England will start its path towards soccer redemption on Monday June 18th at 2pm Eastern time at Volgograd Arena, in Volgograd, Russia against Tunisia, who are appearing in their first World Cup since 2006. This will be Tunisia's fifth World Cup in their history. These teams have played each other twice in the past, with both meetings in the 1990's. There was a 1-1 draw in 1990 and a 2-0 England win in the 1998 World Cup in France. England will be looking to exorcize the demons of the recent past, after having a poor showing at the Euro 2016 tournament and the 2014 World Cup, where they failed to make it out of the group stage. The odds are in their favor, and show them as a clear favorite in this match. Bet on the Tunisia vs England World Cup match with the best odds right here at Skybook. Register today to enjoy the biggest selection of Russia 2018 prop bets and bonuses.
England
Although they have a celebrated history, the English National team has had a number of setbacks in the last decade. In 2010 they nabbed the second spot in the group stage despite only having scored 2 goals through 3 games, only to go on to the round of 16 and get hammered 4-1 by the Germans. In 2014, England was in a difficult group, but it didn't even seem like it was trying, as they dropped their two first games to Uruguay and Italy before going scoreless against Costa Rica in the final game. Two years later, England would suffer another embarrassment when they lost 2-1 to Iceland in the first knockout stage.
This year, however, they are coming in with some new faces, less baggage, and less pressure. Gareth Southgate has taken over as head coach and he has implemented a more streamlined style of play, opting to play the ball out of the backfield as much as possible. Harry Kane will be counted on for much of the scoring, while 20-year old Marcus Rashford will be looking to make a name for himself.
Tunisia
Tunisia had a golden era of soccer that began in the mid 90's and they became fixtures in the World Cup for three straight tournaments (1998, 2002, 2006). This will be their first trip back since 06, and they have still yet to ever win a game or advance past the group stage. The group of players that got them here went undefeated in their qualifying group (4-3-0) and are young and mostly play in the region, with a few having contracts with clubs in France and Belgium. Yohan Benalouane, a 31- year old Center back is under contract with Leicester City, but usually plays on the reserve squad. Ali Maâloul , who has the second most caps on the team at 43 and is an offensively- minded defenseman, plays left back and will likely log a lot of minutes, as nobody else on the team has over 40 caps.
Match Overview
Tunisia will unfortunately be without its star midfielder Youssef Msakni, who suffered a knee injury in April. The loss is a serious blow for a team that is already short on star power. Tunisia's Manager Nabil Maloul will likely replace Msakni with French-born Midfielder Wahbi Khazri. England meanwhile will be coming in with a full, healthy squad with the exception of midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is also out with a knee injury.
