Solid English defending and a winning start
An interesting group game match is almost upon us: Tunisia vs England. I'm always curious to see how England do at a major championship. The English players are often playing under tremendous pressure from their own fans and the English media, and in the 2014 World Cup it turned into a complete disaster when they didn't even progress out of the group after defeats to Italy and Uruguay. Now it's up to a new look England side to shine, and their first challenge is Tunisia.
Tunisia
The North African team claimed their place the 2018 World Cup by winning in qualifying against the likes of DR Congo, Libya and Guinea - none of which are known as giants of African football. I think Tunisia will find it tough to make it out of this group and reach the round of 16, considering that both England and Belgium are European giants. The team's number one goalkeeper from the qualifiers Youssef Mskni is injured and will miss the entire tournament, and this is obviously a big blow for Tunisia. The best players in the Tunisian team either play in the French second tier or in a Middle Eastern league. I think it will be a massive upset for for Tunisia to trouble England very much - a squad with several world-class star players, all 23 of whom ply their trade in the Premier League week-in, week-out.
England
The England manager Gary Southgate surely has one of the toughest jobs in world football! But after a very successful World Cup qualifying campaign where England very comfortably won their group with an 8 point lead over Slovakia, Southgate has had a promising start to his managerial career with the national team. England conceded only 3 goals in qualifying and has a stable defensive backline with Gary Cahill and John Stones as its spine. Going forward, I think Spurs star-forward Harry Kane is England's most important player at this World Cup. Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Dele Ali are all top-quality attack-minded players who could really make a breakthroughs at the World Cup. England may well be an outsider to win the tournament, but a win in this first game is a must. I think they can manage that.
Betting Tip
Given that Tunisia are missing their first-choice goalkeeper I expect them to sit back and defend. With England's superb defensive game in the World Cup qualifiers and warm-up friendlies, together with their array of attacking options, I think England are simply the better team. My bet for this game is that England wins and keeps a clean sheet at odds of 1/1 with Betfair.
