WORLD CUP GROUP I: The Ultra previews FRANCE v SENEGAL with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
🏆 World Cup 2026 🏆
🇫🇷 France v Senegal 🇸🇳
8pm Group I gets underway Tuesday night as France take on Senegal at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on WORLD CUP 2026 Betdaq Betting Exchange! ! It’s our first look at one of the big tournament favourites; Spain just edged favouritism in the final days before the World Cup started. There’s plenty going on heading into this fixture – Didier Deschamps beginning his farewell tournament after 14 years in charge, Kylian Mbappe arriving off the back of a very toxic season at Real Madrid, and Senegal turning up with the wounded pride of having their Africa Cup of Nations title stripped from them in March. And of course, these two have met at a World Cup before – the famous 2002 opener when Senegal stunned the reigning champions 1-0!
France come into the game as the odds on favourites at 1.49 with Senegal 8.2 and the draw is 4.6 at the time of writing. As I said in my Group I preview, France just tick every box – their squad is exceptionally talented and it would be a surprise if they didn’t go deep into the tournament. They are the number one ranked team in the world, and everyone remembers how close they went against Argentina at the last World Cup. There was a little wobble in the warm-ups, a 2-1 friendly defeat to Ivory Coast in early June, before they steadied things with a 3-1 win over Northern Ireland in which Michael Olise helped himself to a hat-trick. It’s hard to know how much to write into the warm-ups; there were a lot of bad reports about the pitches and I don’t think many sides took them too seriously other than trying to get used to the heat.
Obviously a huge talking point here will be Mbappe. What a strange season it has been for him at Real Madrid – individually he was outstanding – especially at the start of the season, top scorer in La Liga and the Champions League, but everything around him at the club turned toxic; Madrid surrendered the league to Barcelona again, the season ended trophyless, the Xabi Alonso situation of course, and Mbappe somehow ended up in the middle of all the noise as usual. The fascinating part now is how this French squad treats him. He is the captain, and from a French point of view he surely arrives with a massive point to prove – that usually brings the best out of him. But it will be very interesting to see do his teammates rally around him fully, or whether the Madrid baggage follows him into the camp. Deschamps has built his entire 14 years on protecting the group from outside noise. How much he tracks back and works early will be telling. Mbappe is two goals away from becoming France’s all-time leading scorer by the way!
WORLD CUP 2026 Betdaq Betting Exchange!
Senegal will be playing with a serious chip on their shoulder too, and you can hardly blame them. They beat Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations final in January, only for CAF to strip them of the title in March after ruling that coach Pape Thiaw committed a serious breach by leading his players off the pitch for 15 minutes in protest at a late penalty. They are appealing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and we’ll just have to see how that goes! On the pitch, they topped their CAF qualifying group unbeaten, so the quality is there. I wouldn’t be rushing to take the 1.49 on France; that looks a little short in what should be their most difficult Group fixture. Obviously the worry with Senegal is their recent form has been poor, and they do have some injuries.
I’m happy to stay out of the match odds market here to be honest. France should win this in my opinion; France have won their opening game at the last three World Cups, but it’s hard to make the case that they should be massively shorter than 1.49. I do feel we’ll see an entertaining game here; it’s interesting to see Both Teams To Score is the outsider in that market at 2.18. I feel that’s the value play in a very interesting game.
The Ultra Says:
One point win Both Teams To Score at 2.18 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/WCFrSe
