Football Bet of the Day: Belgium to leave for Russia on a high

Belgium v Costa Rica
Monday 19:45 (Live on MUTV)

Brann and Valerenga let Kev down on his final bet of last week, but at least there's something starting in Russia this week to ease the pain of their goalless draw.

Our shift begins on the road to Russia, as Belgium and Costa Rica make their very last World Cup preparations. The Europeans are hosting this one and we fancy they can notch one final win before heading east.

Roberto Martinez's men have the attacking weapons to overpower the visitors (Hazard, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Mertens) and, at the back, a solid all-Premier League defence of Courtois, Vertonghen, Alderweireld and Kompany. It's not just their individual talents that makes them a formidable unit, of course - it's the time spent alongside each other at the back. They have the skill and the experience to shut out the visitors. Indeed, Belgium have kept clean sheets in each of their last four friendlies and we're backing them to Win to Nil this evening.

Costa Rica have lost 4/6 friendlies since coming through Concacaf qualifying. They failed to score in any of those four defeats (0-5 v Spain, 0-1 v Hungary, 0-1 v Tunisia, 0-2 v England) and we think they'll struggle to find a way through the Belgians later today.