Sports Blog 02/07/2018: FIFA World Cup Preview – Brazil vs Mexico/Belgium vs Japan, Monday 2nd July 2018

Will Brazil become the latest World Cup giant to be toppled when they take on Mexico at 3pm on BBC One?

Oh the competition’s bona fide behemoths, arguably only Brazil remain. Defending champions Germany fell at the first hurdle. Italy didn’t even make it to Russia. Argentina and Spain, both out. Yes, former winners Uruguay, France and England are still in it, but their respective World Cup feel rather pale in comparison to those previously listed nations.



And while they may remain fixed odds favourites, at 7/2 to the already qualified France’s 4/1, they haven’t exactly been operating at full force. They could only manage a 1-1 draw against Switzerland and required 2 injury-time goals to see off Costa Rica, before upping their game slightly to beat Serbia 2-0. Neymar has perhaps been the most pronounced disappointment, the PSG ace – who has a sizeable Super Mega PGM of 47-55 – so far scoring just once.

Mexico, on the other hand, have been something of a delightful surprise. Besting Germany 1-0 in their opener, and seeing off South Korea with a 2-1 victory in Rostov-on-Don, El Tri came undone in their Group F decider against Sweden, a 3-0 defeat sending them to the tougher side of the draw on goal difference. Javier Hernandez remains their best shot going forwards, at a Super Mega PGM of 13-17, with Carlos Vela in support at 10-14.

Though the tournament has thrown up a gleeful number of twists and turns, the sheer World Cup nous of the 5-time champs makes them hard to look past, with Spreadex offering a Brazil/Mexico Goal Supremacy spread of 1.1-1.3 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.65-2.85.

Monday evening then sees Belgium attempt to turn go from dark horses to legitimate contenders when they face Japan at 7pm on BBC One. One of just 2 countries to finish the group stages will all 9 points – the other being Croatia – AND with the most goals scored during that period, Belgium have built up a nice head of steam going into the knockouts.



Their 3-0 opener against Panama was pretty routine was followed by a 5-2 romp against Tunisia, with Romelu Lukaku – who has a Super Mega PGM of 54-62, and is in with a decent shot of winning the Golden Boot at 14/5 – nabbing a brace in both. Then came the final game against England, with a pair of much-changed sides battling for the dubious honour of entering the ugly side of the draw. Roberto Martinez eventually got the upper hand over Gareth Southgate through a lovely goal from Adnan Januzaj, setting up potential battles against Brazil and France en route to the final.

As for Japan, they had a slightly less convincing journey to the last 16, each game a smidge worse than the last. A deserved 2-1 win over Colombia led to a 2-2 draw against Senegal, with Japan twice coming from behind. They were then very nearly knocked out of the competition with their 1-0 loss against Poland, only for Senegal’s slightly worse disciplinary record eliminating the African side.

If Martinez’s side perform anything like how they did in their first 2 games then they shouldn’t have too many problems, with Spreadex offering a Belgium/Japan Goal Supremacy spread of 1.3-1.5 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.7-2.9.