2022 World Cup Qualifying European Predictions > Nov 11th - 16th

[StevieDay1983]

Scotland vs Denmark

The next game I'm previewing from the Monday night matches in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in the UEFA section is the match-up between Scotland and Denmark in a 7:45pm GMT kick-off at Hampden Park in Glasgow. It'll be interesting to see how both teams approach this with the home side needing at least a draw to have any hope of being seeded for the play-offs and the away team already having booked their place in the finals tournament next year.

Scotland are continuing to progress well under the stewardship of Steve Clarke. The former West Brom and Kilmarnock gaffer guided the Tartan Army to their first major international tournament since 1998 when they reached the 2020 European Championship and the nation is now set to compete in the play-off matches for the 2022 World Cup. It's 5 wins in a row now for Scotland with four of those games being clean sheets. The sceptics will say that those matches have gone against below par nations such as Moldova, Faroe Islands, Israel, and Austria with the team having gone 4 games without a win prior to that run when they played more competent nations such as Denmark, Croatia, England, and Czech Republic. Still, you can only beat what's put in front of you.

Denmark have cruised through this qualification campaign with 9 wins from 9 group games including 30 goals and conceding just 1 goal. It's a huge achievement for head coach Kasper Hjulmand who guided his team to the 2020 European Championship semi-final against all odds after a torrid group campaign that saw them win just 1 game and saw them lose their captain Christian Eriksen to a heart condition. Who would have imagined they would be in the position they're in now? It's 6 wins in a row now with 5 of those games producing clean sheets. Hjulmand did call up a number of inexperienced players for this squad so will we see him give the likes of goalkeeper Peter Vindahl Jensen, Jens Stage, Mikael Uhre, and Emil Riis make their international debuts?

It might be Denmark who come into this game as favourites but Scotland are a tricky proposition for any nation right now. The last two games these teams have played at Hampden Park have seen Scotland win both by a single goal but then they were both friendly matches. I'm not sure we'll see a full strength Denmark side and is that something Scotland will take advantage of? I'm not sure but because I love Scotland I'll back them to get a surprise result.

Scotland Draw No Bet @ 2.35 with Mansionbet

Total Goals Scored Under 2.5 @ 1.53 with SBK

[StevieDay1983]

San Marino vs England

OK, so we end the Monday night previews for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in the UEFA section with a tricky one. It's Group I and it's international minnows San Marino hosting the behemoth of England in a 7:45pm GMT kick-off at the San Marino Stadium in Serravalle. A gold star will go to the person who can find any sort of value heading into this game which really is an inevitability isn't it? Isn't it?!

San Marino are officially the worst ranked team in world football according to the very reliable () FIFA world rankings. Franco Varrella's side are number 210 in the world which puts them below the likes of Anguilla, Guam, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Eritrea. It makes for grim reading if you're a San Marino fan. The team are bottom of this group without earning a single point and have even suffered two demoralising losses to fellow group minnows Andorra. The highlight of this campaign will have been when Nicola Nanni scored the team's only goal of this campaign in a 7-1 loss to Poland at home. It's been 36 goals conceded over the past 9 matches so we can expect another leaky defence performance here.

England can be forgiven for feeling like they are basically automatically qualified for the 2022 World Cup. Gareth Southgate's men top the group and are 3 points clear of 2nd placed Poland with a superior goal difference. They also have this game against a bunch of part-timers from a small corner of the Mediterranean. The Three Lions have scored 29 goals and conceded just 3 goals during this campaign and they stuck 5-0 on San Marino in the reverse fixture. If we're being brutally honest this is going to be all about how many England are going to score and who is going to score them.

I'm expecting England to want to be professional about this. You only need to go back to 17th November, 1993 when San Marino took an early lead against England to see how strange things can happen in football. Yes, England went on to win 7-1 but nothing can be taken for granted in international football. I'm expecting a strong start for England with Southgate to make changes to key personnel later in the game. A big handicap win for England!

San Marino +6 @ 2.05 with Boylesports

Anytime Scorer: Bukayo Saka @ 1.83 with Sporting Index

[BillyDuke1989]

Switzerland vs. Bulgaria

Switzerland
Switzerland for the round before the completion of the selection takes the second place in the group, while being inferior to Italy only in additional indicators. Both teams have 15 points each, but the Italians are better thanks to the better goal difference.
Switzerland did not lose to Italy in the away match on Friday. The meeting in Rome ended in a draw 11.
At the same time, the Swiss even took the lead, but then allowed Squadra Azzurra to win back. Italy could snatch victory, but a few minutes before the final whistle, Jorginho missed the penalty.
The Swiss national team has never lost in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup and conceded only two goals.

