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Cool and Controlled
It's the opening match for Group B favourites Switzerland against the likely group loser Qatar and I expect a disciplined and controlled approach.
Switzerland's games average 9.04 corners (last 40 games) with a low 2.54 variance and they have recent team totals as low as 2 in their friendly against Norway and 0 against Germany in March (despite scoring 3 goals).
I expect more corners than that from Switzerland on Saturday given that they will have more of the ball but after their first goal goes in there won't be a strong push to attack also because Qatar is one of the least threatening teams at this tournament, and because there are so many games to be played.
Qatar's games average 8.04 corners with higher variance of 3.68 (given that they play stronger and weaker opposition) and an under rate at 64%. They got just 1 corner recently against Ireland, and could only manage 3 against El Salvador in their final pre-tournament friendly. With games against weaker Canada and Bosnia sides to think about, and a goal difference to protect, I don't see Qatar pushing hard in this one either.
Expect the Swiss to dominate this one and the game to lack the energy needed to produce corners - under 9.5 corners at 1.80 odds is the bet.
