Saturday 28th March Saturday's fixtures seem a little more competitive on paper with some interesting contests, most notably Wales vital trip to Israel, Holland's home tie with Turkey and a tricky away fixture for Italy in Bulgaria. Here are some previews and suggested bets with my final selections to come tomorrow. 16:00 Kazakhstan v Iceland - Prediction 1.2 - Best Bet Iceland to win @10/11
I really like the odds on Iceland to win here when you consider their form over the past 2 years. Having beaten the Dutch and the Turks with 2.0 and 3.0 wins, this is surely the best side the Icelandics have ever had and I will be pretty surprised if the Kazakhs can stop them claiming the points here. 18:00 Czech Rep. v Latvia - Prediction 3.1- Best Bet - Czech Rep to win @1/5 Having won 4 out of 4, the hosts are on course to qualify and Latvia should not stop them making it 5 wins out of 5 here. interestingly, BTTS has come up in each of the Czechs 4 wins and a repeat with the Czechs winning again is priced @7/2 although with Latvia scoring only 1 goal from 4 games, It's not so clear if they can do their part in this one. A home win for me. 20:45 Netherlands v Turkey - Prediction 2.1- Best Bet - BTTS @ 4/5 Both teams are in desperate need of the points here with neither team having had a good start to the campaign. Holland have been beaten in both their away matches to Iceland and the Czech republic while Turkey have also lost to the same opponents and whoever loses this one really will be struggling to finish in the top 3 in the group. Holland under Hiddink have really struggled in this campaign, not only with results but also performances and I don't think they will be convincing here although Turkey are poor travellers so Holland would expect a win. With both sides needing the win, and neither convincing at the back, I am much more tempted by the BTTS @5/6 than backing Holland at short 11/20 odds. 1800 Israel v Wales - Prediction 2.1- Best Bet - Israel to win @23/20 I remain unconvinced that Wales are as good as they think and I have a feeling they will come unstuck here against an Israel side in good form with 9 goals in 3 games, including a handsome win over World Cup finalists Bosnia. Gareth Bale needs to be firing if they are to stand a chance here and given his laclustre form for Real, I'm not banking on the Welsh getting the result they want. Israel are a pretty tasty 23/20 to win here and I will be on that tomorrow. 20:45 Andorra v Bos-Herce -Prediction -0.4 Best Bet - no bet 20.45 Belgium v Cyprus - Prediction 1.0- Best Bet - no bet Cyprus have been strong so far in this group and I'm not touching the Belgians at very short odds of 1/7. 1800 Azerbaijan v Malta - Prediction 1.0 Best Bet - Avoid 18:00 Croatia v Norway - Prediction 1.0- Best Bet - No bet Croatia are strong at home but there is little value in backing them @4/9 to beat a stubborn Norway side who are no mugs and could easily claim a point if they keep their discipline here although ultimately the hosts should prove too strong but I don' consider them to be a home banker at skinny odds. 20:45 Bulgaria v Italy - Prediction 1.2- Best Bet - BTTS @ 6/5 While Italy are no great shakes these days, they should still be able to win in Bulgaria against a side who drew 1.1 at home to Malta last time around and seem devoid of experience or genuine talent in their current squad. The days of Stoichkov, Letchkov and even more recently with the likes of Berbatov and Petrov are long gone. Still, the Italians are certainly in a "transitional period" and I would be loathe to back them here. BTTS could be the better bet @6/5 against. Suggested Bets Israel to beat Wales @ 23/20 Iceland to beat Kazakhstan @10/11 Holland v Turkey - BTTS @5/6 Bulgaria v Italy - BTTS @ 6/5 Comments are closed.
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