France vs Germany – Prediction
France vs Germany (Pic Cou: thereportertimes.com)
Germany to Win (ET) – (2-1) – This is a very close game to call. France will have the momentum on their side after thumping Iceland in their previous game. Germany on the other side were tested by an ageing Italian side. On form one has to back France who are also free from any injury troubles. The Germans though are plagued by injuries & suspensions. France have been the favorites in every game they’ve played till now but Germany will take the game to them. This will be a pleasantly open game that could go to extra time but we ultimately see the Germans emerging victorious.
Fixture Overview
Match 50
France vs Germany
Stade Velodrome, Marseille
9 P.M CET, 07-07-2016
Betting Tips – France vs Germany
- Germany to Qualify – 2.00 (888 Sport)
France surprisingly with odds of around 1.91 (William Hill) are the favorites against the current World Champions. The slightly favorable odds for them will probably be down their performance against minnows Iceland. However one has to remember this is the same French side that had to resort to injury time goals to see off Romania & Albania. The had also chased the game for most of the time Ireland before coming out as 2-1 victors.
France will play well but the experience of this German side should see them through. The odds are worth it so i’ll back Germany to qualify.
- Anytime Goalscorer – Thomas Muller – 3.60 (Paddypower)
2010 WC Golden Boot Winner, 2014 WC Silver Boot Winner, no goals in 10 games in the European Championships. This is how Muller’s resume currently looks like. The Bayern Munich star has too much quality to let this barren run continue so i’ll back him to notch one against France. Olivier Giroud who will come into this game on the back of a brace last game is also a pretty decent choice with odds of 3.45 (888 Sport).
*As stated this will be a good game with plenty of chances for both sides but i wouldn’t place my money on bets like Over/Under, BTS etc.
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Route to the Semi’s
France
The Blues qualified for the knockouts as the winners of Group A accumulating a total of 7 points. France registered wins over Romania (2-1) & Albania (2-0) but were held to a 0-0 by Switzerland.
In the round of 16’s the Blues were tested by the Republic of Ireland but still came out as 2-1 victors. France pulled off their most impressive performance of the tournament so far against Iceland in the quarters & came out as 5-2 winners.
Germany
Germany qualified for the round of 16’s as the winners of Group C. They registered wins over Ukraine (2-0) & Northern Ireland (1-0) but were held to 0-0 draw by Poland.
In the pre-quarters they went on to thrash Slovakia 3-0 but in the quarters they had to go to the full length of a penalty shootout to get the better of Italy and book a place in the Semi’s.
France Betting Tips
Giroud has been in impressive form for the Blues in 2016 scoring 7 goals in 8 games (Pic Cou: telegraph.co.uk)
France should be coming into this game full of confidence after their 5-2 win over Iceland in the quarters. Giroud opened the scoring in the 10th minute after which goals from Pogba, Payet & Griezmann help them to 4-0 lead by the end of the 1st half.
It was an almost perfect performance that seems to have put to rest the critiques from their doubters. Germany will easily be their most difficult opponents till now. France have struggled against the Germans in major competitions winning just once and losing thrice in the previous four meetings. In fact France’s only victory (6-3) came almost half a century back in a 3rd place playoff in the 1958 World Cup.
France who hadn’t conceded a goal from open-playoff prior to the quarter final game did concede two against the Icelanders. Not only did they concede but Keeper Hugo Lloris who hasn’t had much to do till the quarter finals was tested with 5 shots on target.
Thursday will mark France’s 1st appearance in the semifinals of a major competition since the 2006 World Cup.
France are the tournament’s top scorers with a total of 11 goals till now. The last time they scored as many or more they went onto win the competition – Euro 2000. 5 of the 11 goals they’ve scored are through headers and is a record in itself for the most number of headed goals scored by a single team in the European championships.
France do not have any injury worries heading into the game with the duo of Adil Rami & N’Golo Kante also available after serving their respective suspensions.
France Top Scorer Bet
- Antoine Griezmann – 1.36 (Skybet)
- Dimitri Payet – 6.00 (Bet 365)
- Oliver Giroud – 6.00 (Betvictor)
The Atleti striker with his goal against Iceland now sits comfortably at the top of Euro 2016 goal scoring charts with 4 goals. Behind him is fellow French comrades Dimitri Payet & Olivier Giroud both of whom have three each. For now we are sticking with Griezmann not because we think he’ll add more to his tally but we can’t see the other two overtaking him.
Overall Finish/Stage of Elimination
- Semi’s – 2.00 (Bet 365)
- Runner-up – 6.00 (Bet 365)
- Winner – 2.05 (Coral)
Like Wales yesterday France have backed up our bets so far but the Semifinal stage is what we had predicted for them at the start of the tournament and we’ll still stick with that prediction.
Euro 2016 Quarter & Semifinal Bet Tips
Well… Portugal kind of got the better of us. We had picked Wales yesterday but not only did Portugal beat them but they outclassed them. Despite getting the prediction wrong we did make some profit backing Ronaldo to score. Here are our previous tournament predictions.
Semifinal: –
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Germany Betting Tips
Mezut Ozil (Pic Cou:express.co.uk)
The Italians pushed them to the limit but the Germans ultimately made it through even if it was through Penalties. Germans have now made it to the semifinals of every major tournament starting from the 2006 World Cup.
The last time they faced the host nation in the semifinals of a major tournament was in the 2014 World Cup & they ended up thrashing the Brazilians 7-1. Incidentally they had beaten France 1-0 in the quarters to make it to the semi’s & eventually win the competition.
The Germans have conceded only a single goal so far and that to has been through a penalty. They’ve scored just 7 goals so far with 3 of them coming against Slovakia in the round of 16’s. They had reached the same stage at the last edition of the European championships but suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Italy.
Despite being defensively rock solid their only flaw so far has been their inability to score goals. Mario Gotze has been desperately out of form while former World Cup Golden Boot winner Thomas Muller is yet to score in 10 European Championship games.
Mario Gomez who was their top scorer till now with two goals is ruled out for the rest of the tournament after picking up an injury.
Despite their success against France in major competitions Germans are behind the Blues in head to head records having won only 9 of their past 27 meetings with French winning 12.
Germany will miss the services of defender Matt Hummels against France as he serves a suspension. As for the duo of Mario Gomez & Sami Khedria their Euro 2016 is over.
German Top Scorer Bet
- Mario Gomez – 1.73 (Bet 365)
- Mesut Ozil – 8.00 (Skybet)
- Julian Draxler – 9.00 (Betvictor)
- Thomas Muller – 11.00 (Betfair)
- Bastian Schweinsteiger – 17.00 (Bet 365)
Mario Gomez leads the German goal scoring ranks with two goals but now since he’ll be unavailable for the rest of the tournament someone else needs to step-up. Gomez could still end up as their top scorer & I’m not picking anyone right now but Julian Draxler (1 goal) who has been impressive till now should be a bet you might want to think about.
Overall Finish/Stage of Elimination
- Semi’s – 1.95 (Betfair)
- Runner-up – 6.00 (Bet 365)
- Winner – 1.95 (Bet 365)
Germans are well on route to repeat Spain’s 2010 WC & 2012 Euro’s double. France will be tough opponents but they should get through in the end.
France vs Germany – Past Meeting
The last time these two teams met was in a friendly in November 2015. France came out as 2-0 winners on the day thanks to goals from Oliver Giroud & Gignac.
Final Verdict
France or Germany whoever wins this game will go into the Final against Portugal as the favorites. The Selecaos put in a stellar performance against Wales in the semifinals but will find it difficult to handle either Germany or France. In short the winner of the tournament will come from this tie.
