Chadli, Dembele start for Belgium in semifinal

The lineups for both France and Belgium have been confirmed and Moussa Dembele will start for Belgium while Nacer Chadli, who scored the winner in the Round of 16 tie against Japan will feature in this crucial semifinal against France.

Moussa Dembele was a surprise pick to replace the suspended Thomas Meunier in Belgium’s line-up and Blaise Matuidi was restored to the France midfield for Tuesday’s World Cup semi-final.

Belgium lineup: Courtois; Alderweireld, Kompany, Vetronghen, Chadli, Fellaini, Mousa Dembele, Witsel, De Bruyne, Hazard, Lukaku.

Belgium are likely to lineup in a 4-3-3 with Chadli as the right back. He will look to make overlapping runs and exploit his pace against a defensive Fench left-hand side where Matuidi will most likely play as a left-sided wide midfielder.

France lineup: Lloris; Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez; Pogba, Matuidi, Kante; Griezmann, Giroud, Mbappe

Inclusion of Dembele will see Belgium have three in midfield to counter Paul Pogba, Ngolo Kante and Matuidi midfield. For France, Mbappe and midfielder Ngolo Kante were included in the France team despite sitting out training on Monday.

They are expected to lineup in their 4-3-3 which however could also be a 4-2-3-1 with Giroud making runs at the tip of the formation to create space. Griezmann is incredibly effective as a 10 but finds himself shunted out onto the left wing as a result of this tactical switch. Belgium can therefore afford to be a little more offensive if France are planning on making things slow and muddy in midfield and defence then relying on the counter-attack.