Croatia vs Belgium Prediction: Under 2.5 Goals trend worth backing to continue

Croatia and Belgium finished second and third respectively at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with the former going on to finish third in Qatar four years ago, and both will be hoping to try and match their accomplishments in North America this summer. They start their final preparations with a friendly against one another in Rijeka on Tuesday (6pm local/5pm BST, Prime Video).

My Croatia vs Belgium predictions can be found below, alongside the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

There are a few veterans over the age of 40 heading to the World Cup this summer. One of them is Croatia midfielder Luka Modric, who will captain the Vatreni. The AC Milan star is just four appearances away from 200 for his country, which he looks set to reach over the coming weeks.

Mateo Kovacic, Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric are the other centurions in Croatia's ranks heading to the World Cup this summer.

Boss Zlatko Dalic has revealed that he intends to name a back three on Tuesday, so expect Marin Pongragic, Josko Gvardiol and Luka Vuskovic to start.

Football Odds

Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Axel Witsel and Thibaut Courtois have all made over 100 appearances for Belgium and they are all going to bring valuable experience to the Red Devils' World Cup squad.

Leandro Trossard is unlikely to be involved on Tuesday so soon after the Champions League final with Arsenal.

Croatia vs Belgium Odds

Croatia have won four of their last five games and they are 7/5 to come out on top here.

The last meeting was a 0-0 draw at the 2022 World Cup, and the stalemate here is valued at 12/5.

Belgium are an 8/5 shot to come away with the victory.

Both teams have scored in each of the hosts' previous four fixtures, and BTTS - Yes here can be backed at 4/6.

Match Result - Draw @ 12/5

This final week before the World Cup gives the competing nations the chance to build up the fitness of their players and for them to get an idea of how their game plans will be executed over the coming weeks.

It's also a last chance for fringe players to fight for places and convince their bosses to start them during the tournament. Based on their recent performances on this stage, both will seek to go far in North America.

While this game gives them a good opponent to test themselves against, as it is a friendly, I'm expecting this to be more of an exercise. Injuries at this stage could be costly, so key personnel for both teams could see their minutes carefully managed.

For that reason, I think this will finish up as a draw, which has been the outcome in three of Belgium's last six games. This was also the result in the last meeting during the group stage of the 2022 World Cup.

Total Goals - Under 2.5 @ EVS

I'm also drawn to Under 2.5 Goals at EVS because three of the past four encounters have featured fewer than three goals, including the last meeting four years ago which ended goalless.

This has also been a winning selection in three of Belgium's last six fixtures and I can see this trend continuing on Tuesday evening.