England VS Senegal

Senegal try to challenge England in this World Cup Play Off clash at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor early Monday morning Beijing time. I think beating England is, however, very improbable here. I see "The Three Lions" having a 71% chance to win during the 90 minutes of play. The probability of a win by more than one goal's difference is 47% and is also an interesting, more risky option.. Indeed, England have been slightly better so far in Qatar than I expected in my in-depth pre-season analysis. I have, as a result, raised their power rating that illustrates the teams' pure class. They were totally dominant against Wales winning 3-0 and recorded 3.56 in expected goals (xG). Wales, who are not a bad team and took a point from USA, managed just 0.29! They were excellent in their opening match and crushed Iran, who are not a bad team despite not qualifying for the play offs. 6-2 was the final score-The score does flatter them but it was still an excellent performance and boosted many player's confidence ( goals + assists). England recorded 2.46 in expected goals – Iran's number was decent was well though– 1.52. Against USA they England were lame offensively but USA also played above their normal level. England were heavily criticized after the match and this match clearly affected the odds their odds in the Wales game. However, the draw was an okay against USA for the English team and taking massive risks to try to win would not have been wise-. The (xG) number was 0.94 for England and 0.82 for USA. Nevertheless, England were the better team as whole at the stadium with 55% ball possession and more shots on goal, total passes, completed passes, attacks and dangerous attacks. I do not think England will leave anything to chance here. Overtime - not to mention penalties are always unpredictable.. The Three Lions have a substantial edge in all areas of the game! The biggest difference is definitely in offense. They have a big number of absolute world-class players who play in the biggest clubs on the planet to choose from. Most football fans know for example what Manchester United's Marcus Rashford,25, who was on fire against Wales scoring goals, Manchester City's Foden and Tottenham's Kane are capable of! Moreover, Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham is a super-talented but still often under-rated guy. Interestingly, Captain Harry Kane  was the World Cup in Russia in 2018 Golden Boot winner but still seeks his first goal at this year's finals

Senegal have looked somewhat vulnerable, often even unorganized in defense. Even Qatar, a very bad team as we all could easily recognize, managed to score against them and had a chance to even make it 2-2! Senegal did deserve the win though but the 3-1 final score is a bit misleading despite Senegal creating more in xG. They beat Ecuador 2-1 in their most recent match and it was a good, but not excellent performance. They did record a little more than the Ecuadorians in xG. However, the match was a a balanced one and could have gone either way.. Against Netherlands in their opening match they were decent and Gakpo managed to score no earlier than in the 84th minute. The Dutch eventually came on top 2-0.The xG numbers were Netherlands 1.39 – Senegal 0.79. The FIFA ranking is a quite good indicator of the teams' pure class. Senegal are in the 18th place place with 1584.38 ranking points. Without Bayern Munich's super star Sadio Mane Senegal are definitely not among the best 25th countries on the planet. 35-40th would be more realistic. Missing him was not that serious against lower opposition but who will actually score for them here..? Their attackers are not bad but the gap compared to Mane is massive! I would not be at all surprised to se them failing to net the ball here.. Even the much-criticized - sometimes even mocked - Harry Maguire has been good in this tournament! England are in 5th place in the ranking which is a fair in my opinion.