With a wild first few days of action, the few biggest games of potentially the entire group stage will soon be upon us.
To kick off the three-game slate on Sunday, it’s England and Croatia, respectively 4th and 14th in FIFA World Ranking. Kickoff is slated for 9 a.m. ET, and the event will be held at Wembley Stadium.
Below, we preview Croatia vs. England odds and lines and make our best UEFA EURO 2020 bets, picks and predictions.
England will come in with home-field advantage, something Croatian star midfielder and captain Luka Modric commented on earlier in the week. With forward Harry Kane looking to take the tournament’s golden boot, they’ll be primed for a deep run and will look to kick off their dominance with the very first Group D game.
As for Croatia, they’ll enter with arguably the best midfield in the entire tournament.
Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitić will look to make their presence felt. Without much other star presence, will they be enough for the Croatian side? This first game will be a great gauge to see how far this team could go.
Croatia at England: Odds, picks and predictions
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated 7:17 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Croatia +575 (bet $100 to win $575) | England -180 (bet $180 to win $100) | Draw +290 (bet $100 to win $290)
- Over/Under: 2.5 (O: +105 | U: -140)
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Prediction
England 3, Croatia 1
Money line (ML)
BET England (-180) to win despite the line giving not-too-favorable odds. Although Finland did win after Christian Erikson went down for Denmark, most of the favorites have won during the first couple days of EURO play.
A 3-1 win for today’s young England team is much more attainable than you might think. This season Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford had a combined 34 goals in the Premier League.
Having young Phil Foden and seasoned Jack Grealish in the mix of the attack also stacks the odds greatly against Croatia. This kind of young talent should easily be capable of beating this Croatian team.
Although Ivan Rakitic, Luka Modrić, and Champions League winner Mateo Kovacic could be arguably one of the strongest midfield trios in this year’s tourney, it simply will not be enough for the kind of young strength, talent, and depth this English team has.
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Over/Under (O/U)
BET the Over (+105) because 2.5 isn’t too much for a couple of teams with the most firepower in the EURO Tournament. Kane is a scoring machine, and it’d be shocking to see him not put one in the back of the net.
This England team has some youth, home-field advantage, and one of the top projected goal scorers in the EPL. Along with an elite attacking midfield from Croatia, expect a healthy amount of goals.
This one feels like a high-scoring event.
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