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France vs Belgium Top Story Lines
• Many games today will be familiar to regulars in the Premier League: N & # 39; Golo Kanté and Paul Pogba vs. France. Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne from Belgium in the midfield; goaltender Hugo Lloris trying to push forward Romelu Lukaku; Olivier Giroud potentially difficult for Headers against Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld. But club affiliations are now unclear: Tottenham, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Paris St. Germain, Monaco and Barcelona all have players on both sides of this semi-final.
• "I think we know them very well," said French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. "But they know us very well," said director Didier Deschamps: "It's an advantage of two sides. They can enjoy one another. But during the match, everyone will be on his side. "
• Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann will pose a test of attack as formidable as that Belgium has recently passed against Brazil.Belgium has done with a solid game of Marouane Fellaini and Axel Witsel in midfield, and France should expect a little more of the same today.
• Belgium is without Thomas Meunier, an important member of his team. his second yellow card against Brazil and is suspended France recovers Blaise Matuidi after being cleared in the quarter-finals
• Tottenham Hotspur has as many World Cup players (nine) as the whole of the Bundesliga and one more than in Serie A. Four Spurs players could see the action today: Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembélé for Belgium and Hugo Lloris for France. Nacer Chadli also spent time with the Spurs
France won the World Cup in 1998, and returned to the final in 2006. Belgium n & # 39; is in the semifinals for the second time; he lost at this stage in 1986.
• Today's winner will face the England-Croatia winner in Sunday's final in Moscow. The loser may stay in St. Petersburg, which will host the match for third place Saturday.
• France is the favorite to qualify for the final, but it is very close: the odds of bookmakers are 54% likely winner. Bookmakers have many other opinions too: the over / under is 2.5 goals. At the corners, it is 10. The player most likely to score the first goal is Antoine Griezmann, of France (6-1), followed by Romelu Lukaku, of Belgium (7-1) and Kylian Mbappe, of France (8-1).
Some Readings of Pregame
• The right-back of France, Benjamin Pavard, had a good tournament and scored a magnificent goal against Argentina. But its part of the pitch is where Eden Hazard from Belgium likes to work, and that could pose his biggest test yet.
• Nearly half – 40 out of 92 – World Cup players play for Premier League clubs. Jonathan Lieuw looks into what this means, why people should not give too much credit to the league yet.
• Shameless flattery, dubious fluidity and warm ovations: Sarah Lyall wrote on the glorious stew and great theater that is the World Cup Press Conference
• Why All Cup Players du Monde put their hand in the head after a near-accident? It turns out that there is a psychological explanation.
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