Carmine Bianco

THE PLAY: France WIN and Over 2.5 Goals -115

UEFA NL - France at Turkey

Game Thoughts: It was a disappointing World Cup for Turkiye this summer as one of the two group favorites along with the USA expected to advance into the knockout stages but losses in their first two made their only win in the group finale against USA meaningless as they were eliminated. They'll look to recapture some of that solid form they had coming into the World Cup but it's unlikely they get any type of a positive result here against a strong France side that lost to eventual winners Spain in the semifinals of that WC. It's also a new era in France as far as managers go as Zinedine Zidane takes over the squad after Deschamps stepped down after 14 success years. Plenty of attacking talent for Les Bleus here with Dembele, Mbappe, and Olise and a strong midfield. Note that Mbappe did miss training on Tuesday with the flu and could start from the bench Friday but expecting France to get the 3 points here and the combined total over 2.5 goals.

The play is France WIN & Over 2.5 -115 (Note: This can be found at DK under the "Match Parlays" tab for this game.

THE PLAY: Total Over 2.5 (-127)

UEFA NL - Belgium at Italy

Game Thoughts: Italy embarks on another Nations League era having lost in the semifinals of the last edition and after a summer of turmoil amongst the federation with appointing a new manager they've named Roberto Mancini as manager and he previously had helped turn around the Azzurri and won the 2021 Euro's over England. His style of play does promote attacking football and high press tactics and we saw that with the previous edition of this team that scored goals. They get a familar foe in Belgium and one they've gone unbeaten against in their last 5 with 3 of them coming in this competition. Belgium will be without their first pick goalie as Courtois will sit out this competition but they did have a positive World Cup this summer scoring 14 goals and were the only team to score against Spain in a 2-1 late game loss in the quarterfinals.

The play is Over 2.5 -127