Group D Preview ~ World Cup 2022
France – Tunisia – Denmark – Australia (Rankings As Of Finals Draw, April 1, 2022)
France National Team Profile:
FIFA World Rank: 4
Manager: Didier Deschamps
World Cup Appearances: 16
Best Finish: Champions 2 (1998, 2018)
Odds to Win Cup: +600
Odds to Win Group D: -250
Odds to Qualify: -1,500
Group Stage Points Total O/U: 6.5
Group Stage Schedule:
November 22 vs. Australia
November 26 vs. Denmark
November 30 vs. Tunisia
Only two Nation’s have won back-to-back World Cup trophies, but that’s exactly what France will be trying to do in 2022 after winning the 2018 version of the show in Russia. Italy won the 2nd and 3rd World Cups in 1934 and 1938, and they were the only country to repeat as champions until 1958.
Some little-known youth named Pele carried Brazil to the 1958 and 1962 Cup wins, and they won it again in 1970 becoming the first team to say that they lifted 3 World Cup trophies. I/we could go over the history of Brazil and Italian football until the cows come home so let’s concentrate on the tournament at hand in Qatar this time around.
Am I allowed to say I think France is going to pull off the feat of repeating before you finish the group preview? Well, I just did! Listen, I am not toying around with the who and why because the cast of characters on this French side brings a realistic expectation to win the 2022 World Cup.
First of all, let me start with #9… Calling #9… Calling #9! Certain players can quite literally change a match and #9 wearing a France uniform is that guy. Did you see him carry Real Madrid to the UEFA Champions League title this past year? Karim Benzema has won a total of 23 trophies with his Spanish club team, and sure, he had plenty of help with some big names around him since he’s been there. If you don’t think that Benzema’s influence in winning hardware is as important as any other player in the sport? Get your head checked and call 1-800-Football for help!
So, next to Benzema is this other guy you might have heard of wearing the #10 jersey. He’s uh, pretty good, LoL! Stop it! Mbappe and Benzema alone give France a supreme chance to repeat as Cup winners so buckle up! FRANCIA WILL WIN THIS DANCE!
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Tunisia National Team Profile:
FIFA World Rank: 30
Manager: Jalel Kadri
World Cup Appearances: 6
Best Finish: Group Stage
Odds to Win Cup: +10,000
Odds to Win Group D: +1,600
Odds to Qualify: +325
Group Stage Points Total O/U: 2.5
Group Stage Schedule:
November 22 vs. Denmark
November 26 vs. Australia
November 30 vs. France
Well, that took the excitement out of the rest of this preview, right? I am so rooting for Tunisia to do well in this group, which is evident to some as to why I feel that way. I give out bets and tips for Tunisia Ligue 1 and it’s the only league I even follow in Africa outside of the CAF Champions League.
My allegiance to Esperance Tunis is well-known, and if you follow my YouTube channel you know why that is the case because of Champions League articles that I have written on the net. Everything started so innocently at Sports Keeda when I put up my 2015 CAF Champions League article on their platform.
Today, you can find me on the Esperance club page posting with the other fans and members of the team page. That is the link to the jersey that all of the members of the site pitched in to make happen for me after I called for Esperance to win the CAFCL trophy… and they did! That’s fun for me, but let’s get back to business.
Tunisia has yet to advance out of the group stage from their 5 other attempts at the World Cup Finals. No one is giving this Nation a chance to move on from this group, and it is hard to blame anyone for thinking as much.
France is so clearly through so this Tunisia outfit will need to create more magic than a Criss Angel show in Las Vegas to advance to the Round of 16.
I’ll tell you who gives Tunisia the best chance to get there, and that comes in the form of Bechir Ben Saïd. The Tunisian netminder was stellar in qualifying, and he can keep his Nation in the fight so long as they find the net themselves. The opening match with Denmark will be huge, and everyone on the pitch for Tunisia will likely be full of nerves to go with hope.
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Denmark National Team Profile:
FIFA World Rank: 10
Manager: Kasper Hjulmand
World Cup Appearances: 6
Best Finish: Quarterfinals (1998)
Odds to Win Cup: +3,500
Odds to Win Group D: +250
Odds to Qualify: -260
Group Stage Points Total O/U: 3.5
Group Stage Schedule:
November 22 vs. Tunisia
November 26 vs. France
November 30 vs. Australia
Well, you just saw what I said about the Tunisian chances of coming out of Group D, and it is an almost insurmountable task for the African side. Denmark will likely have Christian Eriksen contributing after we all had to watch that incident with him at the European Championships.
I don’t think many outlets in the world that are covering this event will have anything short of France and Denmark advancing to the Round of 16 out of Group D. Ranked 10 in the World, Denmark just beat France in the Nations League competition, which was their final tuneup for the Word Cup as well.
Denmark is heavily favored to win their match with both Tunisia and Australia, and those 6 points will likely be enough to propel Denmark to the next stage of the tournament. However, if you notice the total points expectation from the line setters, the 3.5-point total from group play sure seems peculiar. Is someone out there trying to hint that it might not as easy to find those 6 points as we think it will be? Hmm…
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Australia National Team Profile:
FIFA World Rank: 38
Manager: Graham Arnold
World Cup Appearances: 6
Best Finish: Round of 16 (2006)
Odds to Win Cup: +40,000
Odds to Win Group D: +1,600
Odds to Qualify: +300
Group Stage Points Total O/U: 2.5
Group Stage Schedule:
November 22 vs. France
November 26 vs. Tunisia
November 30 vs. Denmark
Did you notice that Australia has been playing plenty of football in Qatar already? They wrapped up their intense playoff in qualifying in Al Rayyan, Qatar as well as playing a friendly here against Jordan so do they already feel at home?
Well, let’s not go too far here, but it is certainly a good thing to know the conditions and have a familiarity with your surroundings for this huge event. Everyone else is arriving here with little to no experience playing here, so we’ll just say it should help and it couldn’t hurt Australia.
However, advancing out of this group is going to be a tall order to fill while being listed as underdogs in two of their 3 group-stage matches. The affair with Tunisia is just about an even money offer, so those points could be just as tough to find for this team in 2022.
If you also noticed, the Australia total points in this group are only being offered at 1.5, so they’ll need a draw and the second result of some type to take that number down.
Keep in mind that Australia had to play some extra-curricular football to get here after the Asian qualifying portion wasn’t enough. Peru and Australia had to earn their spot in the Intercontinental playoff, and a scoreless draw ended with penalty kicks that sent the Socceroos here.
Mathew Leckie will tote the Captain’s armband, and his 13 goals for Aussie-Nation lead this roster coming into this year’s World Cup. Leckie will be challenged to find the net with a lot of young talent around him that has yet to appear on this grand stage.
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World Cup 2022 Group D Predictions and Bets: (Bookmaker BetOnline)
France to Win the World Cup @ +600 1U
Australia Under 2.5 Group Points @ -115 1U
Tunisia Over 2.5 Group Points @ -110 1U
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