Bulgaria
Bulgaria, meanwhile, scored eight points and is in fourth place.
The Bulgarians can finish the qualification on the third line in the group if they score points in the upcoming match, and Northern Ireland will lose to Italy.
But this is unlikely given how Bulgaria recently played in a friendly against Ukraine. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, but the Bulgarian footballer was just lucky. The Ukrainians made 36 shots (15 on target), but scored only one goal.
Bulgaria has never won away in this group.

Prediction and bet
It is difficult to imagine what would have to happen for the Swiss to lose points in this match. Bulgaria, of course, also knows how to surprise (you can recall the guest draw with Italy), but something suggests that it will lose here.
By the way, Switzerland will try to score as much as possible, because with a better goal difference than Italy, it will be she who will receive a direct ticket to the World Cup.
Bet - Switzerland's total over 2.5

[harry_rag]

4 hours ago, StevieDay1983 said:

If there is one thing this game will be it's edgy and nervous. Northern Ireland will be keen to avoid making any mistakes that this Italian team will undoubtedly pounce on and punish them. Italy know a win is likely to be needed and even then they need to ensure Switzerland don't grab back that goal difference. I think we'll see a cautious game from both teams with Italy prevailing by a narrow clean sheet win.

And hopefully quite dirty! 20 points on >4.5 cards shown at 21/10 with PP.

Very surprised to see this on offer at greater than 2/1, I was thinking of taking 7/4 with Uni till I saw this price. Maybe a 6/4 shot based on spreads in the low 40s, ref Kovacs not shy of flashing cards in Internationals (even friendlies) or UEFA club competitions.

[BillyDuke1989]

Poland vs. Hungary

Poland
Poland is the second in the group A standings with 20 points.
The White Eagles' only defeat in the current selection was 1-2 at away from England, and in the last three matches they have dealt with San Marino 5-0, Albania 1-0 and Andorra 4-1.
In general, the White-Reds are performing successfully this fall, but they failed at Euro 2020, gaining only 1 point in the group with Slovakia 1-2, Spain 1-1 and Sweden 2-3.
Bartłomiej Drongowski, Arkadiusz Retza and David Kovnatski will not play for the Polish national team due to injuries.

Hungary
The Hungarian national team is on the fourth line in the group A standings with 14 points.
This spring, the Magyars have lost twice to Albania 0-1 and 0-1, shared points with England 1-1, and also beat Andorra 2-1 and San Marino 4-0.
At Euro 2020, Marco Rossi's charges lost to Portugal 0-3, and also drew with France 1-1 and Germany 2-2. They did not leave the group, but they left a good impression.
Among the injured Hungarians are Peter Gulachi, Willie Orban and Bolla Bendeguz.

Prediction and bet
For the team of Marco Rossi, this game does not really matter, since they will not rise above third place and will not get to the World Cup.
But the "eagles" have a very tiny chance to finish first. What is needed for this? First, to beat Hungary as big as possible. Secondly, wait for the defeat of England by San Marino.
My prediction is over 2.5 total in 2.12. It makes no sense for these teams to sit out in defense, since the result will not affect their future in any way.

[BillyDuke1989]

Finland vs. France

Finland
The Finns finished second in Group D with a 3-1 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The hosts managed to win if they were sent off in the squad. At the same time, Teemu Pukki's unbeaten penalty was saved from the defeat of the Bosnians.
Thus, the Finnish national team has already won 3 victories in this qualifying cycle. Earlier, the owls defeated the Kazakhstan team twice with a score of 2-0 and 1-0.
Finland has 11 points. She is 2 points ahead of Ukraine, which she lost 2 rounds back with a score of 1-2.
It should be noted that the Finns won only one of the three home matches in qualifying.

France
The French have already secured an exit from the group from the first line. This means that Didier Deschamps' team was directly qualified for the final of the World Cup.
In the last round, they left no chances for the Kazakhs, defeating them with a score of 8-0. Kylian Mbappe made poker in that match.
Prior to that, the French national team won the League of Nations. In October, she defeated Belgium 3-2 and won 2-1 in the final against Spain.
In the group D standings, the French have 15 points. They are the best in terms of the number of goals scored and conceded (16-3).

