And then there were eight! The quarter-finals are set at the 2022 World Cup and we are excited to bring you a Same Game Parlay for each of those matches, starting off with the first of four matches to be played between Croatia and Brazil.
The parlay comes out at +696 odds, let’s dive in!
Brazil -1 3-Way Spread (+110)
Vinicius Junior Anytime Goalscorer (+195)
Richarlison to have 1 or more shots on target in 1st half (-115)
Parlay odds: +696
** Odds provided by FanDuel **
Out of the 4 quarter-final matches this is probably the easiest one to predict, at least on paper. Brazil has impressed in 3 of the 4 matches they’ve played so far, the lost against Cameron doesn’t carry much weight as they were already through by then and most of their key players sat that one out. The game vs South Korea was pretty much in the bag after 30 minutes of play, and although I’m expecting Croatia to put up more resistance than that, the final score in this one won’t be close. The runners-up from 2018 have been solid so far, however in 4 games played they have only 1 victory in 90 minutes and that was against arguably the weakest opponent they faced Canada. It is an aging roster, with their biggest star Luka Modric playing at the tender age of 37. They barely scraped past Japan in the 1st knock-out stage on penalties, I don’t give them much of a chance vs Brazil here. Back the Seleção to win by at least 2 goals here.
Vinicius Jr. has the 4th highest rating according to WhoScored in 3 matches played at the World Cup for Brazil. He’s an integral part of the offense, his goal opened up the scoring against South Korea on Monday. He is one of the fastest players in the world right now and is always a goal threat when playing at his club Real Madrid. Croatia has had it’s fair share of struggles trying to defend the wings at this World Cup, especially from the right side where their weakest link in defense resides – Josip Juranovic. Although he’s a solid player at club level playing for Celtic, the amount of talent he comes across in the Scottish Premiership is nowhere near as good as Vinicius. Real Madrid and Celtic actually clashed in the Champions League in early November and Vinicius Jr. actually scored on Juranovic, which is definitely a good sign for our bet here.
In the 3 matches played so far at the World Cup he is one of the highest rated Brazilian players. He scored twice in the group stage opener against Serbia grabbing man of the match honors. While he didn’t have the best of games against Switzerland, he once again shined on Monday against South Korea where he first won a penalty and then scored the 3rd goal for Brazil, winning MoM honors again. He is likely to start up front against Croatia which means his teammates will look for him early. In 3 games played he averages 2.3 shots per game, 2 of those on average come from the penalty area while 0.3 come from inside the 6-yard box. Only Neymar averages more shots per game on the team, so he will be looking to assert himself early in this one. The Croatian defenders will have their hands full trying to stop Richarlison here.
