A good thing for punters about these latter stages of major competitions is that you get value on the big teams in the tournament. This is undoubtedly the most mouth-watering semi-final out of the two as it sees the world champions up against the host nation France. Hopefully it lives up to the hype.
Germany have probably been the best team of the tournament so far and showed their character when they did not lose their heads after conceding a silly penalty against Italy. They eventually beat the Italians on penalties – how else for Die Mannschaft?
They have only conceded one goal in the tournament so far (that penalty against Italy) and showed their tactical flexibility to match the Italians in their quarter final win. Their defence is likely to come under increased pressure against tournament top goalscorers France and the loss of centre back Mats Hummels will be a big loss, it was the now Bayern Munich defender who scored the goal that knocked the French out of the World Cup in 2014.
France pulled off a convincing 5-2 victory against surprise package Iceland and as previously mentioned, are the tournament’s top goalscorers with 11 goals whilst the top three scorers in the tournament are France’s Antoine Griezmann (4), Olivier Giroud (3) and Dmitri Payet (3). Despite their excellent firepower, the defence will be a concern to Didier Deschamps. Prior to the Iceland match they had only conceded two goals and those were penalties but they looked vulnerable against Iceland with debutant Samuel Umtiti brought into the starting lineup.
The bookies seem to think that France’s home advantage gives them the edge over the Germans and have therefore made the French favourites. However, I would still always back Germany when given decent value – as we are given here at 15/8. I had tipped Germany to beat Italy in the quarter final and it would have come off if it were not for a silly mistake by Jerome Boateng. As I have said many times on my tips, Germany are the perfect tournament team and I can see them overcoming a France side that will undoubtedly be nervous.
See the rest of our semi-final tips here.