMBLING – EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
