France vs Belgium prediction: EUROPE: UEFA Nations League – League A betting tips on match 2024-09-08 18:45.
[p]France began their bid to win a second UEFA Nations League (UNL) title with a surprise 3-1 home defeat to Italy, so they’re on the backfoot heading into matchday two after losing consecutive matches for the first time since June 2015. Manager Didier Deschamps is using this competition to experiment, and he admitted that doing so had contributed to their matchday one defeat.[/p]
[p]Les Bleus are therefore at risk of losing three in a row for the first time since 2013, although they’ve won their last three H2Hs against Belgium, all of them coming in competitive internationals. They include a 3-2 victory in the semi-final of this competition in 2021 and 1-0 win in the Euro 2024 round of 16, yet they’ve now only won one of their last three UNL games at home (L3) since claiming the title in 2021.[/p]
[p]Belgium won’t be short of confidence after they made a strong start to their campaign by  beating Israel 3-1 on Friday at the neutral venue of Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen. Manager Domenico Tedesco was able to give Arne Engels and Julien Duranville their first taste of international football, and even a missed penalty didn’t matter as they opened a UNL campaign with a win by 2+ goals for the third time.[/p]
[p]They’ll likely need to be sharper in all areas against France however, and the Red Devils have struggled on foreign soil of late, winning just two of their seven games outside of Belgium this calendar year (D3, L2). A win here would also be an important landmark as Belgium have never beaten France in France in a competitive international (D2, L4)![/p]
[p]Players to watch: Bradley Barcola got France off to a flyer on Friday with the fastest goal in UNL history – his fifth goal in four games for club and country this season, two of which arrived inside the opening five minutes! Youri Tielemans has netted in both of Belgium’s last two international victories, both of which came via a two-goal margin.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Belgium have conceded in nine of their last ten UNL matches (W5, D1, L4).[/p]
[p][i]Written by John Pennington[/i][/p]