This article was published at 08:28 h on December 13, 2022.
This page was last updated at 8:28 p.m. on December 13, 2022.
These semifinals of the World Cup are underway, with Croatia taking on Argentina and France facing off against Morocco tomorrow. Both games are going to be tough, but the head coach of the NFL’s New England Patriots thinks he knows who will win today’s contest.
Argentina’s national team celebrates as they advance to the semifinals of the World Cup. Croatia is next in line to face Argentina for the chance of reaching the final. Getty Images Image.
Bill Belichick, the Pats’ successful coach over the past twenty years has led them to six Super Bowl Championships. His winning skills are well-known and he believes Croatia will be a surprise defeat for Argentina.
Belichick wore a Croatian flag patch when he suited up for the Pats’ Monday Night Football game against the Arizona Cardinals. His could be biased, though – his paternal grandparents emigrated from Croatian 130 years ago, meaning Belichick has natural Croatian blood coursing through his veins.
It is impossible to predict the future.
This will be a high-flying match with, hopefully, less drama than Argentina’s previous game. Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lohoz was card-happy in the team’s match against the Netherlands and ultimately got ejected by FIFA for his antics.
Argentina
Draw
Croatia
-115
+240
+370
DraftKings
Argentina is facing FIFA action because Lohoz publicly condemned them. However, they almost made it to the final round in 2014 when Germany beat Argentina in Brazil. Four years later, Croatia was given a chance to win before France eliminated them. Both are now two steps from glory, and they will be the best on this field.
Argentina lost a convincing victory against the Netherlands in the last minutes of the match, conceding two goals late in the game. Although they know they will be defending their World Cup title in the future, the team is aware of the lesson they had against the Dutch. They cannot afford to lose a match against Croatia.
It was the most important match in history, with England being the semifinal match. The match against Brazil in the quarter-finals is second. We could win the match against Argentina and make this Croatia’s greatest historic game.,” said Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic.
Croatia’s journey to get this far has not been easy. Croatia managed to scrape by with four draws and a victory against Canada in just 90 minutes in the group phase. However, defensively, the Croats have been on top of their game, and goalkeeper Dominik Livaković’s role in their victories cannot be overlooked.
All betting sites give Argentina a chance to win today, but the World Cup is full of surprises. Croatia is the favorite in 24 games, but Croatia was consistently behind the field throughout the tournament.
Croatian Model Has Unique Gift If Croatia Wins
Repeatedly, Croatian model and a big fan of her home country’s team, Ivana Knoll, has been the center of controversy. The outfit she wore to the games was inspired by the Croatian flag.
While her compatriots don’t mind, locals in Qatar have called her out for “disrespecting” the flag. Knoll offers the ideal solution. If Croatia wins, she’ll strip down to nothing. This will offer sports punters something to look forward too.
Sports betting in this World Cup series so far has been quite clean. According to FIFA’s integrity group, there were no suspicious bets or threat of match manipulation during the 56 first matches.
The monitoring was carried out in collaboration with Qatar’s Safety and Security Operations Committee (SSOC), which created an international coordination center for the tournament. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime was also involved in the monitoring, as a result of a partnership formed between FIFA and FIFA for 2020.
Legal sports betting runs smoothly but illegal ones continue to be a problem. Several high-profile busts in Hong Kong, Philippines, and other countries have been reported recently. Turkey is now on the list.
This Eastern European nation just detained 101 individuals and took $43 million during a series raid on online illegal gambling activity. It was the second time in as many months they busted groups with ties to Halil Falyalı, an illegal gambling ringleader who was killed in Cyprus earlier this year.
