Mexico v France betting tips: El Tri can test Les Bleus in Tokyo
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Mexico v France betting tips and odds
France are 5/1 third favourites in the men’s Olympic odds behind Spain and Brazil as they kick off their group campaign in Tokyo on Thursday morning.
Sylvain Ripoll’s side are 20/23 to make a winning start against Mexico in a pool also containing hosts Japan and South Africa.
The 1984 gold medal winners have only a couple of familiar names in their squad so let’s check out the markets and odds in our Mexico v France betting tips.
Match Odds
Ripoll was hit by a handful of withdrawals in the build-up to the Olympics and most of his squad are home-based, but he does have a couple of experienced players to call upon for the clash with Mexico.
Striker Andre-Pierre Gignac and former Newcastle winger Florian Thauvin are in the overage bracket and are expected to start up front in Japan’s capital on Thursday.
Gignac plays in Mexico for Tigres where he will be joined by Thauvin for the new season which gets under way on the opening day of the men’s Olympic tournament.
Mexico have played three friendlies in the build-up to the tournament, beating Romania and Australia 1-0 and 3-2 respectively in June and in between they drew 1-1 with Saudi Arabia.
Twenty of Mexico’s squad play their football domestically but Jaime Lozano, who is being aided by national coach Gerardo Martino, has been able to select Real Betis winger Diego Lainez, an established figure in the senior team.
El Tri, who also have experienced keeper Guillermo Ochoa in their squad, are 13/4 to beat France, 23/10 to draw and 2/1 in the draw no bet market
Mexico won the gold medal in London nine years ago when they beat Brazil in the final and we expect their squad to draw inspiration from that stunning achievement.
Their senior team are also soon to be competing in the quarter-finals of the Gold Cup so this is a chance to show Mexico’s talent at all levels.
Talking Tactics
Five players were refused permission to play for France, including Arsenal defender William Saliba, and Everton full-back Niels Nkounkou also had to pull out with an injury so it’s difficult to assess how they will line up although we got some clues in last week’s 2-1 comeback victory over South Korea in which Ripoll deployed a 4-3-3 system.
Versatile defender Pierre Kalulu started seven games for AC Milan last season in addition to six substitute appearances so he is likely to play at the back, possibly alongside Modibo Sagnan who played 16 times for Real Sociedad, nine from the bench.
Ochoa is not a certain starter for Mexico with Luis Malagon having started all three of last month’s friendlies.
Match Info
Where: Tokyo Stadium
When: 09:00, Thursday 22nd July
How to watch: BBC iPlayer/Red Button
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
