Free World Cup Pick: Russia vs Croatia
Looking for Russia vs. Croatia free picks? 2018 Russia World Cup betting sees Russia taking on Croatia on Saturday, July 7th, at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all 2018 World Cup soccer matchups all season long so stay tuned for more FREE daily soccer predictions.
Weekly World Cup Handicapping
Quarter Finals
Russia vs. Croatia
Date: Saturday, July 7th
Time: 2:00 PM ET
Venue: Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, Russia
World Cup Moneyline Odds: Croatia +122, Russia +240, Draw +205
World Cup Spread Betting Odds: Croatia -.5 (+125)
World Cup Betting Total: 2
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Before the World Cup started nobody would have given host Russia much of a chance to advance this far, especially if they had to get through Spain to get here.
Meanwhile Croatia is not a total surprise and their path to a potential World Cup trophy looks at the very least, possible.
Russia
Of course there might be some conspiracy theories about how Russia rigged the groupings to give themselves a great chance of advancing past the initial stage. They did and they ultimately eliminated one of the tournament favourite in Spain on penalty kicks.
Spain never looked all that great in this year’s event, proving that having the best talent is not always required to win. Russia is probably better than anyone thought in part due to their essential lack of pre-tournament qualifying.
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In early group play the Russians were flying around the pitch. While neither Saudi Arabia or Egypt are elite they beat them by a combined 8-1. However, they seemed outclassed against Uruguay losing 3-0.
Against a similarly talented Spanish team they were content to be very patient an then try and win in extra time. That is exactly what happened and they are likely to deploy a similar approach in this contest.
They do not have as much scoring talent as Croatia.
Croatia
Croatia took advantage of a lame Argentina squad to capture Group D. That victory gave them a much easier match in the first round of the knockout stage as Denmark is hardly a nation that teams fear, on or off the pitch.
Still the Danes were more than solid and eventually Croatia too needed penalty kicks to advance.
Luka Modric plays for Real Madrid but he is really making a name for himself this summer. Some are saying that he might be the best midfielder in the world and whether that is true or not it is hard to debate that he will not be the best player on the pitch in this contest.
His ability to pick up the action and create chances is uncanny.
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There is so much at stake that I expect this to be a bit of a rough and tumble affair. Croatia will have to exercise patience so that there talent edge can play though.
The last thing they want is for Russia to get an early lead but given their defensive lapses at times an early goal by the Croatians is no guarantee. Although in this tournament they have been a lot tighter.
Free Quarter Finals Russia vs. Croatia World Cup Prediction:
Croatia has to like their chances but trying to knock out the host nation in any kind of international event is always challenging. When they host nation is Russia you also have to wonder.
Still Croatia is a much higher class of team and as the score prediction indicates I see them advancing rather easily.
I like this game to start slow with Croatia to get the only goal of the first half but not before the 30 minute mark. The second half will provide the bulk of the fireworks as Russia is forced to take some chances but they never pull even before Croatia puts it away.
4* Free Quarter Finals World Cup Betting Pick: Croatia to win
The results throughout this event have been anything but predictable.
However, I think this one will play a little closer to expected form with Croatia winning. The Russians might be better than anyone expected but I do not see them continuing past this point.
World Cup Quarter Finals Free Score Prediction: Croatia 3 – Russia 1
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