1st place Mexico face 3rd place Russia for their final group stage match. This match is a knockout game for Russia as they need to win it in order to qualify further. Mexico enter this game having two options: if they win the contest, they will qualify from the 1st place, but even if they draw they will qualify in the semis from the 2nd place in the group. Mexico managed twice to come from behind against Portugal to secure one point (2-2) in their opening match. Against New Zealand, Mexico’s coach Juan Carlos Osorio made 8 changes to the 1st XI and went down 1-0 at half time which was a huge surprise, but the second half saw them dominating the game and winning 2-1 after a great performance. Russia looked decent in their friendly fixtures against Hungary and Chile, they started good the tournament with an expected 2-0 victory against New Zealand but looked really poor and without ideas against Portugal losing 1-0. They will be forced to attack, a victory being their only chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.
El Tri (Mexico) are unbeaten in their last ten competitive fixtures winning six of them. They won 4 points from losing positions in the tournament so far. This will be their first competitive fixture against Russia. We expect their manager to start the match with his 1st squad with Hector Moreno, Hector Herrera, Jonathan dos Santos and Javier Hernandez (Chicharito) to be recalled and play a major role in the game. Mexico will be missing defender Carlos Salcedo injured against New Zealand on Wednesday. Mexico have great attacking firepower and will put big pressure on a poor Russian defense. Mexico have more strength in depth and that’s one of the main reason of their great comebacks in both matches of the tournament. If we are talking about quality and experience, Mexico are by far the better team with some of their players performing at the highest level in Europe. Russia failed to register a single shot on target against Portugal and will try their best to change something and find the necessary spaces and find the back of the net against Mexico.
Mexico are priced at 2.45 with the green listed bookmaker Bet365 to win the match and we should take advantage of this great set of odds. Russia are the underdogs and are priced at 3.0 with 10Bet to win and qualify further. Even though Mexico haven’t quite impressed in their 1st two fixtures, they are the favored side and we expect them to keep the possession and create a lot of opportunities. Russia need to put themselves together and try to win the game.
Best picks for the match:
Mexico to win at 2.45 with Bet365
Mexico to win and both teams to score at 4.75 with 10Bet
Mexico to win and over 1.5 goals in the match at 3.0 with BetVictor
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