France v Poland betting odds: Holders to march on
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France v Poland betting odds, tips and predictions
Poland scraped into the last 16 of the World Cup by the skin of their teeth and will need to improve if they are to pose any problems for France.
The defending champions are one of the market leaders to go all the way in Qatar and are firm favourites to progress in the France v Poland betting odds.
Sunday’s match at Al Thumama Stadium kicks off at 3pm.
Deschamps hopes selection is justified
France progressed as group winners after six points from their first two games and coach Didier Deschamps was able to rest most of his first-choice line-up for the final match against Tunisia.
That resulted in a 1-0 defeat but the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele all started on the bench.
France would have liked to have gone into the knockout stage with another win but Deschamps defended his team selection, saying: “We can’t tick all the boxes. The first objective was the most important and that was to seal our place in the round of 16.
“The 24 players won their first two games and lost the last one, but I need all 24 to be available for me in four days.
Antoine Griezmann thought he had denied Tunisia from a historic win over France with a stoppage time equaliser 🤯
But VAR had other ideas as it was called offside ❌🤨#BBCFootball #BBCWorldCup pic.twitter.com/iMMKsUF7AT
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) November 30, 2022
“A couple of them have been able to rest up, they will have fresh legs. We were coming out of two high-intensity games. We will play four games in 12 days, we needed a breath of fresh air.
“But we need to do better than we did. Yes, the opponent punished us and gave us a run for our money. I wasn’t underestimating the opponent, I wasn’t not taking the game seriously, I was thinking about the game that is waiting for us on Sunday.”
Deschamps’ policy made complete sense, especially with their lengthy injury list meaning they cannot afford to lose more of their main men.
France are 2/7 to win in 90 minutes but most punters will be looking for a bigger price for France v Poland betting tips and we like the look of 13/8 for Mbappe to outscore the opposition.
Mbappe has been one of the players of the tournament so far and having only come on in the 63rd minute against Tunisia, he should be refreshed for Sunday’s game.
Poor Poles struggling for goals
Poland put up a dismal show against Argentina on Wednesday when they only needed a draw to guarantee their progress to the knockout stage.
They offered nothing going forward, failing to muster a shot on target with Robert Lewandowski isolated up front, and were fortunate to only concede two goals as Argentina dominated the second half, having also missed a first-half penalty.
Need a penalty saved? Just call this guy 🤙🇵🇱@LaczyNasPilka | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/ANHC1ADcug
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 30, 2022
At one stage Poland were only going through due to their fair play ranking before a late goal for Saudi Arabia meant they progressed on goal difference.
Lewandowski is starved of service in this team and coming up against quality opposition means it is likely to be another backs-to-the-wall display, having scored just two goals in Group C with both coming against Saudi Arabia.
That suggests Draw HT/France FT at 13/5 is worth considering in the France v Poland odds while Les Bleus to win to nil is 4/5 – with Poland failing to score in their last three meetings with France – but a 2-0 victory at 9/2 completes our predictions.
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All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication
