Uruguay vs France: FIFA World Cup 2018 prediction, betting tips, odds, kick-off time, what TV channel, live streaming online, head to head
Uruguay vs France | FIFA World Cup 2018, quarter-finals | Friday, July 6 | Nizhny Novgorod Stadium
The pressure is well and truly on as we reach the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup, with Uruguay vs France FIFA World Cup Live updates now just three wins away from glory.
France won a thrilling last-16 clash against Argentina 4-3, with Kylian Mbappe the star of the show with two superb goals to send Lionel Messi & Co. packing.
Uruguay, meanwhile, sent Messi's great rival Cristiano Ronaldo home as Edinson Cavani struck twice to seal a 2-1 win over Portugal to set up a mouthwatering quarter-final clash.
FIFA World Cup 2018 Quarterfinals, France vs Uruguay
A mouth-watering quarterfinal match is now on the cards between Uruguay vs France. A match representing two footballing continents – European method vs European style adapted Latin American country. A match between the 7th and 14th ranked footballing nations. A match between two teams who will put in display contrasting style of football. Based on the strengths and build-up to the game, this promises to be a classic in this edition of the world cup.
Let’s first analyse the French team, who has been playing an attractive style of football with its current generation of promising footballers. With the talent in midfield and in the attack, it is not a surprise that this team believes in possession football with a potent strength in the final third.
During the World Cup qualifying round, France had an average of 60% ball possession and was the group champion. This was the group where the Netherlands were playing and could not still qualify for the World Cup, thanks to Sweden having a better goal-difference. The French completed 5167 passes in 13 matches with near 90% accuracy. This possession football allowed them to score 18 goals and more importantly won 7 of the 10 matches which made them group champions with 23 points – a clear 4 point difference than Sweden, who took the second position.
Now if you see their Uruguay vs France FIFA World Cup 2018 matches so far, they had 55% possession on an average. In the knockout match against Argentina, they just had 39% possession as they relied mainly on the counter-attack to torment a slow, aged defence of Argentina. If you ignore that match, they had 60% possession on their group matches.
So, effectively here is a team with great attacking strength through Griezman, Giroud, Mbappe backed up by midfield generals of Pogba and Kante – who can play both passing football as well as do the role of effective midfield blocking. So, France’s strength lies in their midfield and attack.Having said that, they defended perfectly well against Argentina and could manage effective zonal and man-marking of players like Leo Messi, who rarely got any space to show his magic.
Coming to Uruguay now. In their Uruguay vs France FIFA world cup 2018 qualifiers, Uruguay was placed second behind Brazil and was ahead of Argentina, Colombia and Peru. In their 18 matches, they scored 32 goals – almost fifty percent of those goals came from Cavani and Suarez. Actually, Cavani was the highest scorer in the group with a total of 10 goals, ably supported by Suarez with 5 goals.
In their Uruguay vs France FIFA world cup 2018 matches, it was an example of excellent counter-attacking football, which was in display in the knockout round against Portugal. Even with a possession of just 33%, they broke the Portuguese defence multiple times with two world-class goals scored by Cavani. While their long ball counter attacks are very productive, the dual combination and understanding that Cavani shows with Suarez is exemplary.
We all witnessed that in Uruguay’s first goal against Portugal, where a 3 touch attack from their own half resulted into a world class goal from Cavani from a near-perfect Suarez pass. So, Uruguay’s strength lies in their defence and counter attack.
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