Prediction and Bet

Most likely, the Finns will play very carefully. Ideally, they will only be satisfied with a victory, but first of all the team will focus on defense and try to play on counterattacks.
France does not have such a huge motivation, so it is possible that in a game with such a charged opponent, she will not be able to score many goals.

I believe that a bet on France total less than 1.5 is a good option.

Edited November 16, 2021 by BillyDuke1989
Mistake

[BillyDuke1989]

Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Ukraine

Bosnia and Herzegovina
The national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina is ranked fourth in the group D standings with 7 points.
In seven matches, the Bosnians have won one victory, drew four times and suffered two defeats.
In October, they beat Kazakhstan 2-0 and shared points with Ukraine 1-1, and in November they lost 1-3 at home to Finland and lost their chances of getting to the World Cup.
The Bosnia national team in the next meeting will not be helped by the injured Elvis Saric and the coronavirus patient Yusuf Gazibegovic. Also, most likely, captain Edin Dzeko will not enter the field.

Ukraine
The Ukrainian national team is on the third line in the group D standings with 9 points.
In the current qualifying round, the Yellow-Blues have won only one victory, drew six times and never lost.
The long-awaited victory for the team of Alexander Petrakov won over Finland 2-1 on October 9, and three days later they parted with Bosnia 1-1. In November, the Ukrainians played a 1-1 world match with Bulgaria in a friendly match.
The injured Vitaliy Mykolenko will not play for the Ukrainian national team. The rest of the players, including Ruslan Malinovsky, are in the ranks.

Prediction and Bet

The Yellow-Blues are so accustomed to draws that it would be rash to give them three points in advance. However, the standings force them to go ahead and win, and also hope that France will at least not lose to Finland.
And what about Bosnia? She can move up to third place, but after the failure in the game with the Finns, it is hard to believe that Ivaylo Petev's charges will come together.

So, Ukraine has a better squad, it had much more time to prepare and higher motivation. My prediction is the victory of the guests.

[StevieDay1983]

Wales vs Belgium

The final night of matches in the group phase of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in the UEFA section take place on Tuesday night. It's Wales versus Belgium in Group E for a 7:45pm GMT kick-off at the Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff. Both teams have got huge injury blows coming into this game but with the away side already qualified will this be a chance for the home team to get a result and earn a seeding placement in the play-offs?

Wales had been looking all set for a massive opportunity in this game with a win or a draw likely to give the Dragons a home seeded draw in the play-offs for which they have already secured qualification. Unfortunately, Robert Page's side have been dealt a big blow just hours before the game with talisman and captain Gareth Bale ruled out of the fixture. The Welsh come into this game unbeaten in their last 6 matches and are undefeated in their last 15 home games. There is also the risk of Aaron Ramsey being one booking away from a suspension meaning if he receives a yellow card then Wales will be without one of their most influential players for the play-off semi-final.

Belgium come into this game knowing that qualification for the 2022 World Cup is secure. Robert Martinez has seen his team win just 1 of their last 3 matches as their UEFA Nations League campaign ended in misery but they remain undefeated in this qualification group. The Red Devils will be without a number of key players for this clash including Romelu Lukaku, Youri Tielemans, Eden Hazard, Toby Alderweireld, and Thibaut Courtois. This gives a selection of fringe in-form players a chance to impress such as Albert Sambi Lokonga, Charles De Ketelaere, and Dante Vanzeir. Belgium have now scored in 41 matches in a row so they'll be hoping that track record will give them every chance of earning at least a draw.

If Bale was fit to start then I'd be backing Wales in this game. We've only lost 1 of our last 5 encounters with Belgium and we pulled off a shock 1-0 win the last time we played them on home turf. However, Bale's absence could be massive and even though we tend to miss Ramsey more when he doesn't play it really does stack the odds against us. I wish I had the confidence or even courage to back us to pull off a surprise win but without Bale I can't see it.

Belgium to Win @ 2.15 with William Hill

BTTS @ 1.87 with SBK

[harry_rag]

A couple of goalscorer prices caught my eye tonight,

10 points on Ramsey to score at 5/1 for Wales v Belgium (Hills) and 12 on Wijnaldum at 5.2 for Holland v Norway (BF).