BIG INTERNATIONAL BREAK I am not normally that big a fan of the international break as I’m sure is the same with most football fans, but this weekend (and more specifically tonight) I’m looking forward to the action. I am heading to the Ireland and Wales game tonight and am hopeful for a big performance by the Boys in Green!
Ireland v Wales
7.45pm Friday Tonight is a huge game for both teams. If Ireland can somehow come out with a win despite all their injury issues then they will be in an incredibly strong position in this group. On the other side, if Wales were to lose then they will look really out of touch and it would be incredibly difficult to see them advancing to the World Cup. If they win then they are right back in the mixer. I think this group will go right down to the end to determine who the qualifying sports will go to, I think almost every team in the group can take points off each other.
It is a big task at hand for the Irish tonight because of their shortage of bodies. I think a win is unlikely because of the way they will approach the game. So long as they don’t lose, this is a great result for Ireland. If they can get a win then that would be amazing, but a draw would still be a very good result. It would mean they could play Wales again in the reverse fixture and even if they lost they would still be ahead of them in the group.
I think this game has a draw written all over it. Ireland won’t have their best team out due to injuries and suspensions so I fully expect them to set up defensively. So much of their concentration of course will be on Gareth Bale. They will look to limit him as much as they can, if they are successful at this then they will be very confident in matching the rest of this Welsh side and coming out with a positive result. Ireland should play for a draw tonight and hope they can grab something on the counter, but it really seems it is destined to be a draw.
TONY’S BEST BET:
Back the Draw at 3.05.
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQ-IreWal
Bulgaria v Netherlands
7.45pm Saturday This is one I am picking largely because of the price. I think 7.0 is crazily high for a home team against a Netherlands team that is in a bit of a new transition. We all know that the Netherlands flopped in trying to qualify for the Euros last year. This led them to moving towards the young guns in the team to bring in the new generation. They have been impressive thus far but any young team is going to be prone to a slip up.
I don’t know too much about this Bulgaria side, but I have quite a bit of the Dutch side and while there is talent there I still think they have a ways to go to be a tough side. Bulgaria will be tough to play against tonight, so being such a high price has to be worth a small bet for me.
TONY’S BEST BET:
Back Bulgaria at 6.0.
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQ-BulHol
Scotland v Slovenia
7.45pm Sunday Some may think that Scotland’s heads will be down after such a disappointing result against Canada during the week, but I don’t think it will really have any real effect when it comes to an actual qualification match. Sure it was a terrible result and performance during the week, but it was a friendly match, and many of the players that played that night will not be the ones playing on Sunday.
All the Celtic players should be back into the team which will certainly strengthen the side. The past few campaigns have been poor by the Scots, but there is a good team in there if they make the right selections. I think one thing is for certain on Sunday, there will not be a draw. Scotland will either win or lose, because I see them coming out to attack. If they get it right on the night they are well capable of grabbing a win, but if they are off the boil again you can see Slovenia catching them out. I think it will be a former. I think we will see a much better performance on Sunday after their poor showing during the week.
TONY’S BEST BET:
Back Scotland at 2.38.
You can view all markets here -> http://bit.ly/BDQ-ScoSlo
