Russia v Belgium Betting Tips: Red Devils to have too much in the locker

This international friendly sees next year’s World Cup hosts Russia host one of the likely dark horses for the tournament, should they qualify, Belgium.

Russia of course do not need to qualify for their own World Cup and so are relying on friendlies to assess their squad. The assessment has not been going too well so far as they have lost three of their last four, including their last match against Ivory Coast. Russia really need to start getting their act together soon or it could be a rather embarrassing tournament next year for the hosts. The Russians do not even seem to have a consistent style of play at the moment which is very worrying.

Manager Stanislav Cherchesov’s squad is relatively inexperienced at this level with only three players earning 50 or more caps and 17 having fewer than ten appearances for the national team. After poor showings in the last few tournaments, experimentation is certainly the buzzword for Russia right now.

Sbornaya are supposedly at home for this match in Sochi, however, this will be the first time that the Russian team have played at the Fisht Stadium. In fact, it is the first time any sporting event has been held at the arena since its reconstruction. This is as much of an away game for Russia as it is for Belgium. For what it’s worth, Russia have only won two of their last seven games at home.

Belgium could only manage a draw at home to Greece in their qualifier on Saturday evening, however, they are still top of Group H with a two-point cushion.  The Belgians have been absolutely brilliant in both boxes in their five qualification matches so far with just two goals conceded and a very impressive 22 scored – more than any other team involved in European qualification.

In terms of squad depth, most countries in the world find it difficult to match the talent that The Red Devils have at their disposal with most of the 23-man squad playing at Europe’s biggest clubs. However, it will be interesting to see if manager Roberto Martinez gives some of the more inexperienced and younger players a chance on Tuesday. Addtionally, first-teamers Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne are missing through injury.

Martinez’s side’s last away match came back in November 2016 which resulted in a 1-1 draw with neighbours the Netherlands. Before that they had won their last two matches outside of Belgium by an aggregate score of 9-0. In terms of friendlies overall, Belgium have only lost one away from home since May 2013.

With confidence currently low in the Russian camp, they could be intimidated by Belgium here and I really do fear for them. Furthermore, the fact that Sbornaya have never played at the Fisht Stadium before could be a huge factor. I am not sure how much motivation Belgian players will have going into this match and they are probably simply going to be trying to avoid injury before they head back to their clubs. Having said that, even the squad players playing for Belgium at a 70% capacity should have too much in the locker for a Russian side who’re very, very poor.

It’s well worth taking advantage of the 11/8 offered on the away win ahead of this match.

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