Belgium vs. Senegal prediction, pick for Wednesday 7/1/26

Best Bet for Belgium vs. Senegal

• Senegal To Advance: Despite only picking up three points in the Group Stage, Senegal are in significantly better form and are a more tested squad than Belgium. Their consistency will ultimately be rewarded in this match, as Sadio Mané and company advance to the Round of 16.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup continues on Wednesday as Belgium faces Senegal in the Round of 32. On DraftKings Sportsbook, Belgium are slight favorites to advance to the Round of 16, while Senegal are barely plus-money to advance.

Let’s dive into my favorite bet for this match.

This is a Senegalese side that barely snuck out of the Group Stage with only three points, but they were far more impressive across their two losses than Belgium looked throughout their Group G winning campaign. The Belgians drew against a limited Egyptian side, then managed just one more point in a scoreless bout against Iran, before blowing out New Zealand to stamp their ticket to the knockouts.

Meanwhile, Senegal battled against arguably the best team in the tournament in France, managing a respectable 3-1 defeat. They also easily could have flipped the result of their 3-2 loss to a tough Norwegian side, before taking down Iraq 5-0 to advance. Belgium boast larger names in this matchup, but they struggled to find any type of cohesion in their first two matches of this tournament. On paper, Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku, Leandro Trossard and Romelu Lukaku should be enough to beat most teams in this field, but that just doesn’t appear to be the case.

Thibaut Courtois is obviously the X factor heading into this matchup. At his best, the 34-year-old is still arguably the top GK in the world, capable of keeping his country competitive against any opponent. However, Senegal’s balanced attack featuring the likes of Ismaïla Sarr, Sadio Mané and Pape Gueye among others makes them dangerous to break down any back line they face. Both of these teams are capable of beating just about anyone in this tournament… or losing to anyone in this tournament. I’m going to side with the squad that has been much more consistently competitive and pick the upset.

Best Bet: Senegal To Advance (+135)

Additional World Cup Coverage

Check out the World Cup landing page at DraftKings Network for more World Cup content!